Tag: Befana

Pinza della Befana recipe, an irresistible Venetian dessert – Italian Cuisine

Ingredients

300 g cornmeal
butter 200 g plus a little
200 g 00 flour
200 g sugar
50 g raisins
50 g candied citron
20 g candied pumpkin
10 dried figs
1 apple
grappa or anise liqueur
aniseed
baking powder
salt

Duration: 1 h 30 min

Level: Middle

Dose: 8 people

Find out how to make the original recipe of the Pinza della Befana, a rich dessert that is served during the winter holidays.Soak the raisins in grappa or liqueur. Add the two flours in a saucepan and mix well with 1 teaspoon of sifted yeast, sugar and a pinch of salt. In another pot, bring 2 liters of water to a boil; little by little, add almost all of it to the flour, cooking the polenta for about 20 minutes, stirring constantly so that no lumps form. Remove the polenta from the heat and add the butter, raisins, a glass of the soaking liqueur, a pinch of anise seeds, the cedar, the pumpkin, the figs and the peeled apple, all in small pieces. Put on the fire and cook for another 20 minutes, stirring constantly. Pour the polenta into a buttered pan (24 × 28 cm), with the bottom covered with parchment paper, level the surface with a wet spoon and bake at 200 ° C for 30 minutes, taking out of the oven when the crust is golden brown. Serve the cold tongs, cut into squares.

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What do you eat in Italy on the day of the Befana? – Italian Cuisine

Pagan holidays, epiphany, before becoming the day of adoration of the Three Kings and matching with the arrival of the Epiphany, represented for many ancient peoples with the beginning of the new year. And the rites were wasted: some populations burned a piece of wood to exorcise the privations of the past, others sat at the table keeping their farm animals close to prevent them from learning to speak. For the Romans, however, between the end of December and January 6 the goddess Diana he flew over cultivated fields to make them fertile, bringing old fruit or sweets as a gift to the little ones. It is clear, therefore, that food has always played an important role for the celebrations of this festival. And what do you eat today on January 6 around Italy?

Northern sweets

In almost all regions there are traditional recipes that continue to live. And many are linked to inevitable desserts on the tables of the Italians. In Piedmont, especially in the Cuneo area, there is never a shortage of Fugassa d’la Befana, a soft dough with a shape reminiscent of a daisy, which, like all ancient legacies that are respected, retains a very original tradition: a white and a black bean are hidden inside. Those who find them, however, do not win anything, rather they pay a pledge for everyone. The unfortunate who pecks there broad bean white, in fact, is the one that must pay the expenses of the focaccia, the one to which the black bean touches, offers a drink. In Tuscanyinstead, they continue to prepare for the arrival of the Three Kings in the nativity scene i Siena horses, soft biscuits with water, sugar, honey, candied fruit, anise, nuts and yeast, and the so-called befanini, shortbreads based on citrus fruits and rhumcovered with colored grain, typical of the areas of Lucca and Viareggio.

Venetian typicality and not only

Staying in northern Italy, in the kitchens of Veneto here is Epiphany grip, a kind of polenta pizza made with corn flour and dried fruit, while in Lombardy, in the province of Varese, there are i camels of puff pastry, are covered with sugar before being baked. Going to the Liguria you come across traditional anicini (anexin in dialect) ancient biscuits served during all the Christmas holidays accompanied by a sweet wine in which they dipped, and in the donut of the Three Kings, covered with candied fruit, raisins and sugar. Typical of the Ancona area, in the Marche, instead, are pecorelle, puff pastry cakes of various shapes and stuffed with jam, dried fruit, chopped walnuts or dried figs.

