We are all talking about Christmas lunches, dinners, gourmet gifts to impress people we love, chocolate afternoon treats in front of the fireplace, lit by the lights of the Christmas tree and the flames of the fireplace. But what about breakfast? This year I want also an lavish Christmas breakfast, slightly different from the usual milk and cereals, soft and fragrant.

I want to start greatly the day that for me is one of the most exciting of the year with a soft tiny cake, whose flavours and fondant heart remind the typical Sienese ricciarelli. This is a very special tiny cake, where the lager beer gives a light malty aroma.

Post di: Juls' Kitchen

Almond and orange tiny cakes for breakfast

You should be interested also in:

1. Tiny cakes with apples and carrots
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3. The Italian breakfast, spelt flour and cocoa ring cake. Guest post for Kulsum of Journey Kitchen

I succeeded to post the recipe at the second attempt. I baked this biscotti for the first time early this summer for a special Tuscan dinner with friends, writing the ingredients on a small piece of paper and losing it as expected at the end of the evening. It’s always the same: you put the notes scribbled down with codes and abbreviations that only you can understand in that book because you are sure you will easily remember that it is there, except then forgetting about it after 5 minutes, giving the recipe for missing for the months to come.

The same happened with the small duvet buttons, put into the box on the shelf because it was clear that I would have searched for them there the next year… and of course I secured the duvet to the sheets with pegs for months! And it happened again with the new necklace I bought in Germany, put in the most obvious and easy place to remember and found at the end of the season during the wardrobe change, just by chance.

But here I admit it, Your Honor, I’m a persistent offender with recipe notes. I even bought a black Moleskine just for my recipes, but most of the times I forget to write there ingredients, temperature and steps on the glossy pages of my diary.

As in the best fairy tales, when you least expect it the slip of paper comes out, and the only thing you need to do is to decrypt with archaeologist attention my infamous abbreviations, so obvious when you note them down for the first time, so obscure when you find out the recipe months later.

After having sent a good bunch of darns to the past me, who insists on writing half in Italian and half in English, hopping from language to language and from units of measurement to units of measurement, I eventually managed to reconstruct the basic recipe of the cantuccini made with chestnut flour.

Since in this period I’m playing with alternative flour and sweeteners, influenced Heidi Swanson‘s useful and mind-opening books, I slightly changed the original cantuccini recipe, trying to make them mirror the amazing colours and flavours of autumn.

I chose the chestnut flour, so sweet, and a whole oat flour, enchanted by how Heidi describes it: in her opinion it gives a moist and creamy sweetness to cookies and cakes. Just to bring these biscotti a step further in the scale of indulgence, I stirred in a generous handful of 70% dark chocolate drops, strong and slightly bitter. Now pull out the vinsanto, the cantuccini are ready!

You can store the chestnut flour in a tightly closed plastic box or bag in the freezer: since it is obtained from dried chestnuts, it will keep the floury texture, without turning into a frozen brick.

For an improvised snack with the dear flavour of the ancient times just stir the sweet flour with water until you get a smooth and liquid batter, similar to the pancake mixture. Brush with extra-virgin olive a small non-stick pan, heat it on the stove and pour a spoonful of batter into the pan, spreading it evenly. Cook for a very few minutes on both sides and enjoy necci, chestnut pancakes typical of the Garfagnana area, simply good with just a dusting of icing sugar or a spoonful of fresh ricotta.

If you love chestnut flour just like I do – after all when you taste the best quality chestnut flour it will be like having a chestnut melting on your tongue, such a real taste -, do not miss castagnaccio, the most typical and rustic chestnut cake, made just with olive oil, rosemary, raisins and pine nuts.

Post di: Juls' Kitchen

Chestnut flour and chocolate drops biscotti

You should be interested also in:

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This date is written in red on the calendar like every other holiday… yet it is not a common one! January the 6th is red, vivid among the first days of the year, the last day of a joyful carousel of many other jolly numbers as red as candy apples… but there’s something more behind its holiday appearance. December the 25th is a full holiday,with a sense in itself. January the 1st, again, is another holiday that makes sense on itself, standing at the beginning of the calendar, waiting for other red numbers to join the party. But what about January the 6th? What about La Befana (as we call this day)? The 6th is meant to be the last in line, the one that turns off the lights and closes the door.

