"TRADITIONAL CHRISTMAS CAKES FOR ALL THE WORLD"

"TRADITIONAL CHRISTMAS CAKES FOR ALL THE WORLD"

The origins of the Panettone:

On the Milanese panettone on which there are several legends. The most famous story is linked to the dining room of Count Sforza, when his cook of the court saw that he had burned on the cake for lunch. His assistant Toni proposed to repair the damage with a dessert made with leftover butter, candied fruit and pasta. The 'Pan de Toni' was widely appreciated by all guests.Another legend has it that Toni is right to have forgotten in his kitchen for a day a cake that was experimenting to do and then, realizing his "forgetfulness" also decided to bake that cake, it looked like in bread and cake I call: "Pan de Toni" and then in time changed to "Panettone".Another legend is that which tells the story of Hugues Atellani, a young falconer in love with a baker named Algis, whose business with the approach of Christmas has been slow. Hugues was just to help his beloved that he bought with a few coins, sugar, eggs and raisins. Algis took the ingredients and made a paste which then became the 'famous panettone', made with the strength of his love.

The origins of Verona pandoro:

Other and not least for Christmas cake that arrives on our tables and Italiannot only is the Pandoro of Verona, whose origins are quite uncertain. It is thought that this cake from "Nadalin", a traditional sweet star-shaped families of Verona. Its design is the result of collaboration with the Austrian pastry very active in Verona.Since early 1800, Pandora has become the traditional cake of Verona production before being nationally known mainly thanks to the packaging industry.

The nougat: Cremonese or Sicilian?

The nougat is the 'home of authentic expression, fuck, now known in many variations with almonds, chocolate, nuts and honey. Again, there are several historical currents that give each other different origins to its gastronomic nascita.Per many scholars would seem that its origins are linked to Sicily with the next version calabria.Infatti spread in Sicily is prepared based on honey and almonds. Calabria is made with honey and almonds and peanuts, with coverage in dark chocolate. But the tradition, on the other hand, places it in Cremona 1400.The day of the wedding of Bianca Maria Visconti and Francesco Sforza, during the banquet, in fact, was a sweet prepared with almonds, honey and egg white that reproduced the shape of the city tower, just the tower. Its spread, then, is credited to the merits of a former apprentice at the end of 1800 gave birth to the first production designed specifically for the nougat.In Cremona, in fact, where one of the most important gastronomic event on nougat, this takes place every year in November, numerous people come from all over Italy to taste the legendary nougat in all its variants!

The sweetbread or Genoa cake Genoa

The Christmas sweetbread is a product of the city of Genoa, Liguria and spread throughout the United Kingdom known as the 'Genoa cake' ('Cake of Genoa'). According to tradition was the doge of the Republic of Genoa, Andrea Doria, to ban the competition among pastry chefs in the city because realized a gentle representative of the entire city and had a long shelf life to ensure his goodness even on long journeys.
 In addition, the custom Genovese states that the youngest of the family stick on top of an olive branch or sweetbread then. While the elder should start cutting the cake and preserving a slice for the poorest.

Struffoli Neapolitans - the origins of Greek

The famous struffolis of Naples are not originating in Naples, but imagine how easy it would owe their birth to the Greeks. The name itself derives from the word 'strongoulos', or rounded, hence then rounded.These cakes in the shape of small balls have become popular in many other regions: in central Italy there is a version called 'cicerchiata' while in Basilicata and Calabria is the 'cicerata'. In Palermo, however, the difference is only in name because the word 'struffolis' lost one 'f' and becomes 'strufoli'.

Trunk Christmas - ( Buche de Noel )

The Christmas tradition of the nozzle is placed in the French Christmas. Typical of the country beyond the Alps, the dessert is known as 'Buche de Noel' and recalls the shape of the block of wood, in turn a symbol of many countries in Northern Europe.
 The history of the strain has its roots in a pagan custom that served to wish the fertility of the orchard: the strain, in fact, had to be extracted from an oak or a chestnut tree and put in the fireplace on Christmas Eve. This symbolic action to heat the baby Jesus, which was to continue until the New Year as a rite for the new year.

