Food Lover's Odyssey

Lemon and Olive Oil Cake from Puglia ~ And a Giveaway

 

 

Although I've been spending a lot of time in the kitchen with Italian mammas, many of whom we'll meet on the Food Lover's Tour in Puglia, I was lucky enough to also spend some time in the kitchen with a few handsome men, one of whom is Donato of the olive oil company Agricola Taurino. 

During the course of the food lover's tour, Taurino's olive grove will be the site of our picnic and their extra virgin olive oil and pates will garnish salads, grilled vegetables and slices of bread for our picnic feast. We'll join Donato and Valentino for a guided olive oil tasting and fun & informative tour of the "farm" and olive oil mill.  After our visit to Taurino, you'll know how to taste and slurp olive oil like the experts and understand the qualities they look for in distinguishing a good extra virgin olive oil. You'll also get great tips on storing and cooking with olive oil and taste lots of dishes prepared with Taurino's olive oil as it is the official olive oil on our tour.

 

Picnic under the Olive Trees at Agricola Taurino

 
Donato and his Parents, Maria & Pino of Agricola Taurino

 

Agricola Taurino is a family-run business. Founded by Donato's parents, Pino and Maria, Donato and his sister now run the "farm," as they call it. Pino and Maria are still an active and visible part of the business and pop in to meet guests daily. Donato takes great care in his guests' happiness, making sure we're full and happy when we leave. Donato and his sister take the same care in every detail of olive oil production, from the manner in which they water the olive trees down to the packaging and shipping of the oil and other products. The care they take in its production ends with an extra virgin olive oil of the finest quality.

 

Along with two types of extra virgin olive oil, the mildly flavored silver-labeled Polaris and the robustly flavored gold-labeled Sirius, Taurino makes pâtes with their olives and other of the many flavorful vegetables of Puglia; artichokes from Brindisi, local bell peppers and sun dried tomatoes. During my recent visit to Puglia, I have to admit I've went through jars and jars of the artichoke and bell pepper pâtes, slathering copious amounts on slices on Pugliese bread.

 

 

 

DISCOUNT ON OLIVE OIL FOR FOOD LOVER'S ODYSSEY READERS:

You can buy Taurino extra virgin olive oil and have it shipped directly to you! Via Taurino's website, purchase Taurino's extra virgin olive oil and olive oil products directly from them AND Donato is extending a discount to you, readers of Food Lover's Odyssey. Order any of their products from their online shop, here, use the code "FOOD LOVERS OLIVE OIL"and receive a 5% discount on all of Taurino's products, including their adopt an olive tree program.

 

THE OLIVE OIL GIVEAWAY:

Taurino is giving away two bottles of their extra virgin olive oil to one lucky reader of this blog.

To win the two bottles of Azienda Agricola Extra Virgin Olive Oil, one bottle of the delicate Polaris and one bottle of the more robust Sirius, all you have to do is leave a comment below telling me how you like to use olive oil when cooking and what you'd like to see Donato cook the next time I visit him in the kitchen.

Second chance to enter: "Like" the Food Lover's Odyssey Facebook page; come back here and leave a comment telling me you've done so for a second entry in this giveaway. (If you've already "liked" my Facebook page prior to this giveaway, you can leave a second comment here letting me know as your other entry.)

A third chance to enter: "Like Azienda Agricola Taurino on Facebook and come back here and leave a comment telling me you've done so.

Leave your comments by Friday, April 26 at Midnight Pacific Time, when the giveaway closes. I'll pick a winner randomly using www.random.org and announce the winner in a post the next day.

NOTE: The contest is open to anyone worldwide!

 

UPDATE: Congratulations to Dee S. Her comment #27 was randomly chosen and she is the winner of the 2 bottles of Taurino Olive Oil. Donato will be shipping you your prize shortly!

 

 

 

Lemon & Taurino Olive Oil Cake:

We cooked and ate many savory dishes using Taurino's olive oil. On my last visit, I made a sweet dish with their mild (Polaris) extra virgin olive oil, this lemon & olive oil cake. Many people use melted butter when making cakes, but I believe that olive oil gives you a moister cake. This lemon cake I made with Donato is light but decadently dense and moist with a vibrant lemon flavor and the olive oil is a subtle secondary flavor. The cake is just sweet enough and so tasty it is that it doesn't need an elaborate garnish. I've simply dusted it with some powder sugar.

 

 

Lemon and Olive Oil Cake
(makes one 9 ½-inch cake)

For the cake:
1 3/4 cups (225 g) “00” flour  or cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
Zest of 4 organic lemons
3 eggs
1/4 cup (60 ml) lemon juice (from 1-2 lemons)
Scant 1 cup (250 g) whole-milk plain yogurt
2/3 cup (150 ml) Agricola Taurino Extra Virgin Olive Oil (Polaris brand)

About ¼ cup powdered sugar to sprinkle on top of the cake
Strawberries or raspberries to garnish (optional)



Preheat the oven to 375°F and grease a 9 1/2 cake pan with olive oil, then dust it with flour.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside. Add the zest to the granulated sugar and rub together to infuse the sugar with the zest’s lemon flavor. Using a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, beat on medium-high speed the sugar and eggs until the mixture has lightened in color and doubled in size, 2-3 minutes. On low speed, whisk in the lemon juice and yogurt. Add the olive oil, pouring slowly so that flows in a stream. Mix in until it is combined. On the lowest speed, stir in the flour mixture only until combined.  Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 40-50 minutes. (A toothpick inserted in the middle will come out with a few moist crumbs.)

Remove from the oven and cool for 20 minutes. Remove from the cake pan and cool completely.  Dust with powdered sugar and garnish with strawberries and/or raspberries. Buon Appetito!

 

 

 

Food Lover's Culinary Tour Picnic at Agricola Taurino

 

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Herb Bread Wreath - Cooking with Maria Grazia in Puglia

Fruttone Leccese with Chef Luca - Food Lovers Tour in Puglia

Celebrating Saint Joseph's Day in Italy - Devotion, Hospitality and Always Food

Easter Food and Traditions in Puglia

French Pastry Making Classes in Provence

Fruttone Leccese with Chef Luca - Food Lovers Tour in Puglia

 

 

Bienvenuti in Puglia! My dear and faithful readers, I'm back. Not only am I back here on Food Lover's Odyssey (sorry for the absence which I'll explain soon), but I'm also back in Puglia! I'll be in Puflia for the rest of March and part of April sharing delicious dishes from our escapades on the Food Lover's Tour and my cooking adventures with the many awesome Italian mammas and chefs.

Let's start the posts from Puglia with this pastry recipe you've been requesting the most: Fruttone Leccese. This pastry, along with pasticciotto are the two quintessential pastries of the area. You're sure to find them in every pasticceria in Salento. At it's base is a crunchy shortbread crust, which is commonly made using lard. In this recipe, I've substituted the lard for butter, which will make the crust extra crunchy.  (Feel free to use lard if the purist in you wants to be very "authentic.") The sweet filling is a combination of pear marmalade and almond paste. And if that wasn't enough to entice you, the final touch is a topping of a sweet and shiny chocolate glaze. 

 

During our cooking class with Chef Luca, we made both pasticciotto and fruttone. Along with the recipe are step-by-step photos, from the class, for assembling the fruttone.  The fruttone are quite easy to make or maybe it was Chef Luca's flirtations and his filling us with all his sweets & wine that made them seem so easy. The hardest thing for you will probably be finding the oval molds. I purchased my tin molds here in Puglia, but you can find similar silicone molds here. Join us on the Food Lover's Tour in Puglia, and you'll get a set of molds in your gift bag!

