We thought it was a coffee cake

Today's offering was something new brought to us via Formaggio - a gourmet shop in Cambridge and Boston's South End.  It was in a box and was called Sbrisolada.  Once we opened it, we thought it was some kind of coffee cake although rather flat. That was because of the streusel type top.  But it was indeed different.

Rather flat box for a cake!

Looks like a coffee cake in a bag.

Streusel top says coffee cake but...

We looked it up and learned that Sbrisolada comes from the historical city of Mantova in Italy’s Lombardy region, just a few kilometers from Pasticceria Perbellini, which is the name on the box. The name for this almond biscuit cake derives from the local Mantova dialect ‘Brisa’ meaning crumbs. The crumbs are formed as pieces are broken off by hand and eaten as is or after being dipped in sweet wine or a spirit such as Grappa.

....it's actually a almond cookie. Like a flat round biscotti!

Almond biscuit is a good description as it was much more like a cookie or shortbread cookie with almonds and a crumbly top. It was rather hard and dry, which was not a bad thing at all as this went will with a up of coffee. (No, Grappa at cake hour.)  We tried cutting it but ended up breaking it into pieces.  It tasted very good - almondy with hints of lemon reminiscent of biscotti - and it was indeed fun to have an unfamiliar but yummy treat!

Crunch and crumbly as the name implies!