And then, the silence.

Sadness? Absolutely not! A joyful holiday season is finished, this year more homely and warm than usual, but we’re ready to live another season just as good! Have you noticed that the days are getting longer bit by bit? The light is regaining its kingdom, the air smells of novelty, such as my diary with only a few appointments marked, New Year’s resolutions begin to come true… or maybe not… The important thing is that today starts a cycle that will lead us to talk about strawberries, ice cream and picnic blankets in the blink of an eye!

As spring is still far away for the moment, before closing the door to the festivities and turning out the lights, let me make the last swan song of the Christmas period. If you eat one of these, you can not keep yourself from grasping a second one, and so on. Let me introduce you ricciarelli, almond sweets typical of Siena, covered with icing sugar, with a soft heart that melts in your mouth, fresh and moist, characterized by the piercing smell of bitter almonds.

The origin of ricciarelli di Siena dates back to the fifteenth century: the almond paste – in the form of marzipan or Marzapanetti – was once very popular in the town and Siena was famous even outside its territory for its production. The cookies made with almond paste were reserved for the sumptuous banquet of the Lords because they were made of precious ingredients, mainly almonds and sugar. They were so valuable and refined that marzipan sweets were sold in the apothecaries shops  along with drugs and the most exotic spices of the time.

This recipe comes from the grocery shop Rosi in Poggibonsi (SI), slightly revised. Last year I followed their doses to make cavallucci - very good - this year I tried ricciarelli - the real ricciarelli di Siena - and next year I already know that I will venture myself to the panforte (gingerbread). I love to enter their shop during the holidays because it is full of smells of spices, happy-eyed children and chocolate… but, most importantly, it is full of people talking in code: can you give me the ricciarelli dose for three? stuff for cavallucci without candied fruit, double nuts. Gimme my usual and gimme the spices, too. It’s a turnaround of numbers, doses, tips offered in a lowered voice, small pieces of written paper and puffs of icing sugar, and the result is this! Ricciarelli di Siena.

Ingredients for about 20 ricciarelli:

• egg whites, 2
• lemon juice, 1 drop
• icing sugar, 200 g
• ground almond flour, 200 g
• bitter almond extract, 2 tablespoons
• seeds from 1 pod of vanilla
• grated zest of 1 orange
• extra icing sugar, about 200 g
• white wafer, 1 large sheet (about as large as a  A4 paper)

The night before. Whip the egg whites with a drop of lemon juice to stiff peaks. Fold in 200 g of icing sugar and the ground almond flour. Mix in the bitter almond extract, the grated peel of one orange and the vanilla seeds. Cover with cling-film and set aside in the fridge overnight (or at least for 4 hours).

The day after. Cut out about twenty (approximately 7 cm x 4 cm) ovals from the wafer sheet: they are meant to be the basis of ricciarelli. Place the extra icing sugar on a working surface. Roll the rough into a sausage and cut out small balls of dough. with powdered sugar a work plan. Shape the dough with your hands to cover the wafer oval. Make it about 1 cm thick and coat the shaped cookies with extra icing sugar (about 5 mm thick). Arrange them on a baking tin lined with parchment paper or a silicone sheet.

Bake in preheated oven to 160°C for about 18 minutes. They will resemble crinkle cookies. When you remove them from the oven, they will be still soft and moist, but don’t worry! they will reach the ideal texture once cooled down. Store them in an airtight container.. the day after they are even better!

And if I can’t find almond flour? Don’t worry, you can make it at home! Buy the almonds, shell them and remove the outer brown skin (to remove it quickly immerse them for about ten seconds in boiling water). Toast the almonds in the oven at 100°C for about 5 minutes and then let them cool down. Blend them with a tablespoon of icing sugar. Pulse the mixer several times using the pulse function or by pushing the “on” button, holding for a second, and releasing. The goal is not over heating the almonds, otherwise they will release the oil. Blend until you get the consistency of a medium – fine and coarse meal.