Cake of the Three Kings - Tortell de reis (Spain)

This typical Spanish dessert, is a sweet very sweet particolare.un where you mix Catholicism with pagano.Cattolicesimo because of the Magi, because of the pagan superstitions to which is attached to the sweet. In fact, within this are inserted two objects: A dry stone and a statue of the crib of the Magi. The tradition states that the cutting of the cake should be done by the individual diner. In fact, those who will find the dry stone, will serve a penance (chosen from the rest of the diners) Those who find the statue of the Three Kings, will be celebrated like a king! Beyond is superstition, remains the most popular dessert in Spain and Portugal, and is very popular in Brazil.

Grittibänz (Switzerland)

The puppets are Grittibänz sweet dough rises, details of which depict men's clothes made by hand, with details of candied fruit, and nuts are ideal for breakfast on Christmas day, and where the tables of all the cantons not svizzerri I can certainly missing on Christmas Day.

Stollen (Germany)

Classic Christmas cake in Germany, Stollen is a personal name it's not  translatable and in any sense. It has an elongated shape and within contains nuts and raisins. It exists in several variants. What I am about to propose is the classic one.

Now below you will find recipes for these cakes. Want to see some more recipes? Then go in "your recipes" and discover many more! All dedicated to the sweetness of Christmas in the world!

Panettone stuffed with cream and fruit

Ingredients for 2 people:

3 small panettone

2 tablespoons of whipped cream or custard

half pear

2 Grappolini currant

1 tablespoon powdered sugar

Maraschino q.b

Take the Panettone and remove the paper that surrounds them laterally, taking care not to damage their surface. Cut off the cap and with a boxcutter dig the interior of Panettone, and pull the dough, and cut into disks and use to form the layers by intervals with whipped cream or custard. Hulled and sliced ​​fruit mixed with small pieces, then mounts the fresh cream adding the powdered sugar to your taste. Prepare the pastry cream or, for faster execution, procuratela ready. Spray lightly Panettoncino of Maraschino. Take 1 tablespoon of cream that you mixed with pieces of fruit, and the bottom of adagialo Panettoncino; ask above it a disk of cake and cover it with custard. Garnish the top with fruit pieces, cover with the cover with a dusting of icing sugar and garnish with currants.

If extraction of the center of the dough Panettoncino breaks or crumbles, never fear: cut it into pieces and use it in this way to form the layers that divide the cream or cream.

Stars of Pandoro with zabaglione cream

INGREDIENTS FOR 6 PEOPLE:

1 pandoro

30 grams of sugar

For the zabaglione:

½ cup Marsala

4 egg yolks

8 tablespoons of sugar

For the chocolate:

200 grams of dark chocolate

50 g of almonds

¼ cream

First occupied in the preparation of eggnog: Beat the egg yolks with sugar until creamy and soft, yet compact, then add the Marsala and continue to mix. Put the mixture you've got hours to heat a water bath for several minutes, up to the boil and keep warm but do not boil. Meanwhile, in a small pan, chopped dark chocolate and let it melt water bath. Once melted, add the cream, mixing everything well until the sauce is blended to perfection. Coarsely chop the almonds and put them aside. At this point, when everything is ready, cut into slices pandoro horizontally so that you get so many stars. Put each star in a serving dish and pour over a piece of hot eggnog decorated with melted chocolate and chopped almonds. Complete the recipe with a dusting of icing sugar.

If the star of Pandora seems too big for one serving, you can cut the slice, before filling it in quarters, as in the photo. If you want, instead of powdered sugar, you can use the cocoa powder, less sweet.

Sicilian Nougat

INGREDIENTS FOR 6 PEOPLE:

500 g blanched almonds

500 grams of sugar

400 g of honey

the peel of an 'orange untreated

1 sachet of vanilla

waffle wafer q.b

baking paper

Prepare the waffles on a rectangular baking paper. Toast the almonds for about ten minutes in the oven, then coarsely chop the almonds in a food processor. Put the sugar in a saucepan and turn on the fire. Do it slowly dissolve and add the almonds, orange peel, honey and vanilla. Turn from time to time without attacking all the walls and bottom of the pan. As soon as everything is melted and blended, pour the stripes on the nougat wafers so Calasso fomando rectangular shape of the Sicilian Nougat. Run the task quickly, before they harden the sugar with honey. Make it cool and cut with a sharp knife, large and long pieces about 10-15 cm.

