Though they are usually circular whereas those pictures here are crescent-shaped, pignoli cookies (loosely named after the Italian word for pine nut) are always delicious. They are almond-y (I think that's the flavor), lusciously chewy and covered in pine nuts. You've most likely never heard of them and probably never seen one but they are full of Italian goodness.
I first had one courtesy of my amazing family who bought some at the Vaccaro's stand in Annapolis's Market House. Vaccaro's is an Italian bakery based in Little Italy, Balitmore but has a couple of chains and stands throughout Maryland and Washington, DC. They brought the pine nut-encrusted cookies home and reluctantly shared with me and forever made a mistake. I am hooked, no pignoli cookie is safe from me and whenever I am nearby at my favorite sushi place, I must go visit Vacarro's flagship store and buy myself a cookie or two.
Oddly enough, here in Italy it is hard to find a pignoli cookie. First off, no one knows them by that name and always looks at me funny for bastardizing the word for pine nut (pinoli). Perhaps they are specific to a certain region of Italy (Vaccaro's is a Sicilian bakery) but the only place I've found them (in their proper form) is in Genoa. I always make sure to look in every Italian bakery I come across (or most of them, at least) but I am usually disappointed. Where ever they are, though, they are full of deliciousness waiting to be gobbled up!
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