Post di: Juls' Kitchen

Ricciarelli, Siena’s almond cookies

You should be interested also in:

1. Almond and orange tiny cakes for breakfast
2. Grandma Menna’s Kitchen: Prato Cookies
3. Grandma Menna’s Kitchen: cavallucci, typical Tuscan Christmas cookies

When I saw this traditional English Christmas cake in the Sep/Oct Jamie Magazine issue, I knew immediately that I would have definitely baked it for Christmas (yeah, I know, I love Christmas and I start thinking about it as soon as I put away my summer T-shirts and light dresses, I can’t help it).

As you already know how much I love the British side of life, you will easily understand how I desperately fell for this delicious fruit cake: rich, sumptuous, full of dried fruit and, above all, very English! It’s traditional to make this a few weeks before Christmas, so that you can feed it by pouring over booze of your choice, to further enrich the flavor of this extraordinary fruit cake.

The brandy aroma, combined with dried fruit and nuts, reminds me of season greetings, snowy Christmas carols, twinkling lights, rustling paper and satin ribbons… I can’t wait to finally bite into a thick slice of fruity Christmas cake, as until now I could only nibble something, while gradually adding some brandy to my creature!

Traditional Christmas Cake – from Jamie Magazine Sep/Oct 10

(Serves 16)

Ingredients:

• 600 g raisins
• 200 g currants
• 100 g dried sour or glacé cherries
• 250 g mixed dried fruits (try prunes, apricot, apples, pears) finely chopped
• 400 ml booze, plus extra to ‘feed’ the cake (brandy, sherry, Tia Maria, rum… all work well)
• 300 g butter, at room temperature
• 200 g dark brown sugar
• 1 lemon
• 4 eggs, at room temperature
• 2 tbsp treacle (I used golden syrup)
• 300 g plain flour
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• a pinch of ground cloves
• 150 g ground almonds
• 150 g walnuts, chopped

The night before.

Place the dried fruit in a saucepan with the booze and bring to a simmer. Pour into a bowl, cool, cover and leave to soften.

The following day

Preheat the oven to 150C/gas 2 and line the base and sides of a 23cm round tin or a 20cm square tin with a double layer of greaseproof paper. You’ll need the side lining to be a good 8cm higher than the tin.

If you’d like your cake to be particularly moist, blitz half the soaked fruit in a food processor to make a paste, and stir back into the rest of the fruit. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Grate in the zest of your lemon and beat in the eggs, one at a time. Mix in the treacle. Sift the flour and combine with the spices and ground almonds. Mix into the butter mixture, alternating with the soaked fruit. Finally, fold in the walnuts. Spoon the mixture into the lined tin and bake in the oven for about 3 hours. Check after 2½ hours and then every 20 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.

As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, brush with a little more booze. Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes and then remove, placing it directly onto a large sheet of tin foil. Wrap it up twice to retain the heat for as long as possible. After a few hours, remove the foil and wrap the cake up again in a double sheet of greaseproof paper and a double sheet of tin foil, making sure you can access the cake from the top. Store in an airtight container for 2–12 weeks. During this time, feed the cake the alcohol of your choice by gently pouring it over the top and rewrapping.

Frosting

I decided to frost this traditional cake with a soft topping made by whipping together mascarpone cheese and cream with 2 tbsps of icing sugar. Spread evenly the frosting over the cake and decorate with some glacé cherries or Christmas decorations.

Tasting test. It isn’t a traditional Italian cake and you won’t find it within our family Christmas recipes… Well, until this year, I dare say. I’m sure that next year this will become an unmissable Christmas sweet treat, a new tradition to built year after year, sweet fruity crumble after sweet fruity crumble. It is a rich, full-bodied, fruity and flavorful cake, in which all the ingredients are perfectly balanced. It slightly resembles our typical panforte (a kind of gingerbread), but is less sweet, I do prefer the English version.