 

Rolling out the pasta frolla with Chef Luca

 

 

 ********************

Fruttone Leccese
(Makes about 15)


For the Pasta Frolla:
2 ¼ cups cake flour
1 ½ cups  unbleached all-purpose flour
3 grams baking powder
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons butter
1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
5 egg yolks

For the filling:
About 1 ½ pounds almond paste (see recipe below)
About 16 ounces pear marmalade

For the almond paste:
8 ounces blanched almonds
8 ounces (1 ¾ cups) powdered sugar

For the chocolate glaze:
½ cup butter
¼ cup milk
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
5 ounces good quality dark chocolate
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ¾ cups powdered sugar



To make the pasta frolla:  In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, mix together on low speed the flour, baking powder, lard (or butter) and sugar until the mixture is the consistency of peas.  Add the eggs yolks and stir together just until the mixture is combined.  Divide into two equal mounds and cover each with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 2 hours before rolling out.

To make the almond paste:   Place the almonds and half of the powdered sugar into a food processor. Process until the almonds are finely ground. Add the rest of the sugar and process until combined and the mixture is homogenous. Set aside for assembly of the fruttone.


To assemble the fruttone:  (Step-by-step photos on assembling the fruttone are below)
Roll the pasta frolla out into a rope about 2 inches in diameter. (You can do this in 2 or 3 parts if you’d like.) Cut the rope into 2-inch rolls. With the palm of your hand, flatten the dough into a round disk about 1/8-inch thick. Press each disk of dough into a mold of its own. The dough should just reach the top of the mold. If there is excess, you can remove it by running a knife along the edges.  Place about 1ounce of pear marmalade at the bottom of the mold. (The quickest and cleanest way to do this is by using a pastry bag and piping the pear marmalade into the molds.) On top of the pear marmalade, add the almond paste just to the top of the mold. Run a knife along the top of the mold to ensure that the almond paste is even and level with the top of the mold. Bake at 375°F for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and place each fruttone upside down on a flat surface until they are cool. (This will flatten out the tops of the fruttone for glazing.)

To make the chocolate glaze:  Make the glaze right before you want to use it. In a saucepan, heat the butter, milk and corn syrup until the butter melts. Add the chocolate and whisk until the chocolate melts. Take off the heat and whisk in the vanilla extract. Whisk in the powdered sugar and pour into a bowl wide enough to dip the fruttone in. Use immediately to glaze the fruttone. The glaze will set in 20-30 minutes.

To glaze the fruttone:  Once the fruttone are cool, dip the tops of them into the chocolate glaze and place right side up. Let the glaze set for approximately 20 minutes. Buon Appetito!

 

Step-by-step photos for assembling the fruttone:

 
Roll dough into logs & cut   ~   Flatten into disks & press into molds  ~  fill with pear marmalade

Molds filled with pear marmalade ~ fill with almond paste & bake ~ when cooled top with chocolate glaze

 

 ********************

Pastries in Puglia ~ Along with Fruttone we'll be making these on the Food Lover's Tour in Puglia

 

Join me in Puglia for the Food Lover's Culinary Tour!  We'll cook with Chef Luca, other chefs and our fabulous Mammas in the kitchen on the Food Lover's Culinary Tour of Puglia - Plenty of spaces are still available for tours in May and October.

 

Related Posts:

Gorgeous Italian Men of Puglia on the Food Lover's Culinary Tour

Pasticciotto Leccese

Zeppole di San Giuseppe

Crostata di Marmellata ~ Jam Crostata from Mamma Giulia

The Pastries of Lecce with Chef Luca Capilungo

Pizza Makers for a Night in Puglia

Crostata Marmellata {Jam Crostata} from Mamma Giulia

 

Christmas holiday baking has begun! Maybe it's because I love to bake and some of my first baking memories are of making Christmas cookies with my mom that Christmas is my favorite of all holidays. Besides all the lights, glitter, and shopping (what girl doesn't love those things), it was always a time when dessert for breakfast was ok, even encouraged!  My mom kept us from tearing up the house and terrorizing her over our Christmas vacation by having us "help" with cookie baking. She would start her mornings during the holidays with two biscotti, which she only made around Christmastime, and coffee. Because our kitchen was overflowing with cookies, she let us choose our favorite cookie or two to dip in milk for our breakfasts.

 

 

To kick off the season, I thought it best to share with you another sweet that had double duty as both dessert and breakfast for me, the crostata marmellata. This recipe comes from Mamma Giulia, one of our amazing "mamme in cucina" in Puglia.  Mamma Giulia is like the energizer bunny in the kitchen; she keeps on going and going and going from sun up to far past sundown. Not all she churns out in the masseria's kitchen is sweet, but it's all delicious. This crostata was the first thing she offered me when I first met her. It was also part of our daily breakfast spread during our Food Lover's Tour in Puglia.

 

Mamma Giulia making the crostata dough

 

Jam crostata is to Italy as apple pie is to the U.S. It's definitely a home-cooking kind of dessert, and probably every Italian mamma has her own recipe, but you see crostate in various shapes and sizes throughout Italy's pastry shops and biscotterie. It even ended my amazing meal at the fine dining restaurant Cibreo in Florence. Even though you can find a crostate throughout Italy, they can vary in quality. A crunchy, crumbly, buttery crust is what makes this simple and unpretentious dessert so delicious.

A few notes & tips:  The key to the crust is the butter, the flour and not too much kneading.  As there are basically only two components to the dessert, the pasta frolla and the jam, you want to make sure you also have a good quality jam - one where the fruit (and not only its juices) are used in making it.  Butter will give you the crunchy, crumbly and flavorful crust, but it's important to pay attention to its temperature. It should be cold and stay that way, so i'ts important to work quickly and to keep your hands from being in constant contact with the butter. Mamma Giulia uses the delicate double zero flour also used for pasta making. In the U.S. it's sometimes hard to find and can be expensive, so I tested the recipe using only all-purpose flour, only unbleached all-purpose flour and a mix of cake flour and unbleached all-purpose flour.  The mix of cake flour and unbleached all-purpose flour came closest to Mamma Giulia's.  If you can find it, I would suggest using 300 grams (2 1/2 cups) of double zero flour as it creates the most delicate and buttery crust.

 

Jam Crostate in pastry shops in Italy

 

Ingredients needed for pasta frolla: flour, sugar, salt, butter & egg yolks

 

 

 

 

Crostata Marmellata
(Makes One 9-inch crostata)

1 ½ cups (200 grams) cake flour**
1 cup (100 grams) all-purpose flour**
Zest of 1 lemon
175 grams butter, (ideal temperature is 65-70° F)
½ cup plus 4 tablespoons (125 grams) sugar, plus more for the top of the crostata
3 egg yolks, mixed so the yolks are broken

2 ½ cups fruit preserves or best-quality jam (The fruit should be used to make the jam, not just the fruit’s juice)

**If you have/can find Type “00” flour, use this instead.



To make the pasta frolla:  Stir together the flour, salt and sugar and lemon zest and form the mixture into a well.  With a pastry cutter cut the butter into the flour mixture until the mixture is the consistency of peas.  Make another well with this mixture and add the eggs yolks and knead the mixture only until it is combined into a homogenous dough.  Divide the dough into two balls; with 2/3 of the dough for one ball and the remaining 1/3 for the other. Flatten each into a round disk, and cover each with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 2 hours before rolling out.

