Dolci di Natale

23 Friday Dec 2016

Posted by Un po' di pepe in Feste, Italian life, Mangiamo!

Tags

Cartellate, Cauzuncill, Crustoli, Dolci di Natale, Panettone, Pizza con la ricotta, Pugliese Traditions

If you have seen my Instagram photos, you know that my famiglia and I have been busy making dolci di Natale. I decided to compile them together in a blog post. There are many other Italian dolci di Natale, but I have only included the ones we make every at home:

Cartellate

You can’t get more Pugliese than Cartellate (called Carteddate in Bari). My Mamma and I made them last week. The dough is pinched and rolled into pinwheel or thorny rose shapes, fried, and then vino cotto is poured over them. Their shape is apparently symbolizes the crown of thorns worn by Jesus. Vino cotto is really mosto cotto, but we call it vino cotto for some reason. The wine must is boiled and boiled down to a thick syrup and bottled. It is like a yummy wine molasses.

Cauzuncill’It wouldn’t be Natale without Cauzuncill’ (cow·ZOON·cheel) They already have their own entire blog post. Read more about them here.

Cauzuncill’ (cow-zoon-cheel) with almond and vino cotto filling, drizzled with vino cotto

Crustoli

We call these crustoli, but they are also called crostoli, chiacchiere, cenci, bugie and frappe in other parts of Italia. The sweet dough is cut into strips or bows, fried and then dusted with icing sugar. They are also traditionally made for Carnevale. The recipe is in this post.

Panettone

Panettone is traditionally from Milano, while Pandoro, the fruitless, star-shaped version, originated in Verona. They are eaten throughout Italia and it wouldn’t be Natale without panettone and leftover panettone. I love panettone french toast with fresh ricotta. This year, I made my own panettone, and it came out quite decent! I still have a bit of experimenting to do, but will hopefully be able to post about it for Natale 2017. The recipe is now posted here.

My first panettone fatto in casa

Pettole

Pettole are fried balls of dough. They are made with or without raisins and are covered in honey or vino cotto. Pettole are traditionally eaten on the feast of l’Immacolata, Dec 8th, and on la Vigilia di Natale, Christmas Eve. I believe these are usually called zeppole in Calabria and in the US. In Puglia, zeppole are a completely different dolce, eaten on the feast of San Giuseppe.

Pizza con la Ricotta

Pizza con la ricotta is another traditional Pugliese dolce, and we only make it at Natale and Pasqua. I’m not sure why we only make it twice a year, as it is so delicious! It is a crostata (tart) made with pasta frolla (short crust pastry) and filled with fresh ricotta, sugar, eggs and alcohol (Sambuca or Strega). The word ‘pizza’ actually means flat and round. Pizza con la ricotta is usually round, but today ours is rectangular. I was not allowed to cut into it to take a cross sectional photo, so I will have to add it later!

Which dolci di Natale will be on your table tomorrow night? Buon Natale e Buon Appetito, Cristina

Bloccato dalla Neve

19 Monday Dec 2016

Posted by Un po' di pepe in Parole piacevoli, Photography

≈ 17 Comments

Tags

Canada, Inverno incantata, Vancouver, Winter wonderland

I was tempted to call this post ‘Snowmageddon’! Living in Canada, I’ve always been asked crazy questions when I’m travelling. These were mostly pre-internet, but I’ve been asked questions like ‘In Canada abitati nelle case di ghiaccio?‘ and ‘I tuoi vicini di casa sono Eschimesi?‘ I don’t live in an igloo and I don’t think any of my neighbours are Eskimo/Inuit. My response is usually something like ‘Io vivo sulla parte ovest del Canada. Non fa freddo, e nevica un giorno all’anno!’ No, Vancouver is not cold, and it snows less than one day a year. Even when it does snow, it usually only lasts a day and then it starts to rain and turns to slush……until now.

It snowed 2 weeks ago and did not go away. It just got icy and then it snowed again-and yesterday another nevicata. Mannaggia! Sono bloccato dalla neve – I am snowed in! Vancouver can not cope with this kind of weather. Eastern Canadians actually make fun of us for this-ci prendono in giro 😠! The city does not have enough snow plough equipment, the stores run out of salt and snow shovels, most people don’t have snow tires and they don’t know how to drive in the snow anyways, the buses have to cope with a lot more traffic….etc. I am on ‘staycation’ until Christmas, so I did not have to go to work, but a lot of my plans had to be changed. I’ve spent a lot of time at home making panettone and decorating! I have also been walking everywhere since my car has been bloccato in ghiaccio most of this time. Most of us are looking forward to saying arrivederci neve! It is very pretty, and for now it looks like a winter wonderland…now how would we say that in Italiano? Un inverno incantata-an enchanted winter? That’s as close as I can think of. Here are some photos I took this week while walking, vicino casa, but I did do a rain dance when I got home! albero-di-natale2

My vicini di casa do not live in igloos, but they do like to build them!

This pupazzo di neve (snowman) has his own igloo

Luci Natalizie di Mamma e Papa/ My parents’ Christmas lights

Ciao e Buon Natale dal ‘Snowmageddon’, Cristina

Espresso Cookies

13 Tuesday Dec 2016

Posted by Un po' di pepe in Mangiamo!, Recipes

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

Dolci di Natale, Espresso cookies, Espresso shortbread cookies, Maccinacaffè

I make these yummy biscottini often, and receive a lot of requests for the recipe, especially at this time of year. They are not a traditional Italian dolce, but they have been ‘italianizzati’ 🇮🇹 by the espresso. I have been making them for over 25 years, so I don’t remember where the original recipe came from. It may have been an article in the local paper? Really, any shortbread or butter cookie recipe can be adapted by adding vanilla extract and instant espresso powder.

These espresso cookies are perfect with a caffè and freeze very well. They even taste good congelati -straight out of the freezer. For best results, freeze before dipping the ends in chocolate. The espresso must be ground to a very fine powder in a macinacaffè, a coffee grinder. Instant espresso is too coarse and chunky to add straight from the jar. Grinding espresso beans does not work well, as they do not grind fine enough. Using real caffè does not work either, as the batter will be too liquidy. Espresso powder is the best option. I use Medaglia d’Oro® or Bar Italia® brand instant espresso. Last time I made them, I accidentally doubled the caffè (oops!). My coffee loving amici thought they were even better than usual, so ‘double shot’ works too.

Espresso Cookies

10g (20 ml, 4 teaspoons) instant espresso

225g (240 ml, 1 cup) butter, at room temperature

100g (120 ml, ½ cup) sugar

3 ml (½ teaspoon) pure vanilla extract

230g (415 ml, 1¾ cups) all-purpose flour

30g (¼ cup, 60 ml) cornstarch

120g (4 ounces) good quality chocolate, melted

Grind instant espresso in coffee grinder to a fine powder. Mix together butter and sugar. Add espresso powder and vanilla extract. Sift flour and cornstarch together and add to the rest of the ingredients. Roll into 2 cm balls then flatten into palm of hand to mould into oval coffee bean shape/American football shape. Place on a baking sheet. Before baking, make a shallow indent lengthwise down the ‘bean’ with a knife. Indenting too deep will make the cookies spread. Bake at 180⁰ C (325⁰ F) for 15-20 minutes. When cool, dip both ends in melted chocolate and place on wax or parchment paper to dry. Makes 36 cookies. Buon Appetito!