Post di: Juls' Kitchen

Jamie Oliver’s Christmas cake

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Yesterday morning I was enjoying, half asleep, the last memories of a beautiful dream still lingering in my mind, caressed by a light breeze coming in through the open window. Along with the sound of cicadas that, at 8 am, were already filling the air with their monotonous and hypnotic recall, the well-known smell of Mum’s roasted meet was coming in from the kitchen, accompanied by the equally well-known and comforting sound of her footsteps.

A second later, I was a child again, short tomboy hair and my comfy tracksuit already covered in stains and marking pen signs (clean in the morning, the evening was already ‘lived’) sitting on a kitchen stool, funny hairy slippers at my feet, one eye on TV, where there was definitely one of my favorite Disney movies, and one on the table where Mum was preparing the turkey to be roast.

After a while the sleep took over again, and when I woke up Mum was already at work, the roasted pork in the oven, but a note left in plain sight on the table informed me that that was for dinner. No roasted meat for lunch, so? Oh no, I felt like it! Luckily, there was turkey breast the fridge that, combined with some other ingredients, has turned into a colorful roasted turkey characterized by the touch of sage and the crunchiness of the almonds.

::::: ROASTED TURKEY WITH SAGE AND ALMONDS :::::

Ingredients:

• turkey breast, about 600 gr
  
• eggs, 2
• almonds, 100 gr
• sage leaves, circa 20
• milk or cream, 100 ml
• Tuscan ham, 4 – 5 not too thin slices
• salt and pepper to taste
  
• white wine, 250 ml
• extra virgin olive oil
  

Beat eggs with milk or cream, season with salt and pepper to taste and add finely chopped sage leaves. Pour in a pan with steaming extra virgin olive oil cook the omelette; put it aside.

Lightly toast the almonds in the oven or in a nonstick skillet. Once cold chop them coarsely.

Open turkey breast with a sharp knife, so as to have a slice of about 1.5 cm thickness. Sprinkle the turkey with almonds, cover them with ham slices, slightly overlapping, and then place over the omelette.

Wrap the turkey breast on itself, starting from the longest side, and tie up the roll with a kitchen string. Rub the meat with salt and pepper.

Heat a generous splash of extra virgin olive oil into a pan: I used a cast iron skillet. When the olive oil is hot, brown the turkey roll on each side, making sure to turn it with a silicone or wooden spatula, so as not to spill cooking liquids and not to harden the meat. When golden brown and crispy, pour in the white wine, cook uncovered for about 2 minutes and then continue cooking for about 20 minutes covering the pan with a lid.

Check often that the juices do not dry up completely: if so, add a little hot water and cover again. After 20 minutes, finish cooking the meat for another 5 minutes without the lid. Let it rest for a while before removing the string and slice the roll.

A few tips: do not season too much turkey and omelet. Tuscan ham inside will contribute to flavor the meat. Choose a salad as a side dish, perhaps with arugula and tomatoes, which will balance with freshness and delicate flavor the savoury meat. Turkey roll can be served both warm and hot, seasoned with a tablespoon of cooking juice.

Post di: Juls' Kitchen

Roasted turkey with sage and almonds

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I studied them for a long time. Flourless cupcakes with dark chocolate, coconut and almond meal. I mixed them with care, getting into raptures because of their intriguing flavours. I decided not to use cake cases, to exalt their dark brown chocolate colour. I watched them rising into the oven, proud to see how they were growing so self confident, I was desperately in love with each and every wrinkle they had on their wonderful crisp surface. I removed them from the oven with a satisfied smile, sure that the next day they would have been a wonderful birthday present for my friend Fede.

Poor thing! Can you single out which was my huge mistake? How could I not have tought at that small detail?! and it wasn’t the first time I was making cupcakes! Cake cases!! Never forget cake cases! The day after cupcakes were firmly in love with the mould, they didn’t want to leave it, not for all the for all the tea in China! I had just crumbles in my hand… small, delicious, chocolate crumbles!

