Struffoli (Tiny Honey Balls)

Struffoli are an Italian dessert typical of Naples. They consist of tiny fried pieces of dough simply made with flour, sugar, eggs, lemon and rum, completely coated with honey and colored confection. Their dimensions are important indeed the more they are small the more they are good because they absorb the sweet taste of honey. They are simple to cook and in particular they are prepared in the occasion of Christmas. In Naples Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without Stuffoli.

INGREDIENTS (for 10 people):

300 g of Flour

2 Eggs

1 Tablespoon of Sugar

1 Lemon

2 Tablespoon of rum or anisette

1 Pinch of salt

25 g of Butter

4 – 5 Tablespoons of Honey

Some colored confections

Extra virgin olive oil to fry

PREPARATION TIME: 40 minutes

COOKING TIME: 15 minutes

WINE: Meditandum (White Wine)

PREPARATION

Place the flour as a fountain on a table, in the middle of it add the sugar, the butter, the eggs, the rum, the salt and the grated peel of the lemon.

Knead in order to obtain solid dough and let it stand for about 30 minutes.

After the 30 minutes knead again the dough and divide it in small parts. Knead each part rolling it until you obtain loafs thin and long.

Cut the loafs into small squared pieces called struffoli.

Preheat the extra virgin olive oil in a pan and fry in it the small squared pieces until they become slightly golden, this takes about 5 minutes. Then drain them on a kitchen paper.

Now put in the middle of a platter an overturned glass and place the struffoli around it.

In a pan place the honey and let it melt then pour it over the struffoli. Remove the glass and sprinkle with colored confections. This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

Small buns with Chocolate

Small buns with little pieces of sweet chocolate easy and fast to prepare. Their preparation is very simple just the time to let the bread rise and the buns will be ready. You need flour, sugar, a little bit of sugar and dark chocolate. You can modify the quantity of chocolate according to you taste :-). They are ideal as small sweet with a cup of tea or also for breakfast with a large cup of cappuccino.

INGREDIENTS:

25 g of fresh yeast

200ml of milk

80-90 g of butter

50g of Sugar

500g of Flour

300 g of Dark chocolate in small pieces

1 Egg

PREPARATION TIME: 30 minutes + the time of rising almost 3-4 hours

COOKING TIME: 30 minutes

PREPARATION

Dissolve the yeast in the milk.

Add 100 g of flour and mix.

On a table place the flour, the sugar, the butter in pieces and add the mixture of yeast, milk and flour just prepared.

Mix all together until you obtain homogeneous dough.

Stand the dough like in the picture and add the pieces of chocolate and mix again.

Let the dough rise for about 3 hours. Then stand the dough and with the help of a glass cut small round buns.

Preheat the oven at 180 degree. Place the small buns with chocolate on a baking pan. Let the small buns with chocolate rise for another half an hour. Take only the white of an egg, beat them and use it to cover the surface of the small buns with chocolate.

Bake them for about 30-40 minutes until the surface will become golden.

BUON APPETITO!

Cake with Almonds

 

Here a variation of the cake “all 100 grams” that I prepared once with hazelnuts. Instead of hazelnuts I used here the almonds, for the rest is everything the same. The preparation of this Italian dessert is so easy and fast that you will need only 10 minutes if you use almonds already without peel but if you have at home almonds with the nutshell, you have to remove it and then you should remove also the peel. To easily remove the peel of almonds you just have to put them for 15-20 second in boiling water and the peel will be removed easily. I prepared a cake using a baking pan of 24cm of diameter and for this reason I used 200 grams of each ingredients. This cake is perfect to be served with a cup of tea or a cup of hot chocolate.

INGREDIENTS:

200g of Flour

200g of Sugar

200g of Butter

200ml of Milk

200g of Almonds

2 Eggs

PREPARATION TIME: 10 minutes

COOKING TIME: 1 hour

WINE: Moscato (White Wine)

PREPARATION

Preheat the oven at 180 degree. Cut the butter in cubes and grind the almonds to obtain a sort of flour of almonds. Place in a bowl the flour, the sugar, the grinded almonds, the pieces of butter and the eggs.

Mix them together and then add the milk. Stir until you obtain a homogeneous mixture. Butter a baking pan of 24cm of diameter. Pour in the baking pan the mixture, bake at 180 degree for about 1 hour.

Check the cooking of the cake with a spaghetto. Put spaghetto in the center of the cake and when you remove it if it is dry the cake is ready.

Let the cake cool down and sprinkle with icing sugar. Place on the top some almond.

BUON APPETITO!

Chifelini - Dumplings with Jam

This is a traditional Italian recipe from Trentino Alto Adige in particular of Trieste. Chifelini are a sort of dumplings filled with jam (strawberry or plum jam) prepared in Trentino Alto Adige for Carnival. The dough is characterized by the presence of potatoes and they can be fried of baked in the oven as I did here.

INGREDIENTS:

200 g of Potatoes

400 g of Flour

180 g of Butter

100 g of Sugar

25 g of brewer’s yeast

Milk

2 Eggs

1 Lemon

Strawberry jam or Plum jam

Icing sugar

PREPARATION TIME: 2 hours

COOKING TIME: 15 minutes

WINE: Moscato Rosa del Trentino

PREPARATION

Boil the potatoes, peel and mash them. Dissolve the brewer’s yeast in a little bit of milk (just the amount to dissolve the brewer’s yeast). Place on a table the flour, the mashed potatoes, the eggs, the sugar, the butter, the grated peel of a lemon and the brewer’s yeast dissolved in the milk. 

