Food Lover's Odyssey

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.

 

Join me in Puglia - Food & Wine Lover's Culinary Tour - September 1 through 9

Book before May 30, 2012 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

 

 

 

Food Finds in Aix-en-Provence with Tuula

 

One of the best things about blogging has been meeting others from all over the world, especially those who are as passionate about food, travel, Italy and France. Although much of this "meeting" is of the virtual type, I've been fortunate to meet in person many great food & travel bloggers in Italy and France. Last Fall, after much virtual "chatting," Tuula of Belle Provence Travels and I finally met in person! Tuula is as sweet and enthusiastic about France as her writing portrays. What I especially love about her blog is how she writes about the tiny tucked-away villages that many guidebooks miss. And she always seems to find the best food festivals in Provence!

Last October, Tuula and her very sweet, French, food-loving husband welcomed me into their home. It was such a treat to see Provence with these two food-loving locals.  Besides visting tiny seaside and hilltop villages, we had days filled with market visits, food fairs, long leisurely lunches, sauccison sampling, pastry nibbling, and we washed it all down with French wine.  As Tuula pointed out, this was all in the name of research, of course! We cooked toghether. At cafes under a mild Autumn sun or in cozy wine bars, we laughed together (a lot of time at my awful French pronunciation). And those Provençal views weren't bad either.

 

 

 

Aix-en-Provence is far from one of those undiscovered villages. Very well-known as Cezanne's birthplace, you can even follow in his steps, Aix is a city of art.  Thermal waters have flowed through the city since Roman times, so Aix is also a popular spa destination.  There are many reasons one might visit the city, but this a food lover's blog.  So we opted to wander through one of the many colorful markets of Aix, and enjoy a famous two-hour French lunch. Afterwards, under the guise of walking off our lunch, we found a few sweet treats of Provence. 

The Cours Mirabeau is one of the most beautiful boulevards in all of France. The trees line each side of the street and their leaves arch up and meet in the middle to create an arbor. Always bustling, the boulevard is the social center of the city. An outdoor seat at one of the restaurants along Cours Mirabeau, the Bastide du Cours, was our spot for lunch.  The menu formule, various combinations of starter/main dish/dessert or all three, is always a good value. With it you'll get good, not spectacular, bistrot and regional fare.  Of the restaurant's three menu formulas offered, we chose the "Gandolphe," a three-course meal for 19,50 euros.

Our starter was a religeuse of tomatoes and mozzarella. As it was the end of tomato season, this twist on the French pastry, was pretty but a bit bland.  Howerver, the braised jarret de porc (pork shank) with lentils from Puy was flavorful, falling-off-the-bone tender and belly warming.  We ended with a simple and classic, crème brûlée. The large dish of custard with a vane of burnt sugar on top gave the perfect textual contrast to the creamy custard.  Quite the opposite of a light lunch, we savored it slowly along with the surroundings and much girl-talk. The two-hour lunch, one of the best treats when traveling to France, actually flew by.

 

 

 

Our "foodie" day didn't end with the meal, either.  Walking through the streets that splinter off from Cours Mirabeau, we did a little wandering and found more!  Three sweets that popped up all day in Aix, and during my stay in Provece were calissons, navettes, and Tartes Tropéziennes.  So popular are they, that each has at least one interesting legend of its birth.

 

 

Calissons d'Aix - Made with equal parts blanched & ground almonds, sugar and candied fruit of orange peel & melons, they have a paper thin wafer at the bottom and are topped with royal icing. Legend has it that these almond shaped sweets were first introduced in 1454 at King Rene's second wedding in order to sweeten up his much younger, and possibly reluctant, bride Jeanne for their marriage. They are the specialty of the city and in every pastry window, candy shop, street market, everywhere. 

 

 

 

Navettes - A crunchy, barely sweet cookie, they are shaped like a boat to commemorate the arrival by boat of St. Lazarus, Mary Magdalene and Saint Martha to Provence over 2000 years ago.  A specialty of Marseille, they come in three traditional forms.  The navette traditionnel uses fleur d'oranger; the navette Marseillaise leaves out the orange flower water, and the navette Provençale has the fleur d'oranger and is also a little softer.  Nowadays you can find them with a variety of additions, like cinnamon, lavender, figs, etc.

 

 

 

 

Tarte Tropézienne - Actually a dessert of St. Tropez along the Côte d'Azur.  I think I saw more of this pastry in Provence than anywhere else outside of St. Tropez. As the story goes, the first Tarte Tropézienne was created by a Polish man, Alexandre Micka, who had a shop in St. Tropez.  He made this dessert along with pizzas and sandwiches for the crew filming, "And God Created Woman," starring Bridgitte Bardot. Bridgitte liked the dessert so much that she urged Alexandre to name it.  He did, the film was a success and is credited for making St. Tropez the popular resort town.