Luckly I decided to use my crumbles to make a superb trifle, following Nigella’s style! Add, add add! Add soft and delicous things and you’ll have a scrumptious trifle!

Ingredients:

• chocolate muffin, chocolate sponge cake, chocolate cupcakes, whatsoever thing made with chocolate, as long as it is soft and crumbly
  
• whipping cream (I used 250 ml of cream, enough to make two large bowl of trifle)
• mascarpone cheese, a creamy and mild cheese (same quantity as cream)
• icing sugar
  
• dark chocolate flakes

Soften mascarpone cheese whipping it with an electric beater. Whip cream until it forms soft but firm peaks and add one or two tablespoons of icing sugar: don’t exaggerate with sugar, as your chocolate crumbles are already sweet! Fold in icing cream into mascarpone cheese, mixing lightly.

Make layers of chocolate crumbles and soft cream in a bowl, alternating brown and white layers until you finish all the ingredients. End up with a generous spread of mascarpone cream and sprinkle with dark chocolate flakes.

Keep in fridge for a few hours, giving time to layers to set firm.

SOOOO DELICIOUS! Chocolate, cream and mascarpone remind me of childhood, they mingle together in an amazing way. It has been ages since the last time I have eaten a dessert so delicious and simple.

Post di: Juls' Kitchen

Chocolate, cream and mascarpone trifle

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Good Morning and Happy Monday! The colour of my weekend was red! Red like my hair (I dyed my hair and now they’re like Julia Robert’s hair, a wonderful Tiziano Autumnal colour), red as my brand new car, a flaming red Kia Picanto, red as my bank account for the next 5 years…

Let’s hit now my weekend cooking experiments: as a good pupil I tried to get haed for next weeks, taking advantage of a quiet Sunday morning. The weather was wonderful, the sun warmed the air and tree colours were flaming creating and Autumnal and amazing vision. I was in search of the right ingredients to enrich a simple dish of spaghetti, when it came to mind! Nuts were the perfect ingredient, as I consider them autumnal and rich, perfect to enhance the magnificence of the day.

Ingredients (serve 4):

• hazelnuts to shell, 3 handfuls
• thinly ground almonds or almond flour, 3 full tablespoons
• cow ricotta cheese, 100 gr
• sage, 4 leaves
• garlic, 1 clove
• grated Parmesan cheese, 4 full tablespoons
• extra virgin olive oil, 4 tablespoons
• Salt & pepper
• spaghetti

Cook spaghetti in a large pot with salted boiling water, according to packaging instructions. In the meantime, shell hazelnuts and smash them in a mortar, leaving some crunchy bits. heat olive oil in a large pan with a clove of garlic and some sage leaves. When the garlic has given all its flavour to the olive oil and sage leaves are getting brown and crunchy, remove the garlic clove and add hazelnuts and almond flour and leave to toast and brown for a few minutes At this point, add ricotta cheese.

Add some spoonful of cooking water to mix ricotta cheese, season with salt and pepper and add spaghetti, once tossed. Add grated parmesan and serve wit some fresh black pepper.

Tasting moment! First of all, if you add cooking water instead of milk or cream is better, as the dish will result lighter, good thing both for your taste and your diet! Beside that, almond flour hugs and covers pasta, while hazelnuts chunks surprise at the bite and make a simple dish an interesting experience.

Post di: Juls' Kitchen

Rich pasta

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It’s Monday, and this is taken for granted, as the fact that a new week is beginning. Starting a new week with a smile on your face is not so obvious, but here I am, smiling, thanks to old and new friends and a long weekend spent with them. From Friday, with the Couchsurfing Monthly Meeting in Florence, to the medieval market in Siena on Saturday until yesterday, with a whole day dedicated to olive harvesting and good food with good people!