The Nougat with honey tends to harden, but always a little, like all things with sugar, just a few minutes in the microwave and put it back soft and tasty.

Sweetbread - Genoa Cake

INGREDIENTS FOR 4 PEOPLE:

500 grams of 00 flour for cakes

150 grams of sugar

200 grams of butter

2 eggs

50 g of orange flower water

250 grams of raisins

50 grams of pine nuts

50 g of candied fruit

1 / 2 sachet of baking powder

Blend the flour, sugar, eggs, butter (previously left at room temperature to soften), the orange flower water and work the dough. After that everything is well mixed properly, add the raisins, pine nuts and candied fruit pieces. Add the yeast for last (fast rising). Make a ball and divide the dough into two balls and lay it on a baking tray covered with baking paper. From the compound in the form of small panettone and make a cut in a triangle on the top of the dough balls. Bake at 160 ° C and bake for about 40 minutes checking from time to time, cooking.

When they are cooked, remove from oven and put the Pandolce above the wire rack to cool (this will eliminate completely the residual moisture). Pandolce Keep tightly closed in freezer bags: doing so will keep perfectly for a long time.

Struffoli

Ingredients for 8 people:

Grated zest of ½ orange

60 g of butter

400 g of flour

½ lemon zest

½ cup of Rum

1 pinch of salt

3 eggs

1 egg yolk

40 grams of sugar

Put the flour in a bowl or on a plane in the classical form of a fountain in the center and add eggs, butter, sugar, liqueur, grated rind of lemon and a pinch of salt. Knead well and, once obtained a homogeneous and compact enough, by the shape of a ball and let it sit for half an hour covered with a clean cloth. Spent the half hour, working the dough for a few minutes and divide into many rods under a thick finger rolls on a lightly floured surface. At this point, cut the sticks into small pieces and arrange them on a towel, being careful not to overlap. Once ready, put the oil in a frying pan and fry the struffoli a bit 'at a time: prelevali puffy and golden, then cool on sgocciolali fouls and paper towels. To dry well and in the meantime, melt the honey gently in a pot large enough. When the honey is melted, turn off the heat and add the struffoli in the saucepan, stirring gently until they are well soaked in honey. Pour half of the tang and candied fruit in the pot, stirring it all again, then take a serving dish and distribute to the struffoli mound, the center of the pot or put an empty glass jar and you have all around this struffoli to form a donut. A honey is still warm, take the remaining candied fruit tang and sprinkle on struffolis, in order to achieve a pleasing aesthetic effect. If you opted for the donut shape, as soon as the honey will be solidified, carefully remove the jar from the center of the dish and serve struffoli.

If you want to get the most struffolis swollen, you can add to the mix a pinch of baking soda or ammonia for gentle, taking care, however, to let the dough rest for at least two hours.

Welded Christmas (France)

INGREDIENTS FOR 6 PEOPLE:

For the sponge cake (cookie dough)

100 grams of flour

125 grams of sugar

4 egg yolks

4 egg whites

1 packet of yeast

Salt q.b.

2 tablespoons Amaretto di Saronno

For the filling:

300 grams of mascarpone

½ bag of vanilla sugar

2 egg yolks

2 tablespoons Amaretto di Saronno

hazelnut cream

Prepare the sponge cake Beat the egg yolks. Add the salt, sugar and Amaretto di Saronno and mix everything.

Combine the flour, mix well and then combine the egg whites beaten stiff. Finally, add the yeast.

Pour the pot of the oven covered with parchment paper and bake at 180 degrees for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the filling: Beat the egg yolks, add sugar, vanilla, Amaretto di Saronno and the mascarpone.

After mixed, add the hazelnut cream, until mixture is light brown.

Cover with it the sponge, taking care to remain a part of the filling on the trunk spreads.

Wrap the sponge again and add the hazelnut cream filling used for the filling until you have a darker color.

Spread the cream then the socket and decorate with colored sugar.

Garnish Tronchetto Christmas with poinsettias and holly, or with meringue mushrooms.