To assemble the crostata:  Roll out the bigger disk of dough between two sheets of wax paper until it’s ¼-inch thick. Place into a 9-inch tart mold and refrigerate. Roll out the second disk of dough, also between two sheets of wax paper, until it is ¼-inch thick.  Using a fluted pastry ring, cut the dough into strips that are ½-inch in thickness. Remove the pastry dough-filled tart mold from the refrigerator and spread the fruit preserves/jam out evenly on top of the pastry dough.

Starting in the center, place the longest fluted strip of dough on top of the jam, then another across it, forming an X with the two strips. Working out from this center, add two more strips on each side of one of the center strips, spacing the strips about 1 1/2 inches apart. Then add two more strips on each side of the other center strip, again spacing each strip about 1 1/2 inches apart. Refrigerate for 20-30 minutes. Before placing the tart into the oven, sprinkle to top strips of dough with granulated sugar.

Bake at 375 F for 20-25 minutes, until the crust is a golden brown and the jam begins to bubble. Cool and serve. Buon Appetito!

 

 

 

Other Dessert Recipes You Might Like:

Snowball Cookies and Christmas Baking Memories

Tiramisu Cheesecake

Torta Settevelli - Seven Veils Cake from Palermo

Meyer Lemon Tart with Lightened Lemon Cream Topping

Cassata Siciliana

Torta Caprese - Flourless Chocolate Cake from Capri

Gianduja - Nutella Cheesecake

Pasticciotto from Lecce

"Magical" Chocolate Kahlua Budino

Cantucci - Italian Biscotti from Tuscany

Meyer Lemon Cheesecake

Flaky Apple Tart from Gascony {Croustade aux Pommes}

Related articles

Cook with me and Italian Mammas in Puglia in 2013

Pizza Makers for a Night in Puglia

Making Pasticciotto in Puglia

 

 

 

In Salento, dessert is all about the pasticciotto! The pastry from Lecce & the Salento region is as much a symbol to this part of Italy as the croissant is to France. Whether it be pastry shop, bar, or restaurant menu, you can be sure to find pasticciotto. It was the first gift I received upon arriving in Lecce. I was also able to see them being made at several of the Salento pastry shops I visited. The pastry consists of a short crust pastry filled with pastry cream. The classic pasticciotto uses your basic egg-yolky pastry cream, but once in a while the chefs get creative. Chef Luca Capilungo has two variations, the basic and one with chocolate pastry cream as the filling. And when I visited Bar Castello, they made pasticciotto with purple Olivotto flavored pastry cream. I've also had an all-chocolate, inside and out, pasticciotto.

 

 

Inside the classic Pasticciotto Leccese

 

 

The pastry was first created in Galatina in 1745 at Pasticceria Ascalone. Galatina is a small town south of Lecce, and Ascalone is still open and still making pasticciotto. In fact many say the current chef makes the best pasticciotto in Salento. Massimo, who grew up in Galatina, gave us a tour of the town and told me the legend of pasticciotto's creation. In 1745 Galatina was most widely known for the trance-like dance called the pizzica. At the time, the dance was looked down upon by those outside Galatina and its citizens weren't well regarded outside the city walls. Galatina wanted to find something to improve its reputation and make its citizens well-liked. What better to make people like you than pastry, right? Signor Ascalone created the pasticciotto to solve the problem.

At the pastry shop, Il Golosone Prato, a few minutes from Lecce in Novoli, I saw production of pasticciotto on a grand scale. The chefs even let me participate; I piped pastry cream into the molds.

 

 
A whole lot of pasticciotti just filled with pastry cream

 

Alessandro of Il Golosone forming the tops of the pasticciotti

 

I pasticciotti ready for their egg wash and then into the oven

 

Salvatore of Il Golosone with pasticciotti right out of the oven

 

The crust is traditionally made with lard, or strutto in Italian. I kind of anticipated the freak out that would happen if I posted a recipe that calls for lard, so I asked a few of the pastry chefs about substituting butter. Using butter changes the texture of the crust to one that is harder and crunchier, making the pastry harder to eat because the center is a cream. Using lard creates a moister and softer crust, so you don't have pastry cream splattering out everywhere when you bite into the pasticciotto.  However, in the recipe that follows, I've given you the option to use either lard or butter.

 

Pasticciotto
(Makes about 20)


For the Pasta Frolla (the pasta frolla recipe is adapted from Chef Luca Capilungo's recipe):

3 3/4 cups (500 g) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons (3 grams) baking powder
1 cup plus 2 tablespoon (250 g) lard (you can substitute the same amout of butter, at room temperature)
1 1/4 cups (250 g) granulated sugar
5 egg yolks

For the Pastry Cream:

3 ¼ cup (750 ml) whole milk
Rind of 1 lemon
8 egg yolks
2/3 cup (160 g) sugar
Scant ½ cup (50 g) cornstarch
3 ½ tablespoons (25 g) all-purpose flour

1 egg, beaten (for the egg wash)

20 oval molds for pasticciotto, each buttered and floured

To make the pasta frolla (short crust pastry dough):  In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, mix together on low speed the flour, baking powder, lard (or butter) and sugar until the mixture is the consistency of peas.  Add the egg yolks and stir together just until the mixture is combined.  Divide in half and create two round disks of pasta frolla. Wrap each disk with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 2 hours before rolling out.

To make the pastry cream:  Place the milk and the lemon rind in a nonreactive heavy bottom sauce pot and leave for 20 minutes. Then bring the milk to a scald.  Let the lemon rind steep in the milk for 10 minutes.  In the meantime, in another bowl, whisk together the sugar and egg yolks until the mixture becomes pale.  (The whisk must be nonreactive also.) Add the cornstarch and flour and whisk to combine.

Strain the lemon rind out of the milk, and slowly pour the warmed milk into the egg yolk mixture.  Whisking together as you pour.  Once all the milk and egg yolk mixtures are combined, place back into the saucepot and over medium-high heat.  Bring to a boil, whisking vigorously the entire time.  Once the mixture has become dense and just started to boil, remove from the heat and strain through a fine-mesh seive into bowl over an ice bath and let cool for 10 minutes.  Spread the pastry cream into a 9x13-inch glass dish and cover with plastic wrap.  The plastic wrap should be touching the pastry cream to keep the cream from developing a film.  Refrigerate until cold.

 

Vladimiro of Bar Castello forming the dough into the molds

To assemble the pasticciotto: On a lightly floured surface, roll out one of the disks of pasta frolla into a square until the dough is about 3/8-inch thick.  Line your pasticciotto baking molds so that when you place the sheet of pastry dough over them, it will cover all molds. Run the rolling pin over the dough to "cut" the dough into the necessary oval form. With your fingertips, press the dough into the mold, so that the dough sits against the bottom of the mold and completely up the sides.

Using a pastry bag fit with a large star tip, at least 3/4-inch in diameter, pipe the pastry cream into the molds. The pastry cream should reach the top of the mold. Roll out the second disk of pasta frolla in the same way you rolled out the first, but to 1/4-inch in thickness. Lay the pastry dough over the tops of the filled molds. This time using your fingers instead of the rolling pin, press around the top edge of each mold to make a cut in the dough. Along the edges of the mold, press down with your fingers to seal the pastry and to create a little "mound" in the center of each pasticciotto.  Brush the tops of each with egg wash and bake at 375 F for 15 minutes. The tops should be golden brown. Cool and serve. Enjoy!

 

Inside a pasticciotto with Olivotto-filled pastry cream

If you'd like to fill your pasticciotto with chocolate pastry cream, you can find a recipe for it here. And if you'd like to fill them with Olivotto-flavored pastry cream, you should join me in Puglia and pick up some Olivotto while you're there.

 

Cook with me, Italian mammas and local chefs in Puglia in 2013 ~ Food & Wine Lovers' Culinary Tour in Puglia

Book before January 31, 2013 and receive $200 off per person!