The tart is not really a tart but a big brioche bun. As Alexandre Micka's filling is a big secret, each pastry shop varies its version in an attempt to recreate his. Pastry cream and Kirsch liqueur are at the base of the filling. Some combination of butter, butter cream, meringue or whipped cream is added to the pastry cream and Kirsch. The top can vary, too.  I saw a dusting of powdered sugar with berries, a crumble, and also a pearl sugar on top.

Tartes Tropéziennes from Patisserie Bechard

 

 

 

There was also chocolate!  Puyricard chocolates, named after the village in Provence where a Belgian couple began their French chocolate making. Known as the chocolate company of Provence, Puyricard has 17 swanky shops - 13 in southern France and 4 in Paris.  Believe me it's hard to resist spending all your euros in the store. We got out of there quite cheaply, a 250-gram box of assorted (we picked them) chocolates were a mere 23 euros.  Along with delicious chocolates and calissons, they offer guided visits to their chocolate making facility in Puyricard and chocolate classes.

 

 

 

An MOF Patissier in Aix!  For those of you who've seen Kings of Pastry, you know the MOF, short for Meilleur Ouvrier de France (Best Worker in France) for pastry award isn't given out lightly.  Riederer's pastry chef, Phillipe Segond has the MOF title, and his pristine pastries are evidence of it.  The pastry shop is right on the Cours Mirabeau and full of so many pretty sweet things, I need to go back to try them all.

 

 

 

The oldest pastry shop in Aix. Patisserie Bechard, opened since 1870, was our first and last stop in Aix. Both times, it was packed with locals ordering their daily dose of French pastries. They had a huge selection of classic French and regional pastries and the place had a homey vibe. I could have spent all day in the shop. Their Tarte Tropézienne, a house specialty, was very good.

 

Yes, Tuula knew how to show this food lover a sweet side of Aix-en-Provence. Aix and all our outings together in Provence were fun and just as packed with delicacies.  A big merci to Tuula!  I had so much fun that I'm thinking of showing up on their doorstep again this year. There's more research to do, no?!

 

 

 

Bastide du Cours
43/45/47 Cours Mirabeau
13100 Aix-en-Provence
Phone: +33 (0)4 42 26 10 06
Email: info@bastideducours.com

Riederer
67 Cours Mirabeau
13100, Aix-en-Provence
Phone: +33 (0)4 42 38 19 69

Puyricard
7-9, rue Rifle-Rafle
13100, Aix-en-Provence
Phone: +33 (0)4 42 21 13 26

Bechard
12 Cours Mirabeau
13100, Aix-en-Provence,
Phone: +33 (0)4 42 26 06 78

 

For information on dates and times of all the markets in Aix: Markets in Aix-en-Provence

 

 

Related Posts:

Christmas in France: Aix-en-Provence Christmas Market

Ten Places for Romantic Vacations in France

Food Lover's Walk in Paris Along Rue de Seine and Bonaparte

French Pastries and 10 Top Patisseries in Paris

Cours Saleya Market and a Picnic in Nice

Market Day in Sarlat

Frasier recipe

Meyer Lemon Tart inspired by Patisserie Gerard Mulot

Chocolate Eclairs

Four-Spice Palmiers

Paris Pastry Binge - Pierre Herme

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

The Sweet Life in Aix-en-Provence (Belle Provence Travels)

 

Christmas Around Italy - Christmas Desserts in Salento

 

Christmas Around Italy travels to Puglia today.  I'm welcoming my good friend from Lecce, Ylenia, of YL Tours Congressi.  I had the pleasure of meeting her this March and met up with her again this fall on my culinary journeys (and more) in Puglia.  Her company provides tours in Puglia for the food lover, along with educational, cultural, yoga, and biking tours in her native region, Puglia.  Today she's sharing six Christmas sweets you'll find on the table in Salento during the holidays and some beautiful photos of Lecce dressed up for Christmas.  Enjoy!

 

 

 

Purceddhruzzi are one of the traditional desserts of Salento.  They are small balls of sweet dough fried and crispy. They are then tossed in honey and garnished with pine nuts or almonds or tang colored. (Similar to struffoli in Naples)

 

 

Carteddhrate, another variation on fried dough.  This a yeast dough is made by mixing flour, the liqueur Strega, orange juice, oil flavored with orange peel. You work the dough for a long time so that it is elastic.  It's then rolled out into a thin sheet and cut into strips with a special pastry wheel. Strips obtained with different shapes can be created: twisting each strip can be in on itself, giving the shape of a rose, or cut pieces of 2 × 8 cm and huddle in the middle forming the butterfly.  The fried carteddhrate go into a saucepan of warmed honey & water and soak up the honey. At the end of the preparation, they are decorated with pine nuts, cinnamon and sprinkle with colored candies.

 

 

Scagliozzi (also known as mostaccioli) biscuits are slightly crunchy outside but soft inside. They are typical of the city of Nardo, diamond-shaped with toasted almonds and various spices including cinnamon. They can be covered with chocolate or white icing sugar.

