My Italian Cuisine

  The content and pictures of this post are copyright registered & protected ©myitaliancuisine Jam tarts, Crostatine  in Italian, are small short crust pastry rounds filled with fruit jams, or pastry cream, Nutella etc... When I wan a child they were always there for my breakfast or the afternoon « Merenda » when back from school.    Contrary to the English tea time jam tarts, which normally do not have any pastry topping, the  " Crostatine " are topped with stripes of short crust pastry as you can see in the pictures. But you can use your imagination and jutst top them as you like, witha pastry hearth for St Valentine, a star for Xmas . I have already posted the home made short crust pastry recipe, you can find it in our «  How to Make ... » section , it is very easy to prepare specually if you have a food processor and is far better to ready-made you find in crocery shops. I normally use my homemade fruit ...

 The content and pictures of this post are copyright registered & protected ©myitaliancuisine The "Bocconotto" is a small Italian short pastry tart filled with different ingredients, the recipe is different in every region, for example in Castel Frentano, Abruzzo, the traditional bocconotto is filled with chocolate and amandels, in Teramo (Abruzzo) with black grapes jam and amandels, in Martinafranca, Puglia, with  pastry cream and black cherries, in Lecce (Puglia) where is called "Pasticciotto" it is filled with pastry cream only. The bocconotto is very easy and delicious small pastry, if you want to know more about the original Bocconotto abruzzese, you can visit the "Bocconotto" web site: http://www.bocconotti.com/ and if you visit Abruzzo, do not miss one of the several "Bocconotteria" shops....the Bocconotto paradise!!  Today's bocconotto recipe is from Puglia, Martinafranca. It's filled with pastry cream and bl...

 The content and pictures of this post are copyright registered & protected ©myitaliancuisine I'm just back from Italy where Carnival is everywhere, in the streets,  in the bakeries and food stores. Carnival in Italy means colours and fun.... but also a very large choice of desserts, every region has his owns:  Le Chiacchiere also called Bugie or Frappe, Le Zeppole di san Giuseppe, Le Castagnole (see recipe here ), Le Graffe napoletane(see recipe here ). Today I want to share with you a fantastic Carnival fritters recipe I found in the Italian food magazine Sale&Pepe . Very different from the Italian traditional fritters, this one has a soft heart of abricot and ginger, a taste of lime.....It's really a special one but so nice and easy to prepare. A Carnival dessert recipe  to try out if you have a little time, your children and friends will love it! Enjoy and have a very funny Carnival! Makes 15 - 20 fritters Ingredients: 200gr dried ap...

  The recipe for these delicious wine biscuits is simple and easy, you just need to mix oil and wine with flour and sugar! Once these desserts start baking, they will warm your kitchen and delight your friend or family. These ciambelline are perfect when served at the end of a meal, with a sweet Italian wine liqueur like Passito, Moscato or Vin Santo. Makes about 30 biscuits Ingredients: 500gr pastry flour 1 small glass of olive oil 1 small glass of Italian dry white wine 180gr granulated sugar 2 teaspoons of baking powder (optional) A small cup of granulated sugar for decoration Method: In a bowl combine all ingredients together until it forms a soft dough, devide the dough into small pieces, roll each piece into a rope and pinch the edges together to form a ring Dip one side in sugar. bake on a baking sheet in a preheated oven for 10 -15 minutes. The ciambelline are ready when the top turns lightly brown...buon appetito!

 The content and pictures of this post are copyright registered & protected ©myitaliancuisine How to describe the taste of these fried Italian Canival donuts?...Le frittelle di Carnevale also called "Graffe" in Naple.... They remind me my chilhood, the taste, the sugar sticking on your fingers and around your lips when you eat them.... I was looking for the perfect recipe ... after several trials I must say that this one is very close to perfection...my ciambelle fritte tasted just like the ones I used to buy in the Italian bakkery!!! The dought of these fried donuts can also be used to make the Italian "Bomboloni alla crema" also called "Bombe fritte"....but we will talk about this another time ;) Makes about 15 Carnival fried donuts Ingredients: 500 gr strong flour (I used the one for Italian pizza) 1 and half cup of lukewarm full fat milk 50gr of fresh yeast 1 medium boiled, peeled and smashed potato The grated peel of 1 large orga...

 The content and pictures of this post are copyright registered & protected ©myitaliancuisine Cantucci or cantuccini are italian biscuits originally from Prato, near Florence. Loved by Italy’s famed cookbook writer Pellegrino Artusi and by a visiting Hermann Hesse, cantuccini are usually enjoyed as after dinner, dipped into a glass of Vinsanto, but why not also for breakfast or tea time? Making cantucci is not difficult but it takes some time as they are cooked twice. Here is my recipie to make very crunchy but not hard-to-eat cantucci. Enjoy it!! Ingredients: 500gr flour 100gr butter 4 eggs 1 egg yolk 250gr unpeeled amandels 4gr baking powder 250gr granulated sugar A pinch of salt 1 egg yolk and 1 tbs of milk for the glaze Instructions: 1) Prepare the amandels: Pre heat your oven on 180C° (350F°) when ready, place the amandel in a large oven tray and roast for 4-5 minutes. When roasted, place the amandel apart to cool. 2) Prepare the cantucci mixture:...

I am a big fan of Italian expresso coffee of course, there is no way to start my day without a good expresso, but in the evening I like to have my cup of tea. My favourite is the Dong Ding Oolong tea (from the Dong Ding region in central Taiwan) which due to its low theine content is a good tea for an afternoon or evening break. Only recently I discovered this marveillous green powder called Macha tea. Macha is uniquely Japanese, it is the highest quality tea available in Japan. Macha is traditionally used for the Japanese tea ceremony. Benefits of green tea are well known, with Macha tea the actual entire tea leaf is consumed wich gives even higher concentrations of antioxindants, catechins and vitamins. Consider reading this for more info about Macha tea. Macha is also widely used for cooking: cookies, micho and a large variety of food preparations. I love Macha tea special taste... so today I will start a new recipes category: "Cooking with Macha". Here is ...