 

Related Posts:

The Pastries of Lecce with Pastry Chef Luca Capilungo

Olivotto: The Sweet Side of Olives

Zeppole di San Giuseppe

Seafood and More with Chef Lino at Ristorante Donna Lisa

Orecchiette and Salentine Breads - Cooking with Mamma Giulia in Salento

Under the Salento Sun - The Masserie of Salento

Wedding in Puglia

Cheese in Puglia - Making and Eating Fresh Cheese in Salento

Artisanal Cheese at Masseria CinqueSanti in Puglia

Lecce: The Baroque Beauty of Puglia

The Art of Making Pasta by Hand: A Pugliese Pasta Lesson with Nonna Vata

Tour of Masseria L'Astore and its Frantoio Ipogeo in Salento

Lunch Salento Style at Cantine Menhir

 

Cassata Siciliana for a Blog Birthday

 

Today Food Lover's Odyssey turns three. Before anything else, I want to thank all of you for helping me get here. I truly appreciate all your visits to the site, your comments, emails and Facebook "likes." I've been able to meet and cook with so many great people as a result of this blog, and it's all thanks to you!

Besides my recipes and food stories, I hope you've enjoyed my tales of magical desserts, limoncello misadventures and meeting royalty, and thank you for making the weekly roundup of Italian food, Italy on a Plate a success. This year I've started to branch out beyond the blog by hosting a fabulous Culinary Tour to Puglia! (By the way, plenty of spots are still available for September's trip.) 

I would love to hear from you about what you'd like to see, or see more of, in the upcoming year.  What have been your favorite posts? What parts of Italy & France do you want to read more about? (I'll be traveling again soon and will use your input to make my travel plans.) Please let me know in the comments.

 

 

 

In the meantime, let's celebrate with cake! I've made a special cake from Sicily, the elaborate Cassata Siciliana. Although cannoli are probably more popular outside of the island, cassata is just as iconic of a dessert. I wonder how the popularity of both these Sicilian desserts might have been reversed if that famous line from The Godfather had been, "Leave the gun, take the cassata."

Like cannoli, this cake uses the ricotta cream made with Sicily's spectacular sheep's milk ricotta. (There's really none better anywhere else, so if you're in Sicily you must indulge in at least one ricotta dessert).  A traditional dessert of Easter so rich and sweet, it is a great way to end the long Lenten fast. The sugar overload and the Baroque decor are attributed to Sicily's Arab conquerers who brought sugar to the island. Long ago only nuns in monasteries and chefs of the rich made this cake, but now it is a standard in the pastry shops all over the island. You can also find it in pastry shops on Italy's mainland, especially in Puglia, Campania & even Sicilian pastry shops in Rome.

Sponge cake (pan di Spagna) that has been doused in liquor encases a thick layer of ricotta cream filled with a chocolate bits and candied pumpkin (zuccata).  The cake is wrapped in green-colored marzipan and covered, sometimes only on the top and sometimes completely, with a sugar glaze. If that's not enough sugar for you, whole pieces of candied fruits cover the top in an elaborate decoration resembling a flower petal. More decorations of thin piping finish off this extravagent, Baroque (some might say over-the-top) cake. The cake brings toghether the sweet tastes that are quintessentially Sicilian: ricotta cream, marzipan and candied fruits.

 

 

 

Being of Sicilian ancestry, I thought it fitting that I make this cake to celebrate turning 3.  The cassata I've made takes into consideration a few of my flavor preferences, no candied fruit inside and icing only on the top. You can find cassata made exactly like this in Sicily, but purists may want a little more. I've noted in the recipe where I've strayed off the traditional path, so you can make it in the very traditional way, with a thick coating of icing all around and filled with candied fruits. I did a little bit of fruit decoration to the top, although I only found the cherries and candied orange peel here in the suburbs of San Francisco.  Being more of a minimalist, I think I should have stuck with my initial idea of only three cherries in the center. The sweet smell of candied fruit and crushed almonds mixed with sugar, from the marzipan, sends scents of Sicilian pastry shops through your kitchen.

 

 

 

Cassata Siciliana
(makes one 10-inch cake)

For the pan di Spagna (sponge cake):
8 eggs, yolks and whites, separated and at room temperature
1 1/4 cups (240 g) granulated sugar, divided in half
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Pinch of cream of tartar
2 cups (240 g) cake flour, sifted


For the ricotta cream:
30 ounces (850 g) fresh ricotta, preferably sheep's milk, drained
2 cups (240 g) powdered sugar
3 ounces (170 g) candied fruit*
3 ounces (170 g) dark chocolate chips*

*NOTE:  If you prefer, you can leave out the candied fruit and use 6 ounces of chocolate chips instead.

For the imbibing syrup:
1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
Scant 1 cup (200 ml) water
2 to 4 tablespoons Maraschino liqueur or rum, to taste

For the marzipan:
10 ounces marzipan
2 to 3 drops of green food coloring
Powdered sugar, as needed to help keep the marzipan from becoming too sticky


For the sugar glaze:
6 ounces (150 g) powdered sugar
About 3 tablespoons water


For the royal icing:
8 ounces powdered sugar
1 egg white (or 1 tablespoon meringue powder plus 2 tablespoons warm water)

 

Whole candied fruit and candied orange peel for the garnish

 

 

Preheat an oven to 375 F

Butter the bottom and sides of one 10-inch round cake pan and one 8x8-inch square cake pan. Then lightly dust both with cake flour.

To make the pan di Spagna (sponge cake): In a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, whisk together the egg yolks, half the sugar and vanilla extract until the mixture is pale, thick and at the "ribbon stage" (meaning when you lift the beaters the batter falls back on itself in a ribbon-like effect), about 10 minutes.  Pour the mixture into a large bowl. Clean the mixing bowl and in it, whisk together the egg whites with the cream of tartar.  Once the mixture becomes frothy, slowly add the other half of the sugar.  Whisk until the mixture forms soft peaks. (You don't want firm peaks or the egg whites will be too stiff to fold in with the other ingredients.) 

Fold 1/3 of the egg white mixture into the egg yolk mixture to lighten the egg yolk mixture.  Then fold in half of the flour mixture.  (It's best if someone else sprinkles the flour into the egg mixture while you are folding it in; it allows the flour to be incorporated more slowly while keeping as much air in the batter as possible.)  Fold in another 1/3 of the egg white mixture.  Then fold in the remaining flour. Lastly fold in the remaining third of the egg white mixture. 

Pour 2/3 of the batter into the round cake pan and the remaining batter into the square cake pan.  Bake for 20-25 minutes. The cake is done when you lightly touch the top of the cake and it springs back. Let cool for 10 minutes and remove from the cake pans.  Let cool completely before assembling the cassata.

 

To make the ricotta cream: Press the drained ricotta through a seive.  Add the powdered sugar and stir the mixture together, by hand or using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, until the mixture is creamy.  Add the candied fruit and/or chocolate chips and stir in.  Place in the refrigerator until you're ready to assemble the cassata.

 

To make the imbibing syrup: Bring the sugar and water to a boil. Let cool for 10 minutes. Add the Maraschino or rum, the amount depending on your taste. Refrigerate until it's cold and you're ready to assemble the cassata.

 

To prepare the marzipan: Add 2 small drops of green food coloring to the marzipan and knead in until the color is uniform and a light green. Add powdered sugar to the mixture as you're kneading in the color to prevent the marzipan from becoming too sticky. If you need to, add 1 more drop of food coloring to the marzipan to get the desired color. (Be careful as a very little coloring goes a long way.) Set aside until you're ready to assemble the cassata.  If the marzipan is too soft, put in the refrigerator until it firms up.