To create the snow effect, however, use of coconut flour and dried icing sugar.

Tortell de Reis (Spain)

INGREDIENTS FOR 6 PEOPLE:

Sweet puff pastry filled with whipped cream, candied fruit and almonds, with a "surprise" Christmas

Ingredients for 4 people:

1 package puff pastry ready

a tablespoon of almond

4 tablespoons icing sugar

3 dl fresh cream

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

2 tablespoons candied peel

Unroll the pastry and lay it on its special paper, with the edge of a water glass, engrave the center of both layers of dough that will delete a record.

Moisten the surface of the two rings of dough with water, sprinkle with granulated sugar, prick with a fork and cook over a disk of dough at a time in hot oven at 200 degrees for 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let cool. Meanwhile, whip the cream with the icing sugar and, stirring gently, stir in the candied fruit and almonds.

Do you have a disc of pastry on a plate, cover with the cream and lay on it, distance between them, and a dry one stone statue depicting a nativity scene of the Magi.

Cover with the second disk of dough and let it cool for half an hour in the fridge.

At the time of eating the cake, the guests will have to look into their portion of the 2 items included: Who will dry the beans will have to serve a penance, but those who find the statue will be celebrated as "king."

Grittibänz (Switzerland)

Ingredients for 4 people:

Grittibänz

500 g of white flour

75 g of cooking butter

30 g of baker's yeast

30 g of sugar

10 g of salt

2.5 dl of milk

1 egg (50 g)

Decoration

sultana

almonds

cherry colored

1 egg

Preparation

To prepare dough: Combine kneading 350 g of flour, 2.5 cups milk, 30 g baker's yeast and 30 g of sugar. Stir the mixture at low speed (thus avoiding the heat of the pasta, which would make it difficult to work) and after a few minutes add 1 egg 50 g, 75 g butter and 150 g of cooking flour. Continue the process for further 3-4 minutes.

At the end of the process add 10 g of salt and continue mixing until, taking a piece of dough between your hands, you can pull the dough finely without tearing it.

After processing let the dough rest for about 10 minutes.

For the processing of the mix: form obtained from mixing the dough pieces to be rounded, wait a minute and elongated teardrop shape them. Using the hand to score the dough one quarter of the length of the drop toward the round, to thin the neck and lay the dough on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.

Keep a piece of dough to make the decorations such as belt, hat and other details to your liking. Decorate Grittibänz using almonds, cherries and other colored ingredients depending on your taste. Beat 1 egg with 10 g of cream a little sugar and a pinch of sale.Spennellare 2-fold the dough in 10 minutes.

Let rise again and Grittibänz before cooking in the oven at moderate temperature, drill cuttings to decorate the snowman.

Classic Stollen (Germany)

INGREDIENTS:

for about 24 pieces

For the pasta dough:

225 ml milk

175 g of butter

500 g wheat flour

1 cube of fresh yeast,

125 g of sugar

1 package of vanilla sugar

A pinch of salt

natural lemon flavor

 1 / 2 vial of vanilla flavor

6 drops of almond aroma

125 g candied citron

300 g of raisins

100 g of chopped almonds

To finish:

about 100 g of butter

about 50 grams of sugar

In a saucepan, heat the milk and melt the butter.

Put the flour in a bowl. Dissolve the yeast in the milk and butter. Add the remaining ingredients, except: cedar, raisins and almonds, mix everything up in order to form a smooth paste. Let the dough rise in a warm place until it has grown visibly. Meanwhile, finely chop the candied citron. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Preheat the oven. If electricity to about 250 ° C. If ventilated at 230 ° C.

Sprinkle dough with flour, remove from bowl and knead again, adding the lightly floured raisins, candied citron and almonds.

With the dough into a roll (35 cm), and let it rise in a warm place until you see has increased its volume. Preheat the oven. If electricity to about 250 ° C. If ventilated at 230 ° C. Before introducing the stollen in the oven, reduce oven temperature to about 160 ° C - 140 ° if ventilated.

Bake for about 60 min. Remove from the oven stollen.

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Brush with the butter to the liquid surface of the still warm stollen. Sprinkle with half the sugar. Let cool completely on a wire rack and sprinkle stollen again with icing sugar.