 

 

Cupeta is another delicacy one should taste. It is a nougat with almonds, which comes in the form of long sticks made with caramelized sugar and toasted almonds. It is similar to almond brittle but thicker.

 

Chinuliddhre are in the form of little calzone, and filled with jam. he most widely used jams for the filling are pear, quince and Negroamaro grape.

Pittule, little doughnuts from Salento, are very famous and sought after by tourists during the Christmas season. Often they are topped with a dusting of sugar or honey, and also eaten for breakfast.

 

Christmas lights in Piazza del Duomo in Lecce

 

 

 

Join me in 2012 on a Food & Wine Lover's Journey in Puglia!

 

*All photos are courtesy of Ylenia and YL Tours Congressi

 

Related Posts:

Christmas Around Italy: 10 Addresses for Christmas Sweets in Rome

Christmas Around Italy: Traditional Christmas Dinner in Venice

Christmas Around Italy: Christmas Traditions in Naples

Holiday Dessert Recipes

Christmas in France: Aix-en-Provence Christmas Market

The Pastries of Lecce with Pastry Chef Luca Capilungo

A Wedding in Puglia

Traditional Salentine Dishes at Locanda Rivoli in Lecce

 

Holiday Dessert Recipes

 

Pin It

 

"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

 

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

 

 

I know, I've made you wait much too long for the second part of my Paris Pastry Binge, but it's finally here.  Besides the binge at Pierre Herme, I sampled sweets at some of the best pastry shops in Paris.  Major flavor players in this binge were chocolate, caramel & pralinè, but there were also a few citrus and pistachio notes included in my sweet selection.

 

Cafe Pouchkine

 

Foret Noire

Eclair Pur Caramel

Noir d'Or

Silver serving plates & tea pots, a pastry case with gilded ornamention, fine china, marble columns, and a glass-topped bar; its opulence was enough to bring you back to the 19th century and a salon de the of nobility.  I adored this place! If I were ever have a patisserie of my own, I would want it to look like this one.  The pastries, mostly French with a Russian twist, are as fancy as the salon.  Each and every pastry was exquisite and finished with a dusting of gold.  The teeny tiny shop is on the ground floor of the Printemps Mode store. The pastry window looks onto the street and beckons even the most anti-carb person to indulge inside.  We sampled only three patisseries, and it took at least 20 minutes to decide which three.

The Forêt Noire (black forest) had all the elements of a classic black forest cake, chocolate, creme chantilly and Kirsch-soaked cherries. All set inside a chocolate cup.  This was my friend's favorite, and because of that, I think I had only some of the chocolate topping and a cherry.  It's ok though, as I didn't share much of the Caramel Pur Caramel with her.  The eclair, generously filled with a light caramel pasty cream, had an extra suprise inside, thick & gooey vanilla bean caramel.  The choux croustillante, seems to be the trend as we saw the crumbly covering on almost all choux pastries in Paris, added a bit of texture to the creamy eclair; perfect for caramel lovers. (I'll certainly be recreating this one at home!).  Also very good was the Noir d'Or (black gold).  Honey-scented chocolate mousse, vanilla cream, and a very thin layer of crostillante on top of an almond biscuit cake.

 

 

Carl Marletti

 

 

 

  
Aveline

 

Desir

 

Carl Marletti Patisserie is a little pastry shop situated at the south end of rue Mouffetard in the 5^th arrondissement.  A sleek long and narrow shop with the pastries laid out in a case that stretches the length of the shop. I love his choux pastries and must admit that we sampled one not photographed.  Oops, forgetting to take a photo of the Regligeuse Pistache, we devoured the little "nun" filled full with pistachio cream.  The Aveline is a symphony of hazelnuts and praline, with another choux croustillante. It's sliced and filled with two types of pralinè cream, caramel and candied hazelnuts.  The Desir is a chocolholics' dream, chocolate mousse on a chocolate biscuit with a sliver of chocolate croquant adding just a bit of crunch. All of it is coated in a chocolate glaze and topped with cacao nibs.

 

 

 

La Patisserie des Reves

 

 

 

 
Selection of Italian pastries from Patisserie des Reves

 

Viennoiserie and the Limonata

 

Paris Brest from Patisserie des Reves

 

Pastry chef Phillipe Contacini adds much playfulness to his pastry shop of dreams and to his pastries, recreating classics in avant-garde and childlike twists.  We sampled his flower-shaped Paris Brest, named the best Paris-Brest in Paris by Le Figaro. It lived up to its billing. A pralinè coulant oozes out of the center of each ball of pralinè pastry cream.  We also tried the Limonata.  It was better in theory than execution.  A combination of lemon cream and meringue muddled together in the shape of a lemon, it was too sweet and had little lemon flavor.