 

To make the sugar glaze: Do this only right before you are ready to ice the cake. In a small saucepan, melt the powdered sugar with the water, starting with 2 tablespoons and adding more if necessary.  The more water you use the thinner and more translucent the icing will be; it will also run more easily.

 

To make the royal icing: Make this when you are ready to decorate the cake.  In a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, whisk together the sugar and egg whites until it forms a thick icing.  Place in a pastry bag fitted with a small writing tip.

 

 

Assembling the cassata -

Line a 9-inch pie dish or pan with cling wrap.  (Ideally you would like the dish to have a smaller bottom in order to get the traditional dome-like shape of the cassasta.) Roll the marzipan out into one strip of 1/4-inch thickness and wide enough to cover the entire side of the dish. Place the marzipan strip in a ring-like shape along the side of the dish so that is covers the entire side of the dish. Trim any excess at the top.

Slice off  the thin layer of crust on the top and bottom of the round sponge cake. Then slice the round sponge cake in half horizontally, so that you have two round cake disks.  Using the bottom of the pie dish as a guide, measure one disk to fit the bottom, trimming away any excess.  Place that disk at the bottom of the pie plate. Using a pastry brush, give the cake a generous imbibing of the syrup.  

Cut four slices about 3/8-inch thick from the square sponge cake. Wrap the slices around the edges of the plate, laying they against the marzipan. Brush these pieces of sponge cake generously with imbibing syrup.

Fill the center with ricotta cream, filling it to the top and leveling the cream with an offset spatula.

Place the second round disk of sponge cake on top of the ricotta cream and brush generously with the imbibing syrup.  Bring the marzipan up around the sides of the cake.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, overnight is best.

When you're ready to finish decorating the cake, make the sugar glaze. Remove the cake from the refrigerator and remove the plastic wrap.  Place a dish or cake plate on the uncovered sponge cake and flip the cake over. Remove the pie dish and plastic wrap.  Slowly pour the icing onto the top center and spread it outwards with a spatula.  If you would like to ice the sides, pour enough icing so that you can spread it down along the sides to cover the marzipan. If you want to ice only the top, pour a smaller amount of icing onto the center and spread it almost to the edge of the cake. It should settle itself into the edge. Let the icing cool completely until it hardens.

Decorate by adding to the top candied fruits, Maraschino cherries, and candied citrus peel in the shape of a flower petal. Finish decorating by piping royal icing along the sides and top of the cake.  Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

Related Posts:

Fraisier to Celebrate My First Blog Birthday

Torta Setteveli - Seven Veils Cake from Palermo

Cassetelle Siciliana (Sweet fried "ravioli" filled with ricotta cream)

One Cannolo, Two Cannoli

Eggplant Caponata and Sicilian Market Etiquette

Pasta con le Sarde and Cooking in Palermo

Taste of the Sea and Spaghetti Siracusana

Good Eats and Good Views in Taormina

Foods Not to Miss in Sicily

Totano Festival and a Weekend on the Aeolian Islands

Take Anything but Leave the Cannoli

 

 

 

Zeppole di San Giuseppe

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A year ago, almost to the day, I arrived in Lecce for the first time.  I think you never forget your first impressions of a city, especially those cities that are close to your heart.  I remember stepping off the train late in the afternoon.  The streets of the historic center were so quiet, almost deserted.  The only sound I heard were the wheels of my suitcase click-clacking against the cobblestone street. As I made my first stroll through the baroque historic center, I felt a bit lonely.  The only eyes I met were those of the strange characters carved out of stone and hanging from buildings, churches and doorways.  They stared down at me with smirks that felt like recriminations for coming to Salento solo.

 

 

Then I met up with Ylenia and Claudia who introduced me to Antonella, Pina, Antonella, and Debora.  We gathered in Piazza St. Oronzo for the Italian unification celebration.  Most of Lecce's population came out for the celebration, too, and it seemed that these ladies knew everyone in town.  More and more people joined our group, as we popped in and out of cafes, wine bars, bread shops, and pastry shops, meeting proprietors and even more people of the city. Those strange stone characters on the buildings no longer laughed at me, and I have never again felt alone in Lecce or Salento.

Another thing that stands out about this trip, and all trips to Salento since, was that everyone I met either gave me some kind of food gift or offered me something to eat.  As it was almost March 19th, St. Joseph's day in Italy, zeppole di San Giuseppe were the most offered gift.  In the same way one might offer to get you a coffee, I was offered a zeppola everywhere I went.  I remember the first zeppola I had in Puglia with my new friends, and how they waited with baited breath as I chose between the fried and baked version.  I can still hear their collective exhale of relief when I chose the fried one.  Whenever I see or eat a zeppola di San Giuseppe, I think of my first day in Lecce and all those that I met, who I now call friends.

Fried dough, with an crunchy crust and airy in the center.  There's a generous topping of pastry cream flavored ever-so-slightly with lemon and that little bit of chocolate to add even more decadence to the whole thing.  If you're in Italy, you're obliged to have at least one of these over the holiday.

 

Zeppole di San Giuseppe in the pastry case (these are the baked version)

 

On March 19, Italy celebrates St. Joseph's Day, a day dedicated to Joseph the husband of Mary the mother of Jesus.  The saint is honored with feasts and parades, especially in the south of Italy. It is the onomastico (Saint's "name day" ~ a second birthday of sorts) for all those named Giuseppe or Giuseppina.  Since 1968, the day is also father's day in Italy. Basically, there's a reason for everyone in Italy to celebrate. 

 

Besides the feast, zeppole di San Giuseppe are a huge part of the holiday celebrations. I saw the zeppole in pastry windows at least a week before the actual holiday, but on the actual day, le zeppole fill almost the entire pastry case.  The pastry is choux paste fried in the shape of a ring (ciambella) and topped with pastry cream. In Naples, where the first historic account of zeppole di San Giuseppe was recorded in 1837, they add amarena cherries to the top of the pastry cream.  The zeppole I've made to celebrate San Giuseppe are the Pugliese version I had on my first day in Salento, topped with a swirl of chocolate ganache or pastry cream.

 

UPDATE March 19, 2013: As I'm back in Lecce & Puglia during this holiday, I've had the chance to sample many more zeppole. I've realized that most pastry shops here in Lecce actually top off the lemon-infused pastry cream with a generous dollop of chocolate pastry cream. I've changed the recipe a little, allowing for a chocolate pastry cream top.

I'm also certain that they use a little to all lard (depending on the pasticceria) instead of butter in the choux paste and maybe also in the frying. However, I'm going to stick with butter in the recipe. The lard gives the zeppole a denser interior. If you'd like that in your zeppole, you can substitute 2 tablespoons of butter with lard.

 

 

Zeppole di San Giuseppe
(makes about 12)


For the dough (choux paste):

1 ½ cups (350 ml) water
6 tablespoons (80 grams) butter, cubed
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 1/3 (180 grams) cup all-purpose flour
5 eggs

6 to 8 cups of peanut oil for frying


For the pastry cream:

3 ¼ cups (750 ml) whole milk
Rind of one lemon (only the rind, not the pith)
8 egg yolks
2/3 cup (160 grams) granulated sugar
Scan 1/2 cup (50 grams) cornstarch
3 1/2 tablespoons (25 grams) all purpose flour
4 tablespoons (55 grams) butter, cubed

 

For the chocolate pastry cream:

4 ounces dark chocolate, chopped in tiny shreds

 

 

To make the choux paste:  In a saucepan, bring the water, butter, sugar and salt to a rolling boil. (It's important that the butter is in small cubes, so it melts and combines with the water before the mixture comes to a boil.)  Add the flour all at once, and remove from the heat.  Stir until all the flour is combined.  Place back the mixture back on the stove and stir over medium heat for about 5 minutes to dry out the mixture.  Remove from the heat and, after allowing the mixture to cool for 10 minutes, add the eggs one at a time.  Stir in each egg completely before adding the next.

