Chestnut-Chocolate-Coconut Cake

When chestnuts were in season, I made a point to prepare individual freezer bags of unsweetened chestnut puree to have on hand for the future months. The naturally sweet chestnuts add a special touch to a bean soup, marry beautifully with a mashed potato side dish, and an endless list of sweet treats. Most importantly, one of my 500g freezer bags was dedicated to a very special chestnut cake! Light and airy and oh so good... 

Given the fact that I am far away from my freezer back home, I picked up a small 250g bag of dried chestnuts. Not the same thing, but will make a nice substitute. Place the dried chestnuts in a large pot with plenty of water, and boil them until they become soft (it will take about 2-3 hours). Once soft, simply pass them through a vegetable press, or potato masher. (You will end up with 500g.)

Chestnut-Chocolate-Coconut Cake

500g unsweetened chestnut puree

130g ricotta (you can substitute with any soft light cheese)

100g dark chocolate

2 eggs
150g brown sugar
75g butter
100g coconut
This is a very simple recipe. Start by melting the butter and chocolate in a bowl over a pan of hot water. Once melted, add all the ingredients into a large bowl and mix.  Fold into a buttered and floured baking pan and bake for 40 minutes at 180°C.

Crostata di marmellata di fichi e crema di vaniglia

What a nice treat to prepare for someone special. A sweet layer of figs, covered with a rich dense vanilla cream..   I have used this Vanilla Cream  recipe several different ways; filling for cream puffs, spread between cake layers, and on it's own served with a spoon.  This is a favorite at Debbie's house and all come a running when it's time to enjoy.  You know who you are... :)  Thank you for this sweet delicate goodness! 

Pasta Frolla

Vanilla Cream Filling
150 g sugar
100 g corn starch
.5 tsp salt
770 ml milk
4 egg yolks, slightly beaten
2 tbs butter
1 tbs and 1 tsp vanilla

-Mix sugar, cornstarch, salt in 1/2 quart pan.  Stir in milk gradually.  Cook over medium heat stirring constantly until mixture thickens and boils.
-Boil and stir for one minute.
-Stir at least half of the mixture into the beaten egg yolks, then blend into the hot mixture in the pan.
-Boil and stir for one minute.
Remove from heat, stir in butter and vanilla
-Cover and refrigerate until chilled.  One hour.

Jam
Choose a jam of your preference.  I used organic fig jam, a nice mix with the delicate cream.

Liquore alle more

Blackberry Liqueur
I have been saving this post for a long time, as I wanted to post it once everything was complete. It took five months of preparation, but I have to say that it was well worth it! During the warm summer month of July, we set out with some friends to collect wild blackberries. This year we wanted to give a bottle of this unique sweet liqueur for Christmas, and we had just the right amount of time to do so. Once December came around, family and friends enjoyed all the sweetness of the summer...

Pandoro

I happened upon a Pandoro form a few months back (maybe not a perfect shape), and I've been wanting to try my hand at making one. What a pleasure... The scent in the kitchen was amazing! Then, to share this perfumed loaf with those whom you love... Well, there is nothing better. AUGURI!

Pandoro

Biga

This is a type of pre-ferment used in italian baking. The biga adds complexity to the bread's flavor and is often used in breads which need a light, open texture.

-Flour 70 grams
-Fresh yeast 10 grams
-Water at room temperature 50 grams

Procedure:
Dissolve the fresh yeast in the water, then add the flour. Set aside to rise, double in size.

First Mixture
-Eggs 2
-Flour 130 grams
-Sugar 40 grams
-Butter 40 grams

Procedure:
Mix all the ingredients in the First Mixture, then add the Biga. Mix well and set aside to rise, double in size.

Second Mixture
-Flour 270 grams
-Sugar 100 grams
-Eggs 3
-Egg yolk 3
-Salt 1 tsp
-Rum 2 tbsp
-Vanilla 1 tbsp
-Melted Butter 250 grams

Procedure:
Mix all the ingredients in the Second Mixture, then add the First Mixture. Form a ball and place the dough into a buttered pandoro form. Set aside to rise for 10-12 hours. Bake at 180° C for about an hour. Leave to cool and then flip the form over.

This is worth the extra time! Your friends and family will be VERY happy... ;)

Buona Pasqua a tutti !

Yesterday we all got together to make our "Cuddura cu l'ova" for Easter. We had such a nice time making all different shapes and creating works of edible art!


Everyone was hard at work...










Buona Pasqua a tutti!!

Almond and Amaretti Cake

The other night I made an Almond and Amaretti Cake for dinner with friends. It was a big crowd pleaser...

Ingredients:
7 tablespoons of flour
7 tablespoons of sugar
150g of melted butter
200g of amaretti cookies
almond extract
100g of finely grounded almonds
3 eggs
1 tablespoon of baking powder
Puffed pastry (buy the premade variety if you are short on time)

Place the amaretti cookies in a food processor and grind them finely. Then add this to a large bowl with all the other ingredients. Line a baking pan with oven paper and place the puffed pastry inside the pan. Fill the pastry with the mixture and fold the extra pastry over the filling. Bake at 180° for 40 minutes, but don't open the oven for the first 30 minutes. Stick a toothpick in check for doneness.

Simple to make with an impressive presentation...

Crispelle di S. Giuseppe

Tanti auguri a tutti i papà!!

That's right, today is Fathers day and we must keep up with traditions... At our local bar, Caffè Calì, they were busy serving out platters of zeppole, also known as crispelle di riso. We made sure to pick up some, but you can try to make it at your house.

