Traditional holiday tastes on tap at Holy Cross bake sale

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The countdown for the Holy Cross Church Christmas Bake Sale has begun.

“We’ve just completed our first phase of making struffoli,” Ellie Vallante Panichas, a spokesperson for the Holy Cross Church Women’s Guild, announced. “We’re working to have our largest selection ever of holiday cookies and confections.”

Although the bake sale is a week away, Panichas and Rachel Paoletta are trying to alert as many people as possible about the Dec. 14-15 event.

The ladies of this predominately Italian-American Roman Catholic parish, which is located at 645 Hartford Ave. on the Johnston-Providence line, are known throughout the community for their extraordinary baking skills.

“The ladies of this parish take pride in baking the finest Italian cookies,” Panichas said. “We’ll offer authentic, old-world Italian cookies made with only the finest ingredients and made from family recipes that have been handed down from generation to generation.”

Among the many homemade Italian cookies and confections that will be on sale are prune slices, cherry slices, egg biscuits, molasses cookies, almond bars, Anise slices, Venetian Polenta cookies, butter balls and macaroons. There will also be other holiday cookies and an assortment of cakes and candies.

The feature, though, will be the struffoli – pronounced “strew-foal-e” – which is a Neapolitan Christmas dessert made of deep fried balls of dough about the size of marbles. They’re crunchy on the outside and light inside, and are mixed with honey and formed into a wreath or mounded in a decorative bowl and sprinkled with the traditional diavulilli (nonpareil sprinkles).

“Our bake sale is one of the few places where you can find authentic old-world Struffoli,” Panichas said. “They will go quickly, so come early.”

People can purchase the struffoli and many other items on Saturday, Dec. 14 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Holy Cross Church basement cafeteria-auditorium. On Sunday, Dec. 15, the bake sale will run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Panichas also announced that traditional Italian cookie trays will be available in one- and two-pound trays as well as small package assortments.

The list of holiday confections will also include holiday chocolates, cakes, desserts and gifts. People may also place advance orders for Italian holiday cookie trays and struffoli by calling Paoletta at 521-2871.

“Let us do your holiday baking for you,” said Panichas while recanting the theme that the Holy Cross Church Women’s Guild has used for its highly popular Christmas Bake Sale through the years. “This is a unique group. They not only enjoy baking for themselves; they enjoy baking for other people so they can enjoy those old-fashioned Italian-American traditions.”

“A plate of struffoli is the centerpiece to most Italian-Americans’ Christmas tables,” Panichas said. “According to tradition, struffoli are considered good luck because the small balls are a symbol of abundance. For centuries, these sweets were prepared in convents by nuns and distributed to noble families at Christmas, as thanks for their acts of charity and donations.”

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