In a deep pot, heat the oil to 360° F (180° C).  Place the choux paste into a piping bag attached with a 14mm star tip (the tip opening should be about 1/2 inch in diameter).  Cut 4X4-inch squares of parchment paper.  Pipe the choux paste onto the parchment paper, making rings that are little smaller than the paper, 3 1/2 inches in diameter.  (I actually piped little "snails" filling the center, but it wasn't necessary as the dough rises quite a bit as it fries, leaving only a small hole in the center.)  Place the choux paste and parchment paper into the oil.  Once the dough starts frying, the paper will fall away easily; then remove it from the pan.  Fry the zeppole about 4 minutes on each side. Depending on the pan size, fry only 2 or 3 zeppole at a time, so you don't lower the temperature of the oil.  Once the zeppole are cooked through, place on paper towels to drain.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar once they've cooled slightly.

 

 

To make the pastry cream:  Place the milk and the lemon rind in a nonreactive heavy bottom sauce pot and leave for 20 minutes.  Then bring the milk to a scald.  Let the lemon rind steep in the milk for 10 minutes.  In the meantime, in another bowl, whisk together the sugar and egg yolks until the mixture becomes pale.  (The whisk must be nonreactive also.) Add the cornstarch and flour and whisk to combine.

Strain the lemon rind out of the milk, and slowly pour the warmed milk into the egg yolk mixture.  Whisking together as you pour.  Once all the milk and egg yolk mixtures are combined, place back into the saucepot and over medium-high heat.  Bring to a boil, whisking vigorously the entire time.  Once the mixture has boiled, cook for another 2 minutes, again stirring the entiring time.  Remove from the heat and strain through a fine-mesh seive. 

To make the chocolate pastry cream: As soon as you've strained the pastry cream through the fine-mesh sleeve and while it is still hot, take 1 1/4 cups of the pastry cream and pour over the chopped chocolate. Let sit for about 1 minutes then whisk the melted chocolate and the pastry cream together until all the ingredients are combined and smooth.

Add the butter to the top of both flavors of pastry cream, stirring in once the butter has melted. Place the bowls into an ice bath and let cool for 10 minutes.  Spread each flavor of the pastry cream into its own glass dish (9x13 for the lemon-infused and 8x8 for the chocolate) and cover with plastic wrap.  The plastic wrap should be touching the pastry cream to keep the cream from developing a film.  Refrigerate until cold.

 

To assemble the zeppole:  Place the pastry cream into a piping bag fitted with a 12mm star tip.  Into the center of each zeppole, pipe the pastry cream.  I piped a generous two "snail-shaped" circles of pastry cream, one on top of the other.  Place the ganache into a piping bag fitted with a 10mm star tip.  Pipe a small ring of ganache on the top center of each zeppole.  They are best minutes after they've been garnished, and should be eaten the day they've been made.  Enjoy!

NOTE:  To make the Neapolitan version, with a cherry topping instead of the chocolate one, you need a jar of amarena cherries, or another type of sour cherries, in syrup.  Drain some of the syrup from the cherries, and top each zeppole with one or two cherries.

 

Zeppole di San Giuseppe from Scaturchio in Napoli

 

Join me in Puglia in 2013! For this food lover's culinary tour, we'll be cooking with our beautiful Italian mamme and professional chefs. We'll also be eating and exploring our way through the region.  We'll be making these zepppole, too!

 There are four tour dates available from which to choose! For tour details, check out this page: Culinary Tours in Puglia 2013!

Read more about the food and beauty of Puglia - Puglia section here on the blog.

 

 

 

Related Posts:

The Pastries of Lecce with Pastry Chef Luca Capilungo

Making Orecchiette and Salentine Breads - Cooking with Mamma Giulia in Salento

Artisanal Cheese at Masseria CinqueSanti in Puglia

The Art of Making Pasta by Hand: A Pugliese Pasta Lesson with Nonna Vata

Cheese in Puglia - Making and Eating Fresh Cheese in Salento

Under the Salento Sun - The Masserie of Puglia

Wedding in Puglia

Traditional Salentine Dishes at Locanda Rivoli in Lecce

Lecce: The Baroque Beauty of Puglia

Pugliese Pasta Dish: Sagne Ncannulate con Sugo Schiattariciati

Classic Salentino Cuisine Reinvented at Sette di Sette in Lecce

Tour of Masseria L'Astore and its Frantoio Ipogeo in Salento

Lunch Salento Style at Cantine Menhir

Shopping and Eating Local in Italy - Farmers' Market in Lecce

Sagne Ncannulate Schiattariciati - Pugliese Pasta with Schiattariciati Tomato Sauce

The Dish from Lecce: Rustico Leccese

The Dish from Puglia: Ricci di Mare (sea urchins) from Porto Badisco

This Dish from Puglia: Friselle

Christmas Around Italy - Christmas Desserts in Salento

Eclairs with Chocolate Pastry Cream

Torta Setteveli - Seven Veils Cake from Palermo

Tiramisu

Journey Through the Pastries of Napoli

 

 

Nutella filled Venetian Frittelle for World Nutella Day & Carnival

 

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Today is the international holiday, World Nutella Day, hosted by Michelle from Bleeding Espresso and Sara from Ms. Adventures in Italy.  Six years ago "with a dream and a spoon" they deemed February 5th the Nutella Day holiday and history was made.  So popular this holiday is, they've even made a book about it.

 

For the last three years I've been participating in the celebrations, not only by eating spoonfuls of Nutella, but also by making something sweet and even sharing the story of my first taste of Nutella. This year the Nutella holiday fell on the same weekend as the start of Carnival in Venice. I couldn't resist making these fried Carnival treats and filling them with the chocolate and hazelnutty goodness - Nutella!

 

 

Frittelle in Venice

 

During the Carnival season, you'll find pastry shop windows in Venice full of the various kinds of frittelle - with raisins & pine nuts, filled with pastry cream or cream chantilly, and apple fritters.  Only once last year during Carnival did I see frittelle filled with Nutella; it was on my food walk with Monica.  But once I saw them, I knew they would be the treats I made for this year's celebration.  Here's the recipe, adapted from the traditional recipe in the cookbook, Venice Tradition and Food, one of the many cookbooks I've brought home from my travels.

 

 

 

 

Frittelle Veneziane filled with Nutella
Adapted from Venice Tradition and Food by Pino Agostini, Alvise Zorzi & Luca Steffenoni

(Makes about 24 frittelle)


3 ½ cups (500 grams) "00" flour**
3 ½ ounces (100 grams) sugar, plus more for garnishing the frittelle
½ teaspoon salt
2 eggs, room temperature
1 ¾ cups whole milk, divided in half, plus more if needed
1 ½ ounces (40 grams) yeast
6-8 cups peanut or grapeseed oil (or another oil with a high smoking point) for frying
1 large jar (26 ounces) Nutella

 

**NOTE: "00" flour is the best flour to use to get light and airy frittelle. If you cannot find "00" flour, you can use 300 grams of cake flour and 200 grams of all-purpose flour as a close substitute.