Ricetta crispelle di S. Giuseppe
400 gr rice for sweets
1 lt of milk
400 gr flour
salt tsp
yeast (una bustina di lievito di birra)
honey (Miele di zagara)
orange peel

Directions:
The night before, in a pan over low heat add the milk, salt, and orange peel. When the milk begins to boil, remove the orange peel and add the rice. Stir from time to time and leave to cook until the rice has absorbed all the milk. Then cover with a lid and leave to rest for the night. The next day, dissolve the yeast in a small amount of room temperature water and add it into the rice mixture. Mix, adding gradually the flour. Leave this mixture to rise in a warm place for a few hours. Then make small finger shapes out of the rice. In a pan of boiling oil, fry to a golden brown. For the glaze, add a few spoons of water to the honey and cut up pieces of the orange skin to make a liquid honey syrup. Drizzle the syrup over the crispelle e BUON APPETITO!!!
(Thanks to Claudia for your recipe!!)

Cassatella di Sant'Agata

When ever I walk into a pasticceria I always admire all the beautiful sweets behind the glass counter... At home, I then enjoy creating my own sweet treasures. Profiterol, Torta di ricotta, Lo sfoglio Polizzano, Cuddura cu l'ova, and Hazelnut Biscotti are just a few delicacies that I found the inspiration from one of the many pasticceria siciliana. One dolce, that has been taking my fancy lately, is the Cassatella di Sant'Agata (cassatedda di sant'Àgata in dialect). The Cassatella is a traditional sweet from Catania that can be found in almost every bar during the festival of St. Agatha. The cassatella is in fact a small sicilian cassata (in catanese dialect, minnuzzi ri Sant'Àjita) in the form of a breast, to symbolize the martyred saint of Catania, St.Agatha, as her breasts were amputated. She is therefore often depicted iconographically carrying her excised breasts on a platter.
(Last year we attended the Festival of St. Agatha. Check out the amazing devotion the towns people of Catania have for her.)

The original Cassata captured many of the traditional Sicilian ingredients; the intense green pistacchio of Bronte, the perfumed almonds of Noto, and the many citrus fruits of the island. It has been an ongoing joke between me and my friends to find the perfect Cassatella, and this past weekend I decided to dive in and attempt just that, with the help of Mandi and Diana!

One very important ingredient is the Marzipan, pasta di mandorle. I made sure not to make it too sweet, often times I do not enjoy marzipan because of it's sweetness. I used more almonds and the taste of mandorle filled your mouth with flavor.

Pan di Spagne, a type of sponge cake, is the next ingredient that is layered into the mold after the marzipan. To achieve a light and fluffy cake, the egg and sugar mixture should be mixed no less than 20 minutes to create a nice frothy texture before adding the flour.

The principle ingredient in the Cassatella is the ricotta di pecora, fresh sheep's milk ricotta. Our nearby pastore, shepherd, passed by the night before and delivered a kilo for me. I added less sugar to the ricotta than when I make the Torta di Ricotta because of the sweet marzipan wrapped sound the filling.

The molds were then inverted and ready for the glasse di zucchero...

We then got a bit creative and made one VERY big one...

However, we added a few extra cherries...

What a day! We were so thrilled with the results, and so were all the lucky recipients who got a taste... Thank you ladies for the wonderful afternoon and the memories!

Hello!  Ok, better late then never, right... ;)

I have so many people ask me how to make these little beauties, so here we go! Once all the parts are finished, follow the pictures with their step by step assembly.


Pan di Spagna (Spong cake)

6 eggs, 180 grams sugar, 180 grams flour

Just mix the eggs and sugar for at least 15 minutes, until they write. (Very important!) They, little by little, sift in the flour.  Pour into a large buttered and flowered cake pan, and place into a preheated oven 180°C for 30 minutes. Once cooled, slice into thin pieces and set aside.

Marzapan

400 grams almonds, skinned. Sliced almonds will give you the result much faster.

400 grams powdered sugar (plus extra for kneading)

Grind the almonds until they have a very fine consistency. Add the powdered sugar and a touch of water. Very small amounts of water at a time. If you add too much at the beginning, you will have to add more powdered sugar. Like making a pie crust, fold and knead until you reach a compact texture. (see picture)

At this point, when I wrote this post I added a few drops of green food color. Nothing fancy unfortunately. However now, I prefer to stay away from colors. You can completely create this sweet omitting the color and you are left with a beautiful, delicate alternative.

Roll out thin like you were making cut out cookies, cut, and line a baking form that was already covered with plastic wrap.

Ricotta

The flavor is all about the fresh sheep’s ricotta. Let it sit in the fridge for a least a day to drain all the excess liquid. Then add 120 grams of sugar to 500 grams of ricotta and mix.

Glasse di zucchero

I choose to simply use 250 grams of powdered sugar and water. Again, add very small amounts of water at a time, one tablespoon, two tablespoons at a time, until the glasse is nice and runny.

 Sorry it has taken me so long, Enjoy! 

biscotti di pasta frolla

When ever I make a torta di ricotta or a crostata, I always make extra pasta frolla and freeze it. So, when that unexpected visitor passes by, I am always ready to bake up something sweet on the spot.

Once thawed, I just made little round balls of dough and placed an almond in the center. I then rolled the balls in sugar and placed them on the cookie sheet. When cooking, they flattened out and were perfect. I find that the stutto makes the cookies very delicate and breakable... Let's just say that on the night of the Madonnina, all the cookies were finished and everyone wanted the recipe! Even the priest said that I should open up a bakery...

Pasta Frolla

350 g flour
100 g strutto (You could use butter, but the strutto gives it a nice crumbly texture)
100 g sugar
3 eggs
half pack levito for sweets ( half tsp baking powder)