 

 

 

Hugo & Victor

 

 
Kaffir Lime Tart (combawa) with a white chocolate "cover"

 

Hugo Chocolat pastry

 

Hugo & Victor Chocolates

 

 

Their website states: "Welcome to Haute Patisserie," and the pastry shop is just as haughty at Hugo & Victor.  Pastries sit on stands behind glass casings like jewels in a jewelry shop and the chocolates come in Moleskin-like boxes.  Although you feel as if you must speak in hushed tones in the store, the staff was very jovial and helpful.  The Kaffir Lime Tart (combawa) is a brillant burst of citron in a crunchy, albeit strangely colored, short crust. The Hugo Chocolat  blends tonka bean and lime together with chocolate mousse.  Diced candied lime dot the lime-syrup infused chocolate torte.  I also tried a few of the financiers the size of a 2 euro piece.  My friend laughed at me as I paid 1.50 euros for each.  Except for the little bit of combawa creme on the lemon financier, they were a dry disappointment.

Sadly for me, but not for my wallet or waistline, the Paris pastry binge of 2011 has come to and end.  I'm sure I'll have more pastries to share with you on my next visit.

 

Addresses of patisseries visited:

Café Pouchkine
64 Boulevard Haussmann (8th arr.)
in the Printemps Mode store
+33 (0)1 42 82 43 31

Carl Marletti
51 rue Censier (5th arr.)
+33 (0)1 43 31 68 12

Patisserie des Reves
93 rue du Bac (7th arr.)
+33 (0)1 42 84 00 82

Hugo & Victor
40 Boulevard Rasp ail (7th arr.)
+33 (0)1 44 39 97 73

 

 

Related Posts:

Paris Pastry Binge - Pierre Herme

French Pastries and Ten Top Patisseries in Paris

Paris Walks for Food Lover's - Rue de Seine and Bonaparte

Journey Through the Pastries of Paris - Part One

Journey Through the Pastries of Paris - Part Two

The Dish from France: Viennoiserie

Cooking Classes for the Culinary Traveler in Paris

L'Epicuriste - Dining in Paris

Fraisier

Chocolate Eclairs with Chocolate Pastry Cream

Meyer Lemon Tart Topped with a Lightened Lemon Cream

Four-Spice Palmiers

Croustade aux Pommes - Flaky Apple Tart Inspired by Lunch at Pavillion Margaux

 

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. 

 

 

 

 

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.

 

 

  

 

 

 

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

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

*************** 

 

 

Related Posts:

Slow Cooked Meat Ragu to Honor Mom

Paris Walks for Food Lovers: Rue de Seine and Rue Bonaparte

French Pastries and Ten Top Patisseries in Paris

Journey Through the Pastries of Paris - Part 1

Journey Through the Pastries of Paris - Part 2

The Dish from France: Viennoiserie

Fraisier - To Celebrate My Blog Birthday

Meyer Lemon Tart Inspired by Gerard Mulot

Galette des Rois - Celebrate Epiphany

Flaky Apple Tart from Gascony - Croustade aux Pommes

Four-Spice Palmiers

Cooking Classes for the Culinary Traveler in Paris

Easter Chocolate in Paris Windows

 

 

 

The Pastries of Lecce with Chef Luca Capilungo

 
 
 

In any city I travel to, you can be assured I'm poking my face into as many pastry windows as possible, searching for the sweets particular to that city.  In Salento, it was no different.  Ylenia and Claudia spotted my penchant for pastries, and on my last night in Lecce, they had a sweet surprise for me.  They organized a little tour of the best pastry shop in Lecce.  The pastry chef who owns the store, Luca Capilungo, gave the tour himself (above), guiding me through Leccese pastries and a few of his own specialties.  And yes, I got to taste them, too! 

 

Chef Luca has been in a pastry shop since he was 13.  He apprenticed under another renowned Leccese pastry chef, Franco Franchini, dedicating himself completely to his work.  He says, "I worked relentlessly, forgetting fun and free time, to dedicate myself to learning all that I could and to my formation as a chef." His hard work paid off and at a very young age he fulfilled his dream of opening his own pastry shop, located only a few steps from where he was born.  Although he's young, he's been making pastries professionally for 30 years.

The pastry shop is very much a family affair.  Initially, he had help from his parents and brothers.  Now he has close to 30 employees. Both his parents and brother were there when we arrived.  His passion for pastries is still going strong, evidenced by the way in which he generously shared his pastries, explaining each with the enthusiasm of a child showing off his birthday presents.  He also shared his secrets to making them....well, all except one.

 

 

 

 

Pastacciotto - Sicily has cannoli, Venice has tiramisu, and Naples has sfogliatelle. The iconic pastry for Salento is certainly the pastacciotto.  What you might call a covered tart of sorts, the oval shape comes from the molds in which they are made.  The crust is pasta frolla (a shortbread crust), made with lard (strutto).  Inside is pastry cream.  Chef Luca's pasta frolla has a perfume of Strega liqueur.  He makes two versions, one with a lemon-infused pastry cream and the other with chocolate pastry cream.  I loved both, especially the crunchiness of the pasta frolla, but the one with the chocolate center was my favorite.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fruttone - Resembling the pastacciotto, the fruttone has in its center almond paste and pear marmalade.  The shortbread crust is topped with an icing of chocolate.  The flavor is more diverse and delicate than that of the pastaciotto with flavors of pear, almond, chocolate and the crunchy crust blending together in each bite. 