Mix all together until you obtain soft and homogeneous dough. 

Let the dough stand for about one hour. Preheat the oven at 180 degree. Afterwards roll out the dough in a thin pastry, 

cut the pastry in square of 5 cm side, place in the middle of each square pastry a teaspoon of jam and close the pastry in order to obtain a dumpling with the shape of a half-moon. 

Place a sheet of baking paper on the surface of a baking pan and put on it chifelini. 

Bake for 15 minutes. Sprinkle with icing sugar.

BUON APPETITO!

Carnival Cake - Florentine Schiacciata

Schiacciata cake is a traditional Italian cake coming from Tuscany prepared in occasion of Carnival. This Italian recipe is so traditional that the amount of ingredients is known in tablespoons and not in gram. Schiacciata cake has traditionally a rectangular shape and on the surface sprinkled with icing sugar it has a lilium made with cacao powder because lilium is the symbol of Florence.

INGREDIENTS:
12 Tablespoons of Flour
8 Tablespoons of Sugar
8 Tablespoons of Milk
2 eggs
6 Tablespoons of Extra virgin olive oil
1 Orange juice
1 vanilla-flavored baking powder
Vanillin
Icing sugar
Cacao powder

PREPARATION TIME: 15 minutes

COOKING TIME: 45 minutes

WINE: Vin Santo (traditional Tuscany Wine)

PREPARATION
Preheat the oven at 170°C degree. Mix in a bowl the sugar with the eggs until you obtain a homogeneous mixture.

Add the flour, the milk, the orange juice, the extra virgin olive oil, the vanilla-flavored baking powder and the vanillin, mix all together.

Stir until you will have soft dough.

Butter and floured a rectangular baking pan,

pour the mixture and bake for about 40 - 45 minutes.

Check the cooking time by time, schiacciata cake will be ready when the surface becomes golden.

To better check the cooking use a spaghetto and insert it the middle of the cake, if it is dry when you remove it schiacciata cake is ready.
Let schiacciata cake cool down, sprinkle with icing sugar and with the shape of lilium  made with cacao powder.

BUON APPETITO!

Cake with Hazelnuts

The preparation of this Italian dessert is so easy and fast that you will need only 10 minutes. I like to call this cake with hazelnuts “all 100 grams” because all the ingredients are used in the same quantity and the quantity is always a multiple of 100 grams. Here I prepared a cake using a baking pan of 24cm of diameter and for this reason I used 200 grams of each ingredients. This cake is perfect to be served with a cup of tea or a cup of hot chocolate. Next time I will try to prepared a variation of this cake that to it will be very delicious too: instead of hazelnuts I will try to use the almond, I will let you know the result.

INGREDIENTS:

200g of Flour

200g of Sugar

200g of Butter

200ml of Milk

200g of Hazelnuts

2 Eggs

PREPARATION TIME: 10 minutes

COOKING TIME: 1 hour

WINE: Moscato (White Wine)

PREPARATION

Preheat the oven at 180 degree. Cut the butter in cubes and grind the hazelnuts to obtain a sort of flour of hazelnuts. Place in a bowl the flour, the sugar, the grinded hazelnuts, the pieces of butter and the eggs. 

Mix them together and then add the milk.

Stir until you obtain a homogeneous mixture. 

Butter a baking pan of 24cm of diameter. Pour in the baking pan the mixture,

bake at 180 degree for about 1 hour. Check the cooking of the cake with a spaghetto. Put spaghetto in the center of the cake and when you remove it if it is dry the cake is ready.

Let the cake cool down and sprinkle with icing sugar.

BUON APPETITO!

Cake of Carnival - Migliaccio

The name of this Italian dessert is "Migliaccio". Migliaccio is a traditional cake of Naples that is usually prepared in occasion of Carnival. Its preparation is very easy and it doesn't need a lot of time. The preparation of this Italian cake remind me a little bit the preparation of Pastiera, another Italian dessert traditional of Naples, but in this case it is more easy and you need less ingredients. The main ingredients for Migliaccio are semolina and ricotta cheese, you can use ricotta cheese from cow or from sheep according to your taste. Thanks to the presence of simple Italian ingredients, children that love Carnival appreciate this Italian cake too.

INGREDIENTS:

250g of semolina

1L of milk

Peel of orange

30g of butter

350 g of Ricotta Cheese

6 eggs

200g of Sugar

10g of Vanilia

Icing sugar

PREPARATION TIME: 15 minutes plus the time necessary to let the mixture cool down

COOKING TIME: 1 hour

WINE: Malvasia

PREPARATION

Pour in a soup pot the milk; start to stir with a wooden spoon while adding the semolina. If you want you can use a whisk in order to avoid lumps. Add the peel of an orange and let the milk warm up.

Continue to stir, when the mixture start to become firm remove the peel of orange and continue to cook the semolina until it will have a thick and homogeneous consistency. 

 

Add a piece of butter, mix and let the semolina get cold.

In a large bowl mix the ricotta cheese with the eggs. 

Stir until the ingredients are well combined, then add the sugar and mix. 

When the semolina get cold add it to the bowl and mix.

Butter the bottom of a baking pan and pour the mixture. Bake the cake in pre-warmed oven and cook at 180 degree for 1 hour more or less. 

Check the cooking time by time, the cake will be ready when the surface becomes golden.

BUON APPETITO!