 

In a bowl, mix together the flour, sugar and salt.  Stir the eggs and half of the milk together and add it to the flour mixture.  Whisk together gently just until combined.  Warm the other half of the milk and add the yeast, stirring until the yeast is dissolved.  Add the milk and yeast mixture to the flour mixture and stir just until all the ingredients are combined. The dough will be quite loose/wet. Don't try to dissolve all the lumps in the dough, or you will overwork the flour causing the frittelle to be dense and heavy. Cover the bowl with a towel and let rise for about 5 hours when it should have doubled in size.

When the dough is ready, stir it again.  It should still be very loose and sticky.  If it's not, add a little more milk. 

In a heavy pot for frying, heat the oil to 365° F (180° C). Spoon the batter, scooped into 1 1/2 inch balls, into the oil. (I used an ice cream scooper, spraying it with non-stick cooking spray).  Fry until the frittelle are cooked through, about 5 minutes. Don't overcrowd your pot, or you will reduce the temperature of the oil, and they will not cook properly.  I fried 5 frittelle at a time in my large pot.

Remove the frittelle with a slotted spoon and place on a plate covered with paper towels to drain.  Once they've cooled enough to handle, roll them in granulated sugar.  Once you've fried all the frittelle, poke a hole in the tops of them.  Fill a pastry bag fitted with a round tip with Nutella and pipe Nutella into each frittelle.  They should be eaten while they are still warm.  Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

***************

Happy Nutella Day!  What is your favorite way of eating Nutella and/or your best recipe with Nutella?

***************

 

 

 

 

Related Posts:

Gianduja and Nutella Cheesecake for World Nutella Day 2010

Nutella Love Cakes (Flourless Chocolate & Hazelnut Cake with Nutella Ganache) for World Nutella Day 2011

Italian Hot Chocolate Recipe and Carnival in Venice

Frittelle, Hot Chocolate and Costumes - Welcome to Carnival in Venice

Tasting Venice - A Food Tour with Moncia Cesarato

Favorite Scenes and Costumes from Carnival in Venice 2011

Gianduja Budino and a Chocolate Pass in Turin

History of Chocolate in Turin - Gianduja and Much More

 

 

Holiday Dessert Recipes

 

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"It's the most wonderful time of the year," yes?  Christmas is here and for someone that loves to bake and share what I make, it is a wonderful, and also busy, time of the year.  For those of you looking for holiday dessert ideas, I've put together a list of my favorite dessert recipes.  Inpsired by travels to France & Italy & baking memories with mom, all of them would be a sweet ending to a fabulous holiday meal, or make a great edible Christmas gift.  There are many super easy yet elegant recipes and also those that are a little more elaborate, but definitely worth the extra effort.

Wishing all of you a sweet and happy holiday!

 

 

 

~ Super Easy and Elegant Dessets ~

Apple Tart from Gascony - Croustade aux Pommes 

Gianduja Budino

Gianduja - Nutella Cheesecake

"Magical" Chocolate Kahlua Budino

Meyer Lemon Cheesecake

Tiramisu Cheesecake

Torta Caprese - Flourless Chocolate Cake from Capri

 

 

 

 

~ More Delicious Desserts ~

Cannoli Siciliani

Cassatelle alla Siciliana

Chocolate Eclairs with Chocolate Pastry Cream

Meyer Lemon Tart Topped with Lightened Lemon Cream

Nutella Love Cakes

Quince Crostata

Tiramisu

Torta Setteveli - Seven Veils Cake from Palermo

 

 

 

 ~ Cookies and Other Small Bites ~

Cantucci - Biscotti from Tuscany

Four-Spice Palmiers

Pignolata (or Neapolitan Struffoli)

Snowball Cookies (Palle di Neve)

 

 

 

 

Related Posts:

Christmas Around Italy - 10 Addresses for Christmas Sweets in Rome

Christmas Around Italy - Traditional Venetian Christmas Dinner

Christmas Around Italy - Christmas Traditions in Naples

Christmas in France - Aix-en-Provence Christmas Market

Christmas Gingerbread House

French Pastries and 10 Top Patisseries in Paris

Paris Pastry Binge - Some of the Best Pastry Shops in Paris

Paris Walks for Food Lovers - Along Rue de Seine and Bonaparte

 

Chocolate Eclairs: My Mom and Learning to Make Them

 

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“Keep stirring until the dough forms a ball,” the French chef explained during our basic class on pâte a choux.  This statement, the same my mom always used while teaching me, transported me through time to the first time I made éclairs. 

I was perched on a stool eyes glued to the saucepan. My mom stirred the éclair dough, while explaining the procedure.  Her thin but deft arms swirling like helicopter blades mixing the dough into a ball.  After that she handed the pan over to me and let me stir in the eggs, one at a time.  I was eager to do anything to be involved in making éclairs, even something as simple as stirring.  My mom would make cream puffs or éclairs only for Easter and Christmas. I, ever the chocoholic, pleaded each year for her to make éclairs instead of the cream puffs, whining, “But mommmm, there’s no chocolate in cream puffs.” To me, the cream puff was the ugly stepsister, and I wanted Cinderella, the éclair with chocolate. 

 

After I stirred in the eggs, she took back the saucepan and used two spoons to form lumpy mounds onto the baking sheet.  I took about 30 minutes to make two mounds. I started the second over and over again to make them exactly the same.  My mom just shook her head and laughed, “We don’t have all day to make them perfect.” How a piping bag would have helped, but we never had kitchen “gadgets” to make things prettier and easier.  Instead flatware was our baking equipment; spoons took the place of piping bags, butter knives were offset spatulas, forks were pastry cutters and crimpers.  “Gadgets,” she’d sneer, “are for people who don’t really bake.”  My guess is that we really didn’t have the extra money for gadgets, and she improvised with what we had.

 

After the éclairs baked for the first 25 minutes, she used a wooden spoon to jar the oven door open and let the steam exit.  Instead of fondant and chocolate pastry cream, we used melted chocolate chips for the icing and made out-of-the-box pudding for the filling.  To fill the éclairs, she cut them in half, sacrilege to the French pastry chef.  With a butter knife, she plopped the melted chocolate chips onto the éclair top, and flicked her wrist once to spread it, one éclair after the other, not paying attention to any of the chocolate dripping from the sides. 

 

 

 

As she spread, I used a paper towel to wipe away the drippings and any smears.  She let me help with the pudding, and I carefully filled each éclair trying to make sure no pudding ran off the sides.  Again, she shook her head and mumbled my nickname, “piddicusa,” (Sicilian dialect for the Italian term, pignola – meaning excessively fussy).   My mom didn’t have time to be piddicusa.  She had three holy terrors adorable kids, a tight budget, and even tighter amount of time to spend worrying about chocolate dripping from the side of éclairs. 

 

We made about 20 éclairs, not all the same length, with ragged and uneven tops, resembling mountain ranges.  They were not the perfect little cylinders exquisitely coiffed with fondant that you see in Parisian patisseries but they were good. I was so proud of my first endeavor into French pastry, looking upon them like a mother swan admiring the potential of her baby ducklings.  My mom packed them into her Tupperware and carted them off to my Aunt Rosalie’s, where I displayed them on a crystal platter with paper doilies underneath.  Now my aunt, who has never baked once in her life, had all the “gadgets.” 

 

 

 

Somewhere in the background, I heard someone ask, “Kathy, what’s wrong?”  Suddenly, I was back in the present, in class in Paris, and the chef was piping one clone after another onto the parchment-lined sheet tray. Each strip of dough was exactly 12 mm in width and 4 inches in length.  I blinked away the tears and wiped them from my cheek, responding “Nothing, I'm just happy to be learning how to make éclairs.”