 

 

 

 

Zeppole di San Giussepe - Salento has its own version of zeppole to celebrate St. Joseph's Day.  Similar to the one in Naples, you can purchase it baked or fried. It's made with choux paste (the dough used to make eclairs). It is topped with pastry cream, but this version has a dollop of chocolate pastry cream on the very top (Napoli's version has macerated sour cherries).  As I was in Salento around the March 19th celebrations, I had my share, and then some.  

  

 

 

 

Copeta - You will see these thicker versions of what Americans know as almond brittle throughhout Salento.  They are carmelised sugar and almonds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mustaccioli - These ugly nougats look like cookies, but have the consistency of cakes.  Don't let their unattractive shape fool you; they are tasty.  Let's give a nod to Italians who hate wasting food, and come up with ingenious ways to rework leftovers.  An antique recipe, they are traditionally made with what remained, leftovers (rimanenze).  The sponge cake base has  a little bit of cinnamon, cocoa powder, candied citrus, almond paste, and chopped almonds inside.  Then they are glazed with a chocolate coating.  Chef Luca makes them in two sizes, the small nougats and the larger longer version. 

 

 

 

Quaresimali - These biscotti for Lent (la quaresima), chef Luca makes with a bit of muscat wine. Both chef Luca and Claudia said they now can be found year-round in pasticcerie in Salento, but at one time were only around during the Lenten season.  

 

 

Bocche di Dama - These individual cakes, mouth of a lady in Italian, are a single portion of pan di spagna (sponge cake), filled with pastry cream and topped with a sugar glaze and a cherry.

 

Specialty Cakes and cookies - Chef Luca had a caseful of elegantly decorated and colorful cakes that are specialties of his pasticcerie, including an emerald green iced Cassata alla Siciliana.  As is common in almost any pasticceria in Italy, biscotti and little cookies are as popular as the specialty cakes.  We sampled several of those, too. 

 

 

Torta Chantilly - Underneath its bright yellow almond paste decor, are layers of pan di spagna (sponge cake) and whipped chantilly cream.

 

 

 

 

La Giulietta -  This tart was most interesting to me for a couple of reasons.  First I love the way it looked, the combination of crunchy pasta frolla, the cream inside and the almonds dusted in powdered sugar on top.  Above the pasta frolla is another crunchy layer (like a crumble), a layer of dark chocolate pastry cream, then sweetened whipped cream. It's topped with sliced and toasted almonds. There is a secret to this cake, that Chef Luca wouldn't share; why it is named Giulietta. He even blushed when Claudia asked him.  That secret will remain a mystery to me.  Of course, after our visit, we three girls conjured up various stories, most of unrequited and secret love, that could be behind the name and this pastry.

 

 

 

Assortment of Cookies - Perfectly crunchy shortbread cookies filled with jam, almond paste shaped like fruit, almond cookies topped with almonds, or coated in pine nuts or ground pistacchio nuts.  Chef Luca sent us home with a few trays of treats, and each little bite on this tray was tremendously tasty.

 

Chef Luca has two pastry shops in Lecce.  The original one is on via Bari, and a smaller one is in Lecce's historical center in Piazza Sant' Oronzo.  He had just had a huge celebration for the 20th anniversary of opening his first pasticceria.  You can watch a video of Chef Luca working, the pasticceria, and of highlights from the celebration here: 20 Years of Capilungo

 

*Join me in 2012 - taste these pastries, cook in Puglia & so much more on a Food & Wine Lover's Culinary Tour in Puglia

 

 

Pasticceria Luca Capilungo
Via Bari, 7
Lecce
Phone: +39 0832 312406


CinCin Bar Pasticceria Gelateria Capilungo
Piazza Sant’ Oronzo
Lecce
Phone: +39 0832 312406

 

This post is part of Wanderfood Wednesdays, traveling food lovers.

 

Related Posts:

A Tour of Lecce - The Baroque Beauty of Puglia

Lunch Salento Style at Cantine Menhir

The Dish from Lecce: Rustico Leccesse

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

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

Sagne Ncannulate Schiattariciati - Pugliese Pasta with "Bursted" Tomato Sauce

Cheese of Puglia: Making and Eating Fresh Cheese in Salento

Classic Salentino Cuisine Reinvented at Sette di Sette in Lecce

The Dish from Puglia: Friselle with Tomatoes

Journey Through the Pastries of Napoli

Pizza Lover's Odyssey in Naples

Journey Through the Pastries of Paris - Part 1

Journey Through the Pastries of Paris - Part 2

French Pastries and Ten Top Patisseries in Paris

Five Favorite Food Words in Italian and Five More Favorites

Journey through the Pastries of Napoli

  

 

My trip to Naples wasn't only about the pizza.  With delicious food that ranges from fried treats to decadent desserts, the food of Naples can satisfy any food lover.  This trip I wanted to be sure and sample as much of it as possible.  Before delving into a few Neapolitan sauces I learned to make or my adventures in Neapolitan dining with Napoli Unplugged, let's start with my favorite course: the desserts.