Since this is a food blog, let’s hit the main matter: food. I wanted to bake a cake able to close the lunch with fireworks, as we were going to eat home made pasta and barbecued ribs and sausages. I wanted something rustic and nourishing and I wanted to use buckwheat flour as I bought one pack of it more than one month ago! Following Camomilla‘s wonderful recipe, with just a few changese, I baked a delicious cake with chocolate filling, one of the most gorgeous cake ever eaten, belive me!

Ingredients for the cake:

• plain flour, 100 gr
• buckwheat flour, 150 gr
• almond flour, 100 gr
• finely chopped hazelnuts, 50 gr
• eggs, 6
• sugar, 300 gr
• baking powder, 1 sachet
• melted butter, 100 gr
• icing sugar to serve

Ingredients for the chocolate filling:

• plain flour, 2 tablespoons
• unsweetened cocoa powder, 3 tablespoons
• icing sugar, 2 tablespoons
• milk, 330 gr
• tonka bean, 1/2 grated

To make the cake, beat well eggs and caster sugar until you have a light and frothymixture. Add sieved flours, chopped hazelnuts and baking powder and combine all the ingredients. At last, add melted butter and pour into a cake tin (24 cm wide) previously greased and dusted with flour. Bake in preheated oven to 180°C for about 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack.

To make chocolate filling, I follow my best friend Laura’s recipe: it is perfect since the first time I made it, almost 10 years ago. I just added grated Tonka bean as recently I’m addicted to it and, after all, it is amazing with chocolate! To cut a long story short, sieve flour, cocoa powder and icing sugar and pour little by little hot milk over the mixture, stirring to avoid lumps. At this point, I added grated Tonka bean, but this filling is delicious even without it, or with vanilla. Put the mixture on low heat and keep on stirring until it is firm, it requires just a few minutes. Choose the sweetness you pefer adding more or less icing sugar: my filling was quite bitter, as the buckwheat cake is sweet on its own.

Slice the cake into three layers and spread chocolate filling over two of them, then dust the surface with icing sugar. Et voilà! A very easy and quick cake, with a rustic and peculiar taste, I’ll make it again, and again, and again!

I’ll leave you with some pictures of yesterday’s beautiful day. Have a good week and for those who are in Florenze, let’s meet at the  Cavoletto book presentation!

Although the weather was cloudy, we have had mild temperatures and we enjoyed a few sun rays in the afternoon!

Thanks to Roberto, we had the chance to taste just pressed extravirgin olive oil.. what do you think? Was it good or not?

Post di: Juls' Kitchen

Buckwheat cake with chocolate

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If you come to Tuscany, whenever you want, wherever you go, from a city to a little village, you’ll find those typical sweets: Ricciarelli, Panforte and Cantuccini. If Ricciarelli and Panforte are related most of all to Christmas holidays, Cantuccini are a real must, you can eat them in any period of the year as a rapid dessert, with a glass of good vinsanto (sweet white raisin wine).

This is how my Grandma makes them, especially on Sundays when there are uncles, aunts and cousins in the garden to spend some time with us. If you don’t have time to bake a superb cake and fill it up with cream and chocolate, those cookies are incredibly easy to make and delicious.I’m absolutely a teetotaller, so I don’t soak them in vinsanto, but in water! I know, I know, it’s a nonsense… but when I was a child and my uncle used to soak them in vinsanto, I was given a glass of water to dip them. Since then, It is an unique flavour, cosy and comforting. It brings me back to after dinner moments in San Gimignano, when the only problem was to choose in between playing cards with my Grandad and my cousin or reading comics lying on my Aunt’s huge bed.

:::::  CANTUCCINI DI PRATO – PRATO COOKIES :::::

Ingredients for a whole trayful of cookies:

• Plain flour, 500 gr
• Caster sugar, 500 gr
• Sweet almonds, 200 gr
• Eggs, 4
• Salt

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Toast almonds in a baking-tin in the oven for some minutes or until they are fragrant and golden. Then set aside to cool, peel them and chop them up.

Put flour on a flat surface and make a well in the middle, adding sugar, chopped almonds, a pinch of salt and eggs.

