Tag Archives: dessert

Easter Dolls (Pupe di Pasqua)

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My fondest Easter morning memory takes me back to Italy, to being a child, to being with Nonna Irene. Every Easter she used to make Pupe di Pasqua (traditional Abruzzese Easter Dolls) out of pastry, for us children to dunk in our bowl of milk on Easter morning. Me, my sister Ale and my cousin Elena would be the lucky recipients of lovely peasant girl-like dolls while my brother Giammarco and my cousin Giorgio would devour their horse-shaped dolls in no more than a few bites. As if part of some gruesome tribal ritual, the heads would be the first to go, leaving our dolls bearing a vivid resemblance to Anne Boleyn! And so, it is now my pleasure to pass on such precious legacy and make dolls for my children. Following the family tradition, the doll received the Henry the VIII treatment…

INGREDIENTS

3 eggs

3 tablespoons of olive oil (or EVOO)

4 tablespoons of sugar

75 gr (2/3 cups) almond flour

finely grated lemon zest

150 gr (1-1/3 cups)  flour, well sifted

100 gr (3/4 cup)  of self-raising flour, well sifted

1 teaspoon of vanilla paste or extract

1 egg+2 tablespoons of milk for the glaze

HOW TO

1. Whisk the eggs with sugar until pale and fluffy. Pour in the oil, add the zest and mix well with a wooden spoon.

2. Slowly add the almond flour and the self-raising flour to obtain a dough that is just slightly softer than short pastry. Wrap it in plastic film and rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.

3. Turn the oven on to 170 C (340 F)

4. Line an oven tray with baking paper. Craft the doll according to your esthetics straight onto the tray. Glaze it with the egg and milk wash and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden and cooked through.

Happy Easter! Buona Pasqua!

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No-bake Chocolate, Mascarpone and Espresso Fudge Cake

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Hang in there, Chocoholic friends!

I have got what you need…

Pain no more, just go over to the stove and start melting some chocolate… You can also lick the bowl!

This is the ultimate chocolate  fudge cake for me: flourless, creamy, opulent and unapologetically chocolatey.

And you don’t even have to turn your oven on.

Where’s the catch?

It is seriously, scarily addictive…

You have been warned…

Ingredients, serves 6-8

1/2 cup   of dark chocolate chips

3 tablespoons of  soft butter

2 tablespoons of espresso coffee

1 tablespoon of cocoa powder

2 tablespoons of brown sugar

1 teaspoon of vanilla paste or extract

1 tablespoon of Galliano or Rum

250 gr  (8 oz) of Mascarpone

2 handfuls of walnuts

How to

Melt the chocolate with the butter in a double boiler, bain marie or in the microwave.

Add the sugar, coffee, cocoa, liquor and vanilla and mix well, until all th ingredients are combined.

Add the marscarpone and , either by hand or with electric beaters, cream it into the chocolate mix. Be careful not to whip it too much or it may split:

1 minute on low using electric beater and a couple of minutes by hand should do.

Dry roast the walnuts in a frying pan over low heat fopr 1-2 minutes or until they smell fragrant.

Cool for a couple of minutes, then incorporate them into the fudgie mix.

Line a round, small cake tin with plastic warp, leaving some to over hang.

Pour the batter into the tin and flatten with the back of a spoon.

Lick the spoon clean then fold the over hanging plastic wrap over the top of the fudge to enclose it securely.

Leave to the fridge to set for 4-6 hours.

Take the cake out of the fridge 20 minutes before serving.

Turn in onto a serving dish, dust it liberally with cocoa powder and serve wedges with fresh berries.

You are about to experience utter bliss…

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Hazelnut Amaretti (Amaretti alle Nocciole)

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Just when I thought I couldn’t make Amaretti because I was out of almond meal (and in no way inclined to take a trip to the supermarket with child and toddler in tow) I found a half-packet of hazelnut meal hidden in the cupboard. The idea struck me immediately, but what if it wouldn’t work? Good news, it did! The savoury nuttiness of the hazelnuts , combined with the gentle sweetness of the meringue and the bitter kick of cocoa powder turns this classic Italian cookie into an irresistible grown-up affair. The addition of chocolate chips has the potential to lure children into tasting them and enjoying them with gusto.

Ingredients

1 egg white, at room temperature

75 gr (1/3 cup +1 tablespoon) of sugar+extra for sprinkling

140 gr (1 cup +2 tablespoons) of hazelnut meal (roasted ground hazelnuts*)

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 scant tablespoon of cocoa powder

24 dark chocolate chips

How to

1. In a clean dry bowl, beat the egg white with the sugar until they are stiff and shiny. If you are impatient, like I am, I suggest using a hand-eld electric beater to do the job.

2. Gently fold in the hazelnut meal, add vanilla and cocoa and mix well until all the ingredients are well amalgamated. Don’t panic it , at first , it looks like the egg white won’t be enough to bind the dry ingredients. It will come together in 1 or two minutes and you will be left with a soft, sticky batter.

3. Shape the dough into 12 balls, they size of a walnut and dust each ball with  sugar.

4. Gently push your index finger in the middle of each ball to create a little crate. Push two chocolate chips into each crate.

5. Put the shaped amaretti on a cookie sheet lined with baking paper and rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.

6. In the meantime bring your oven temperature to 170 C (340 F).

7. Bake for 25/30 minutes or until the amaretti are slightly cracked, but retain some softness. To make sure they are cooked through check that the base is firm and tanned.

Cool them at room temperature (not in the oven,as my friend Helen did…) and enjoy with coffee, gelato, hot chocolate or, if you can handle it, some fiery Grappa.

* Toast shelled hazelnuts in a hot oven for ten to fifteen minutes. As soon a you take them from the oven, rub the nuts vigorously with a towel to remove their bitter brown skins. Grind in a food processor fitted with a sharp blade.

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