On my first day in the city, I got a rather impromptu pastry lesson on the streets of Naples.  I was patiently waiting for the walk sign before crossing the street.  While waiting and holding my first Neapolitan pastry (of this trip) carefully in front of me, I saw two guys cross the street, AGAINST the light!  I laughed at myself while watching them, realizing I'd be much safer crossing when there were no cars then waiting for a light to give me a false sense of security. 

One of the guys mistook my laughing and smile as flirtation, and stopped to talk.  First question, "Di dove sei?" (Where are you from?).  I'm not sure which made me more foreign, my red hair and pale skin or the fact that I was actually waiting for a traffic light before walking.  After I answered, California.  He called out to his friend, "Ay, Oh, lei e Amerigahna!" 

His Neapolitan accent, pronouncing "Americana" with the hard g and the "Ay" and "Oh" to get his friend's attention, made me laugh even more.  This, of course, only encouraged them.  I continued to chat for a while, mainly because I love to hear the Neapolitan accent, in Italian. (Neapolitan dialect is different and a language where I am completely lost and unable to understand even one word.)

While talking we got on the subject of pastries. They peeked into my bag and proceeded to school me on the make up of Zeppole di San Giuseppe, which is what I had in my hand.  While they might have been the most unlikely source of information, what they said was similar to the information those in the pastry shops gave me. Besides, they were a fun intro to my pastry-eating adventures in Napoli.

 

  

 

 

 

Below are photos and descriptions of my journey through the pastries of Napoli:

 

 

 
 

Sfogliatelle (Riccia) - To thoroughly appreciate this pastry, you need to eat it right out of the oven while it's still warm.  (Like Parisian croissants and other viennoiserie, sfogliatella loses its deliciousness after a few hours.) The crust is crunchy and flaky and the filling creamy and not overly sweet.  The crust is a sort of puff pastry, where thin layers of pastry are rolled into a cylinder.  Between each layer of pastry is a thin layer of lard.  The pastry is formed into its famous clam-like shell and filled with a custard-like mixture of semolina, ricotta, eggs, sugar, candied citrus and a pinch of cinnamon.   

 

 

 

Sfogliatelle Frolla - The sister to the riccia (curly), the frolla uses pasta frolla (shortbread crust) instead of the flaky sfoglia crust.  The filling is the same; a mixture of semolina, ricotta, eggs, sugar, candied citrus and cinnamon.

 

 

 

 

 

Baba au Rhum - A yeast-levened cake soaked in a rum simple syrup, these and the sfogliatelle are the sweet symbols of Napoli.  You can find baba (bah-BAH) plain, like the one above, or filled with fruit and sweetened whipped cream, Nutella, pastry cream, and even ricotta cream. I prefer the ones filled to offset the rum in the syrup.

 

 

 
 Zeppole di San Giuseppe fried (at left) and baked (at right) 

Zeppole di San Giuseppe - These pastries are in abundance in pastry shops all over the city during the days surrounding il giorno di San Giuseppe (St. Joseph's Day), March 19th.  It's a choux paste piped in a ring shape.  The paste/dough is either fried or baked, and then filled with a lemon pastry cream and topped with macerated Amarena cherries.   

As I stated, they come in two forms, fried and baked. At the first pastry shop I asked the clerk which was better.  I got a look from him that said, "It's obvious, Amerigana" as he told me, "I fritti."  At the second pastry shop, when I specifically asked for the one "al forno," I again got a look from the clerk, letting me know that I obviously chose the wrong one. I had to try both, and both were quite good.  Yes, the fried one is better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Torta Caprese - This is a flourless chocolate cake from the Isle of Capri. There are many versions depending on how fine you chop the almonds. I prefer that the almonds are finely chopped, creating a denser and moister cake.  At Pasticceria Scaturchio they used more coarsely chopped almonds, but the cake was still quite moist due to a bit of liqueur included in the recipe.   

 

 

 

Torta Caprese al Limone - This is the lemon version to the chocolate cake from Capri.  White chocolate and lemon, lemon rind, and limoncello replace the dark chocolate and cocoa powder to give you a dense cake full of lemon flavor.  Also flourless, this cake uses ground almonds.  Like the chocolate version, much of the texture depends on how finely you chop the almonds.

 

 

 

Delizia al Limone - As its name says, it's a lemon delight.  Lemon sponge cake imbibed with a limoncello spiked simple syrup, filled with lemon pastry cream and iced with lemon flavored whipped cream.  If you love the lemons, especially the lemons from the Amalfi coast, this is your dessert.

