Corfu Koutsouloi Piperatoi (Κουτσούλοι Πιπεράτοι)

Corfu's koutsouloi piperatoi are peppered little biscuits, hard, dark with warm spice, and made for the glass beside them. They are not soft koulourakia. The region is the dish's surname here: Corfu, with its Venetian centuries, kept a cupboard biscuit that wants coffee, sweet wine, or a small aged spirit more than it wants a plate of icing sugar.

The one method that decides them is the drying bake. First you bake until the dough sets and just colors, then you lower the heat and dry the biscuits until the center gives a clean, hard bite. Leave them soft and the pepper stays sharp and raw. Dry them properly and the black pepper settles into the cinnamon and clove, warm rather than loud.

I keep the shape plain, small rough ovals, because koutsouloi were never a display sweet. Your job is not to make them pretty. Your job is to make them keep, to make them dunk, and to let a Corfiot pantry taste like itself. Good olive oil, good pepper, and patience.