Work the mixture until you have a smooth and soft dough. Divide the dough into equal parts, form flattened thin loafs, 10 cm wide.  Place them on a baking tray lined with greasproof paper and bake them for about 25 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove from oven and set aside to cool for a few minutes.

Slice slantwise into 1,5 – 2 cm slices and bake the cookies again, returning to the oven for a while, until they are toasted. Then remove from oven and let cool. Store at room temperature in an airtight tin.

GREAT NEWS! today I’m really happy, finally Basil, an american web magazine, is on line! Have a look at my monthly column, obviously dedicated to Tuscan Cooking!  Tuscany Home Sweet Home… doesn’t it remind you anything? can I indulge in pride and satisfaction for today? Com’on, just for one day!

Post di: Juls' Kitchen

Grandma Menna’s Kitchen: Prato Cookies

You should be interested also in:

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I love him. I can’tl help it. My love was born by chance watching Gambero Rosso Channel, maybe it was during an old The naked chef episode… He is joyful, rowdy, fun, enthusiastic. He is always singing and dancing while cooking, he gets carried away for a well-made dish, tastes everything with pleasure and makes everything with passion. What about his recipes? I love them… there is always that typical touch, that tip which can help you through… to cut a long story short, that for Jamie Oliver is true love!

Some days ago I saw a an old episode where Jamie was making a superb chocolate cake which left my mom and me standing open-mouthed.  Simple, fast, for dummies. You slice the cake and melting chocolate drops come out to mesmerize you.

I was up to something else (maybe stuffed zucchini) and so I wrote down allthe ingredients on a magazine sheet, with the intention to copy all my notes on my notebook as soon as possible. I lost the magazine, obviously. But, since I am a lucky girl, in the twinkling of an eye Fabien has found the recipe on line, right in time for the Fettunta Party.

The original recipe of this fabulous Two nuts Chocolate cake provides almonds and walnuts… since Jamie himself  says it can be made with different kind of nuts, I used hazelnuts instead of walnuts, as I had a whole sack of hazelnuts! However, try almonds and pecans too, because Jamie says it is his favourite version.

So, let’s hit the recipe as found here, with my changes in blue.

Ingredients (serve 8):

• almonds, peeled 150 gr
• hazelnuts, peeled 150 gr
• dark chocolate, 300 gr
• cocoa powder, 1 heaped teaspoon
• butter, 255 gr
• caster sugar, 100 gr
• large eggs, separated, 6
• salt

Preheat oven to 190°C.

Line the bottom of a 25cm tin with a piece of greaseproof paper before buttering the bottom and sides, then dusting with flour.

Place the nuts into a food processor and whizz up until finely ground. Add the chocolate (200 gr only) and cocoa, and whizz for 30 seconds to break up the chocolate. Put to one side in a separate bowl.

Add the butter and sugar to the food processor and beat until pale and fluffy. At this point, add the egg yolks one at a time, then mix together with the chocolate and nuts.

In another bowl beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt, until they form stiff peaks. Gently fold the egg whites into the chocolate, butter and nut mix.

Pour all the mixture into the tin. Roughly chop the remaining dark chocolate and sprinkle over the cake, pressing inside the bits with your fingers (ad Jamie did in the episode).

Bake in the preheated oven for around an hour. To test if the torte is cooked, insert a cocktail stick or the tip of a knife for five seconds. When removed, it should be reasonably clean.

Serve with whipped cream, ice-cream or creme fraiche.

Some notes

IN this period I’m enjoying myself on this web site, Big Huge Labs, so be patient with my experiment!

The book in the picture is a Jamie book, but it doesn’t contain this recipe. However, you can find inside another delicious recipe for the Fifteen chocolate cake.

Post di: Juls' Kitchen

Jamie Oliver’s Two-nuts Chocolate Cake

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1. Buckwheat cake with chocolate
2. Jamie Oliver’s Christmas cake
3. Lemon & White chocolate cake