The Epiphany at the table in the south

Gliding south, in Abruzzo Epiphany rhymes with pepatelli, biscuits similar to the cantucci typical of the province of Teramo (and of Molise) prepared not only for January 6, but during all holidays, starting from Christmas. Their name derives from the recipe, as among the ingredients there is black pepper, accompanied by honey, flour, cocoa, almonds and orange peels. In Campania the preparation of the is traditional first pastiera of the year, and stuffoli, sweet is composed of numerous balls of pasta (made with flour, eggs, sugar and aniseed liqueur), fried in oil or lard, wrapped in hot honey and served together in a plate forming a donut, to be finally decorated candied fruit or colored sugared almonds. In PugliaFinally, there are i Salento purcidduzzi and Bari cartellate, made with a mixture of flour, oil and dry white wine from which strips of pasta are obtained which are shaped to compose a spiral, with a design reminiscent of a rose, full of small concavities and interstices which, after frying must collect the cooked wine (or must) or cooked figs. In Salento, with a similar dough, purcidduzzi, called anchestrufoli, are obtained in the shape of small gnocchi or cavatelli, with smooth or wrinkled surface, which after frying are immersed in boiling honey and subsequently placed on a plate and sprinkled with colored sprinkles.

What to put in the Befana stocking – Italian Cuisine

Sometimes it takes very little to turn your kitchen into a small candy factory. And the best time to do it is in view of the arrival of the Befana

Discarded gifts, eaten panettone, bottles of uncorked bubbles. One more thing is missing to sweetly end the bailamme of the holidays: the Befana stocking. The shops are now teeming with pre-packaged socks, ready to hang without making the slightest effort. Yet it doesn't take long to turn the kitchen into one small candy factory. At one time it was customary to fill the Befana stocking with sweets, dried fruit and citrus fruits. Bad children, however, had to deal with coal. To decide what to prepare you can therefore start from one revisiting tradition.

Caramelized hazelnuts and almonds

A quick and easy recipe, also useful for recycling dried fruit left over from the festive meals. Just a glass of hazelnuts is one of almonds, a glass of water is one of sugar. Boil the water and sugar in a non-stick pan over low heat. When this has melted, remove from the heat and add the dried fruit. Stir with a wooden spoon, until the hazelnuts and almonds are wrapped in sugar. Put them back on the stove and caramelise them, stirring constantly. Once ready, arrange them on a baking sheet covered with baking paper separate them from each other with a fork before they cool completely.

Candied oranges

In this period, if there is one thing that is not missing in the house, oranges. To make them candied, a kilo is enough, in addition to 600 g of sugar and a liter of water. It starts by dividing the sliced oranges. With a knife remove the pulp and cut the peel into strips. Boil the zest in a saucepan for 5 minutes, drain and allow to cool. In the meantime, put the water and sugar on the fire, melt everything until one is obtained syrup. Add the rinds and boil on low heat for at least a couple of hours. Leave to rest for one night and repeat the operation even the next day.

Sweet coal

Even sweet coal you can do it at home. We start from icing: put two egg whites in a bowl, add a few drops of lemon juice, two tablespoons of pure alcohol, 300 g of icing sugar and whip everything with an electric whisk. At the end add a spoonful of black dye powder and mix until a thick and dark glaze is obtained. Separately, in a steel saucepan, prepare the syrup with 10 cl of water, 300 g of granulated sugar and another spoonful of coloring. After 10-15 minutes pour two tablespoons of bain-marie glaze into the syrup. Stir quickly and immediately pour the mixture into a mold lined with parchment paper. Do harden the coal at room temperature.

Cake Pops

With a view to recycling, cake pops can be prepared, balls covered with chocolate and decorated with sugars. Instead of sponge cake you can use for example panettone or pandoro. 400 g crumbled are needed. Add four spoons of your own favorite jam, stirring with your hands until a homogeneous mixture is obtained. Form some balls no larger than a walnut, place them on a dripping pan covered with parchment paper and let them rest for half an hour in freezer. Melt the chocolate, white, dark or milk, according to taste. Stick plastic or wooden sticks into the balls removed from the freezer and dip them in the melted chocolate. Shake them to remove excess chocolate and garnish as desired with hazelnuts, coconut, colored sugars.

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