As many of you who follow this blog know, my mom passed away almost 8 years ago.  She is still a huge part of my food-loving life.  She wasn’t a professional like her father, from whom she learned to bake. After arriving in the U.S. from Italy, he had a bakery in New York.  (I wonder if he used “gadgets”?)  She did make delicious and simple baked goods that people still remember and talk about today.  Even though I can make fancy French pastries, I’m constantly asked by my family, and long-time friends, to replicate her pies, cakes, cookies, and cream puffs (only I loved the éclairs more).  Although I use more of the professional techniques, even gadgets, than my mom did, I hear my mom every time I stir the flour into the milk mixture "until it forms a ball."

I do enjoy sampling the many varieties of pastries in France, but the chocolate eclair is still my favorite.  When I make them and when I eat them, I think of my mom.  I share this story and the recipe in honor of her.  The technique for making these is what I learned in France, but the icing on this recipe, a ganache one, is closer to my mom's version than the one of fondant that you'll find in French patisseries. 

 

Join me in Provence in 2013 for a French Pastry Culinary Vacation and learn how to create these and other classic French pastries! Details here: Pastry-Making Vacation in Provence

 

 

 

Chocolate Eclairs

(makes 20 eclairs)

For the pâte a choux:

2/3 cup (150 ml) whole milk

2/3 cup (150 ml) water

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon (120 g) unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch cubes

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/3 cup (180 g) all-purpose flour

4 to 5 eggs, at room temperature

In a sauce pot, bring the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt to a rolling boil.  Keep the mixture on the heat until it has expanded and then fallen.  Remove from the heat, and pour the flour in all at once.  Stir vigorously until the mixture becomes a ball.  Place back over medium-low heat and continue stirring about 10 minutes to dry out the dough.  Remove from the heat and stir until you no longer see steam rising from the dough.  Place the dough in a stand mixer using a paddle attachment (or you can do this by hand), and stir in one egg at a time.  With the electric mixer or by hand, the dough will break up into pieces and come back together as you incorporate each egg.  After the fourth egg, lift the dough up with the spoon or paddle attachment to test if it's ready.  As you lift it, it should come to a point, stay for a few seconds, then fall back on itself.  If it doesn't fall, add the fifth egg, or part of it. 

Using a pastry bag and round tip, 12 mm or 1/2-inch in diameter, pipe out cylindars 4 1/2 inches long onto the parchment-lined baking sheet.  Leave 2 inches between each eclair you pipe.  Bake at 375 F for 20 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350 F and bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes more.  Turn off the heat and open the oven to keep the door ajar (yes, you can use a wooden spoon to do this, if necessary).  Let the eclairs dry out for 20 minutes more with the oven off.

 

 

For the chocolate pastry cream:

3 1/4 cup (750 ml) whole milk

1 cup (185 g) granulated sugar, divided in half

8 egg yolks

1/3 cup (65 g) cornstarch

9 ounces (300 g) quality dark chocolate, 70% cacao, melted

Bring the milk and half the sugar to a boil.  As the milk is heating, whisk together the othr half of the sugar and the egg yolks until the mixture is combined and has lightened in color.  Whisk in the cornstarch.  Once the milk boils, slowly pour it into the egg yolk mixture, whisking the entire time, until you have added all the milk into the egg yolks.  Pour the mixture back into the sauce pot and bring to a boil, whisking constantly.  Once the mixture boils, keep over the heat for about 30 seconds more, whisking continuously.  Remove from the heat and pass through a fine mesh seive into a bowl.  Add the chocolate and stir until all the chocolate has been combined into the pastry cream.  Place the mixture over an ice bath and let cool for 10 minutes.  Spread the mixture into a 13x9-inch glass dish and cover with platic wrap (the plastic wrap should be touching the pastry cream, so a film doesn't form).  Refrigerate until the pastry cream is cold.

 

 

For the chocolate ganache icing:

2/3 cup (150 ml) heavy cream

4 1/2 ounces (150 g) dark couverture chocolate, finely chopped

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, at room temperature

Place the chopped chocolate in a bowl.  In a sauce pot, heat the cream just until it's scalding (little bubbles appear around the rim).  Pour the cream over the chocolate.  Let the mixture rest for a minute, then slowly whisk together.  To create a smooth ganache, place the whisk in the center of the mixture and whisk in a small, slow, circular motion until the chocolate and cream combine.  Break the butter into four pieces and place on top of the mixture.  Once the butter melts, slowly stir it in with the whisk.  Let the ganache cool and thicken just to the point that it will not run when you frost the eclairs, about 90 F.

 

To assemble the eclairs:

 

 

The eclairs should be completely cooled, and the pastry cream should be cold before assembling.  It is best to assemble the eclairs 1-2 hours before serving. Using a star tip about 1/4 inch in diameter, poke three holes in the bottom of each eclair. 

 

 
 
 

Fill a pastry bag with a round pastry tip that is 1/4-inch in diameter.  Fill each eclair by piping the pastry cream into the holes you've just made in the bottom of the eclairs.  Continue piping until the cream starts to run out from each of the holes.  (This will ensure that you have a nicely filled eclair.)  Wipe away the excess pastry cream with a spatula.

 

 

To ice the eclairs, the ganache should be just at the point where it won't run, about 90 F.  The ganache should also be in a bowl that it at least as wide as each eclair.  Gently and lightly lay the top portion of the eclair into the ganache, stopping right when the eclair has just touched the ganache.  Pull the eclair back up and run an arched finer over the top's center to smooth out the icing.  You should only have excess at one end of the eclair.  At that end run your index finger around the edge to wipe of the excess.  Do the same for each eclair.

Refrigerate until serving. Enjoy! 

 

A Few Notes: 

Like my mom, you can use chocolate pudding mix, but once you've tasted chocolate pastry cream, you'll never go back to the box stuff.

When making ganache, I wouldn't recommend using chocolate chips for cookies.  They have a wax in them so they will keep their shape in the heat, exactly the opposite of what you want when making ganache.  A high quality couverture chocolate will not only taste better, but also give you the shine you want on the topping.

 

 

  

 

 

 

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What is one of your most memorable cooking or eating moments with your mom?

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Chiacchiere - Ready for Carnival in Italy

 

 

Are you ready for Carnevale? I certainly am.  As with every celebration that happens in Italy, food is a huge part of the festivities.  Carnevale is no exception.  I've fried up some sweet treats, an essential food for any Carnival celebration, for my post at Napoli Unplugged.  These fried treats are as much a Carnival tradition in Italy as are masks, costumes, parades and pranks.

They start popping up in pastry shops right after the Epiphany. Although you will find them throughout Italy, their name and shape differs throughout the boot.  Never have I seen so many names for such a simple treat:  Called chiacchiere (meaning chatter - gossip - chit chat) in the south of Italy, they also go by other names in other areas: frappe (tassels) in Rome, cenci - (rags) in Tuscany, bugie (lies) in Piedmont, sfrappe in Le Marche, sfrappole in Emilia, nastri (ribbons), lattughe (lettuce), guanti (gloves), fritole, crostoli, galani, cioffe.  These are the names I've seen for them, but I'm certain there are even more.  If you've heard them called by any other name, please add it in the comments below.

 

 

For as many different names as these treats have, they might have as many variations in forms.  I've seen squares, sheets, strips, diamonds, knots and twisted ribbon like shapes. Sweet fried dough with the requisite dusting of powdered sugar, they are a sweet and simple indulgence, both delicious and addictive.  It's impossible to eat just one.

For the recipe and a tidbit on another Carnival traditon, make sure to check out my post on NapoliUnplugged: Chiacchiere for Carnival

 

 
 

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