Zaleti means 'little yellow ones' in the Venetian dialect, and that tells you everything you need to know. These are golden cookies, colored by the cornmeal that defines them, shaped roughly by hand and eaten without ceremony. They are the opposite of precious.

The cornmeal must be fine, what Italians call fioretto. Coarse polenta grinds belong in soup, not in cookies. The texture you want is slightly sandy on the tongue, yielding to a tender crumb that almost dissolves. The raisins must be soaked in grappa. I have seen recipes calling for water or orange juice. These miss the point entirely. The grappa perfumes each cookie with something distinctly Venetian, a warmth that lingers after the last bite.

These are not difficult cookies, but they require attention to texture. The dough should be soft, pliable, holding its shape without crumbling. Too dry and the cookies will be hard. Too wet and they spread into shapeless puddles. Trust your hands. They will tell you when the dough is right.