 

 

 
Ricotta e Pera with Pan di Spagna (sponge cake)

 

 
Ricotta e Pera with Biscotti (hazelnut cookies)

 

Ricotta e Pera - Ricotta cream and whipped cream together with poached pears are sandwiched between a hazelnut biscotti, and sometimes two layers of sponge cake.  I found that restaurants usually serve this dessert with the sponge cake, probably to make it easier to eat.  Pastry shops usually serve it with the biscotti.  While the crunchy biscotti pushes out the soft center when you're eating it, causing a bit of mess when eating, I still prefer it for the contrast in textures.

 

 

 

Pastiera - "Non puo mancare sulla tavola di Pasqua" (It can't be missing on the Easter table) - This is the saying I saw and heard whenever the subject of Pastiera came up.  Because I was in Naples during the "Easter season" (which seems to start immediately after Carnevale), I sampled several.  It was in every pastry shop and on every restaurant menu while I was there in March. 

The crust is a pasta frolla, traditionally made with lard (strutto) instead of butter.  The filling is a ricotta cream and egg mixture that is lightly flavored with rose flower water an studded with cooked hulled wheatberries (grano precotto) and sometimes candied citrus fruit.  (I thought the candied citrus fruit was a must, but a Neapolitan restauranteur told me they are optional - and even made a special Pastiera without the candied citrus for me).  

  

 

Scaturchio's - Napoli's oldest pasticceria 

 

The chocolate disk in the top photo isn't a pastry you'll find throughout Naples, but it is the specialty of Scaturchio's.  It's their Ministeriale, a chocolate medallion filled with a chocolate and liqueur cream.  It was very good and very rich, with a potent punch of liqueur.  I may have been a little drunk after eating it.

 

 
Scaturchio's Ministeriale - Chocolate Medallion

 

 

 
 Pastries from the Gran Caffe Cimmino

 

Most of the pastries in these photos came from Scaturchio's (the oldest pastry shop in Naples) or the Gran Caffe Cimmino.   

Scaturchio - Piazza San Domenico Maggiore, 19 

Gran Caffe Cimmino - via Gaetano Filangeri, 12 

 

 

This post is part of Wanderfood Wednesdays - To see what other travelling foodies are eating, head on over to the Wanderfood Wednesdays site!  

 

Related Posts:

Taste of Napoli - 15 Favorite Dishes for the Food Lover in Naples

Pizza Lover's Odyssey in Naples Italy

Torta Caprese - Recipe for the flourless chocolate cake from Capri

Pasta alla Genovese and Other Neapolitan Sauces at Citta del Gusto

The Pastries of Lecce with Pastry Chef Luca Capilungo

Photo Tour of Spaccanapoli and Napoli's Historic Center

Dining Around Naples with Napoli Unplugged

Italy in Chocolate at Turin's CioccolaTo Festival

French Pastries and 10 Top Patisseries in Paris

Journey through the Pastries of Paris (Part 1)

Journey through the Pastries of Paris (Part 2)

Chiacchiere for Carnevale (my post on Napoli Unplugged)

Gnocchi alla Sorrentina (my post on Napoli Unplugged)

 

 

Nutella Love Cake with Nutella & Chocolate Ganache for World Nutella Day 2011

 

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It's World Nutella Day! Five years ago Michelle from Bleeding Espresso and Sara from Ms. Adventures in Italy declared February 5th as World Nutella Day, the official day to celebrate their and the world's love for Nutella.  The love has spread and this celebration has certainly taken off. There are almost 19,000 fans of World Nutella Day on Facebook.  Last year I joined in the love, sharing my first taste of Nutella (in Florence) with you and my recipe for Gianduja - Nutella Cheesecake. 

On Monday, February 7, 2011, Sara and Michelle will post links to ALL the recipes of those that created something and posted it on their blogs for World Nutella Day.  I'm guessing there are going to be a lot of recipes!  In the meantime, you can check out the Nutella Day Flickr Pool for photos of what's being created and eaten and to see how others are celebrating Nutella today.

 

 

 

 

This year, I thought I'd share the Nutella love with individual cakes shaped in the form of a heart.  The cake is a flourless chocolate and hazelnut cake.  There are two fillings; one a nutella ganache with chopped hazelnuts and on top of that is a whipped milk chocolate ganache.  Then the entire cake is slathered in Nutella ganache and finished with a garnish of roasted hazelnuts.  I had a very handy heart shapped cutter and made individual cakes, perfect for romantic Valentine's Day dinners for two or a big party, might I suggest a Nutella love fest. And this cake is also gluten free. 

 

 

 

While making this cake, scents of chocolate and roasted hazelnuts mingled together and filled the house.  I had a flashback to a day when I was in Alba, Italy.  We were there to check out the market and then take a bus to Barolo and sip some wine.  That same seductive scent filled the entire city.  At the time we didn't know that the Ferrero plant, the makers of Nutella, was located in Alba. We kept guessing what was being made and tried to follow the scent.  We wanted some of whatever that sweet aroma was.  We asked a guy at the osteria where we were eating.  He told us about the Ferrero plant.  All day I had been smelling the scents of Nutella being made.  No wonder I had been in such a good mood.

