CHOCOLATE CAKES

It is Easter time, so chocolate has to be the main character of many recipes. I have started preparing “Fiorentini” and “Tartufini al rhum”

FIORENTINI
Ingredients:

300 gr. almonds without shell

300 gr. milk chocolate

It is quite simple find almond without shell and the brown skin. If you have to remove the skin just put them in a pot with a bit of water and let boil, then dry and rub them until clear.

Toast almonds baking them for few minutes in pre-heaten oven. Melt the chocolate bain marie, add almonds when creamy. Let sit then prepare a large tray with oven paper and using two spoons from small balls. Put in the fridge for half an hour.

                                    

TARTUFINI AL RUM
Ingredients:

100 gr. di amaretti

200 gr. dark chocolate

80 gr. butter

50 gr. di rhum

Unsweeted cocoa powder

Using the mixer mince amaretti, melt chocolate and butter bain marie, then add biscuits and rhum and stir. Put in the fridge for about an hour. When the mixture become hard make small balls using a spoon (smaller then a walnut) and pass in the cocoa powder.

                                     

CHOCOLATE AND RICOTTA CHEESE CAKE

I wanted to talk about pasta topping, the none of my guests wrote me asking about my breakfast famous cakes! She suggested me to start with one of her favourite: chocolate and ricotta cheese cake.

Ingredients:
for the pastry
300 gr. flour
100 gr. sugar
120 gr. butter
1 egg
1 baking powder
lemon zeist

for the filling
400 gr. ricotta cheese
120 gr. sugar
100 gr. dark chocolate

Mix in a bowl flour, sugar and baking powder. Then add egg, lemon zeist, room - temperature butter. Knead using hands until having a grainy pastry. In a 28 cm baking tray pour 2/3 of the pastry and press it to cover the bottom of the tray.

In the meantime prepare the filling mixing ricotta cheese, sugar and chopped chocolate.Pour on the pastry. Cover with the pastry left making big crumbs. Bake 180° for 30 minutes.

Il Castagnaccio

We waked up this morning and all the countryside was covered with snow. I opened the window and I felt the cold air thinking: perfect weather for “castagnaccio”! 

This is an old and simple recipe made with chestnuts in our countryside. During the winter, in front of the fireplace there were always chestnuts: boiled, roasted or dried. We used to reduce them in flour and prepare them in a way which could replace a soup or the bread: here is the recipe.

Ingredients for 4 people:

gr. 300 chestnut flour
gr. 80 raisin
gr. 30 pine nut
5 walnuts
rosemary
gr. 400 water
olive oil
salt

Pour the flour in a bowl with salt, water and 2 spoons of olive oil, stir until creamy and smooth. Oil a cake pan with 3 spoons of olive oil and pour the mixture (it has to be less then a finger thick). Cover it with raisin, rosemary, walnuts and pine nut. Bake medium heat for 40 minutes.