Some aromas do not simply fill a room.
They fill a square.

Sugar turning to caramel, warm peanuts, the rustle of a paper bag in your hands, the lights of a village fair, the sweet stall you recognise with your nose before you even see it.

For this new chapter in #TUSCANSTORIES, our series dedicated to the products and traditions that tell the story of Tuscany, we begin with something simple, popular, noisy and irresistible: addormentasuocere, those crunchy pralines made with nuts and sugar that taste of local festivals, fairs, funfairs and slow Sundays.

And we arrive at our Addormentasocere – Tuscan Cookies, the Fratelli Lunardi cookie with chocolate and caramelised peanuts. A cookie that does not stand still inside tradition: it takes it by the hand, brings it into the bottega and makes it twirl.

Before the cookie, there was the fairground bag

Addormentasuocere are one of those sweets that need no little plate, no tiny fork, no best behaviour.

You buy them in a bag. You eat them while walking. You share them with whoever is beside you — or perhaps you do not, because certain good things test even the most generous souls.

Typical of Tuscan fairs and village festivals, they are usually made with peanuts, but also with almonds, hazelnuts or pistachios, all coated in caramelised sugar.

In other words, they are not sweets for long speeches.

They are the kind of sweet you say you will have “just one” of, and then, mysteriously, the bag is empty.

Why are they called addormentasuocere?

The name is already half the story.

And perhaps half the fun too.

It is said to come from the fact that these sweets are not chewed straight away: you keep them in your mouth, let them slowly melt, and so, at least in the cheekier version of the tradition, the mother-in-law would talk less — until she fell asleep.

There are many popular interpretations, all linked to the idea of keeping the mouth busy with something sweet and crunchy.

We like to think of it this way: addormentasuocere were born to create silence in the most delicious way possible.

Fortunately, they do not really silence anyone.
But they do make you want to stop for a moment and crunch away.

Peanuts, sugar, patience: that is where the magic happens

The traditional recipe sounds easy.

Nuts, sugar, water, heat.

But, as often happens with simple things, the difficulty lies in the perfect moment.

The sugar has to melt, coat, crystallise and caramelise. The peanuts must stay crunchy, separate, glossy with that slightly rustic goodness that does not care about geometric perfection.

That is the beauty of addormentasuocere: no two are ever exactly the same.

One is bigger, one is more crooked, one is more sugary, one is more toasted.

They look like sweet little pebbles gathered from a fairground street.

And when they are still warm, the party is already made.

Tuscan fairs have a sound. And a flavour too

Anyone who grew up among village festivals, markets, rides and fairs knows it: certain sweets are not just sweets.

They are geographical coordinates of memory.

Addormentasuocere are there, alongside brigidini, candyfloss, croccante, pralined almonds and warm paper cones. They are the aroma that reaches you while you are still looking for a parking space. They are the stall you slow down in front of, even if you had said, “No sweets today.” They are the bag you take home and open on the sofa, when the fair is over — but not completely.

In Tuscany, every festival has its own pace, its own dialect, its own table.

But some aromas are recognised everywhere.

Fratelli Lunardi Addormentasocere: from the fair to the cookie

At Fratelli Lunardi, we took that crunchy memory and gave it a new shape.

We did not copy addormentasuocere.

We did something different: we turned them into a cookie.

That is how Addormentasocere – Tuscan Cookies were born: biscuits with chocolate and caramelised peanuts. In our catalogue, we describe them as a must-have at every village fair, inspired by the famous Tuscan sweet almonds and transformed into a delicious cookie with chocolate and caramelised peanuts.

The starting point is the fair.

The destination is a round, generous, contemporary cookie, filled with the crunch of caramelised peanuts and the indulgence of chocolate.

A sort of funfair in cookie form.

No entrance ticket required.

A Tuscan cookie, with chocolate playing its part

Addormentasocere are part of the Fratelli Lunardi Tuscan Cookies line, created to take the international shape of the cookie and fill it with names, recipes and ingredients with a Tuscan character. The catalogue describes this line as a collection of round biscuits designed for everyday enjoyment, with names that wink at Tuscan tradition in true Lunardi style.

Our Addormentasocere contain Tuscan wheat flour, 17% caramelised peanuts, cocoa-based chunks, Tuscan eggs from barn-raised hens, butter, dark chocolate, whole milk, cocoa, Volterra salt and natural flavourings. And, as stated on the product sheet, they are made without preservatives or colourings.

It is the kind of cookie that comes with two souls:

one crunchy, like a fairground stall;
one chocolatey, like a very happy pantry.

The caramelised peanuts bring the twist.

The chocolate signs the finale.

When should you taste them?

Whenever you feel like a biscuit that does not just behave itself.

At breakfast, if you like to start the day with something bold.
In the afternoon, when coffee calls for a crunchy answer.
After dinner, if you are looking for a small sweet with character.
Or on a tray of mixed cookies, to spot straight away who has a good eye: they will be the one picking up the Addormentasocere and asking, “What’s this?”

It is a cookie for the curious.

For the sweet-toothed.

For people who always stop in front of the most fragrant stall at village fairs.

A story to crunch into without keeping quiet

Addormentasocere come from a tradition that tastes of squares, warm sugar, sticky hands, shared bags and laughter.

We brought them inside a biscuit.

Not to put anyone to sleep, but to wake up a memory.

The memory of fairs seen through a child’s eyes.
Of sweets bought “just to try”.
Of caramelised peanuts that stay between your teeth and in your memory.

It is a Tuscan story, but without any heavy nostalgia.

It is crunchy, a little cheeky, very delicious.

A story that will not sit quietly in the bag.

It wants to come out, be bitten and make some noise.

This is a new chapter in our #TUSCANSTORIES.

And this time it smells of caramel, chocolate and village fairs.

Discover Addormentasocere – Fratelli Lunardi Tuscan Cookies in our online shop and let yourself be tempted by a biscuit with chocolate and caramelised peanuts.

Look how good they are. Feel the fair.