 

 

 

Below I've given the recipe for making the individual cakes, using a heart shaped cookie cutter.  The recipe will work if you'd also like to make one large 9-inch round cake.  Instead of baking the flourless cake on a sheet pan, divide the cake batter into two 9-inch spring form pans.  Follow the same assembly instructions, instead making only one cake.  Enjoy and Happy World Nutella Day!  Thanks again Michelle and Sara for sharing and continuing the Nutella love!

 

Nutella Love Cake

(makes about 10 individual heart cakes or one 9-inch round cake)
 

For the Flourless Chocolate and Hazelnut Cake:

9 ounces good quality dark chocolate, chopped into small pieces
1 cup butter
¼ cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ¼ cup granulated sugar
1 cup finely ground blanched and toasted hazelnuts
6 eggs, room temperature

Preheat an oven to 310°F and line the bottom of a 15x7 jelly roll pan with parchment paper.

Slowly melt the chocolate and butter over a double-boiler.  In a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, whisk together the melted chocolate mixture, the cocoa powder, vanilla extract and sugar until combined.  Add the ground hazelnuts and whisk until combined.  Add the eggs one at a time, adding each egg after the first has been incorporated into the mixture.  Pour the mixture into the spring form pan.  Make sure the mixture is level and smooth on top. Bake for about 15-20 minutes.  It is ready when you place a toothpick in the center and only a few moist crumbs attach to the toothpick. 

 

For the Whipped Milk Chocolate Ganache:

1 cup heavy cream

10 ounces good quality milk chocolate, finely chopped

Scald the cream.  Pour over the milk chocolate and let it sit for about 2 minutes.  Starting from the center of the bowl, slowly whisk the mixture until it comes together.  Pour into a 9x13-inch glass dish and refrigerate until it is chilled, 15 to 20 minutes.

Remove from the refrigerator.  In a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, whip to soft peaks.  Set aside until assembling the cake.

 

For the Nutella Ganache:

1 jar (13 oz) Nutella

3/4 cup heavy cream

2 1/3 cups blanched and toasted hazelnuts, finely chopped

In a saucepan over medium heat, heat the nutella and cream until they are combined. Pour 3/4 cup of the ganache in a bowl and combine it with 1/3 cup of the chopped hazelnuts. Set aside both mixtures until you're ready to assemble the cake.  The remaining 2 cups of hazelnuts will be used for the garnish.

 

For the Simple Syrup:

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup water

Pour the sugar and water into a saucepan.  Bring to a boil.  Remove from the heat, cool and refrigerate until ready to use.  It should be cold before using. 

 

To Assemble the Cake:

Cut out the heart forms for the individual cakes.  With a pastry brush, dab simple syrup onto the bottom layer of each cake, enough so that it soaks through.  Place about 1 1/2 tablespoons of the Nutella ganache with the hazelnuts onto each bottom layer of cake and spread it in an even layer out almost to the edge.  Using a piping bag with a round tip, pipe a layer of whipped ganache, about 3/8-inch in height on top of the Nutella ganache, covering the entire area of the heart.  Place the second layer of cake on top of the whipped ganache layer.  With a pastry brush, dab simple syrup onto the top layer of each cake until it has soaked through.  Place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to chill.

Place a baking rack over a sheet pan. This is for icing the cake.  Once the cakes have chilled, remove them from the refrigerator and place them onto the rack.  Pour the Nutella ganache, the mixture that does not have nuts in it, over each cake to ice it completely.  If you need to, you can recuperate the icing in the sheet pan and do a second glazing.  Chill for about 10 minutes in the refrigerator.  Coat the sides with the chopped hazelnuts and serve.

 

 

 

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How are you celebrating World Nutella Day? What's you're favorite way to eat Nutella? 

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**The World Nutella Day Image is provided with permission by World Nutella Day.  All other photos, the recipe and all content are mine and may not be copied or reproduced without my permission.

 

Related Posts:

Gianduja - Nutella Cheesecake for World Nutella Day 2010

Gianduja Budino and a Chocolate Pass in Turin

Torta Setteveli - Seven Veils Cake from Palermo

Eurochocolate Perugia - Italy's Biggest Chocolate Festival

Chocolate Eclairs: My Mom and Learning to Make Them

History of Chocolate in Turin - Gianduja and Much More

Scenes from CioccolaTo - Chocolate Festival in Turin

Italian Hot Chocolate at Carnevale in Venice

Italy in Chocolate at Turin's CioccolaTo Festival

Seven Sensational Gelaterie in Turin - After 100 Scoops

Torta Caprese - Flourless Chocolate Almond Cake from Capri

Say I Love You with Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies

Romantic Italy - Best Places to Kiss in Italy