Christmas 2003: Dolce di Natale

At this time of year the sight and sounds of Italy awake in the neighborhood as storefronts boast an abundance of Italian confections just in time for Christmas celebrations. For generations, no family, village, or region in Italy has been without its own festive baked good or sweet for Christmas. In traditionally kept Italian homes at holiday times, purchased dolci fill the dining room to the rafters along with homemade sweets whose names are different literally from house to house and whose flavorings vary from block to block, town to town. Christmas is a time when we test our roots, and our family ties.

In Northern Italy, where Germanic, Slavic and French influences are keenly felt, nuts, butter and eggs are prime ingredients in Christmas desserts. As one moves south, Mediterranean influences creep in with olive oil, pine nuts and exotic spices until eventually, the confections become wildly creative with sweet dried and candied fruits, honey and an abundance of sugar with the influence of the Arab period in southern Italy and Sicily.

The Christmas sweet that most unifies all regions of Italy is the nougat candy called torrone. Originally made in Cremona, torrone is a chewy blend of honey, almonds and egg whites. "As many versions as cities in Italy have since appeared", according to John Reilly, co-owner of Dairy Fresh Candies on Salem Street, "the vast selection of torrone imported from many regions of Italy should make any Italian homesick". Not only can the ingredients evoke flavors such as hazelnuts, almonds, pistachios, chocolate, candied fruits and liquors but the consistency of torrone can also vary from soft and chewy to so intensely hard as to only be divided into cherished morsels by a hammer and ice pick.

In Italy, every region also has its own special Christmas bread. The custom of giving Christmas breads to one's entire family and friends derives from Christian tradition, Jesus became bread incarnate on the night of the Nativity. As symbols of abundance and fertility, and assurance of a sweet new year, many ritual breads are enriched with nuts, raisins, chocolate, dried and candied fruits, even black pepper and spices. The most popular and available are panettone and pandoro. Panettone, a buttery, rich sweet yeast bread studded with raisins and candied fruit is now made in numerous versions -- covered with chocolate, glaze or hazelnuts and filled with zabaglione or hazelnut, liquor or champagne creams. Panettone, the most traditional Italian Chrismas cake, imported in distinctively shaped boxes can be seen hanging from food shops all over the neighborhood. Pandoro, golden yellow, shaped like a tall star and dusted with powdered vanilla sugar is made with relatively few but choice ingredients: yeast, flour, sugar, butter and eggs. Unlike panettone it does not contain dried or candied fruit. Although they can be used as a base to create many spectacular desserts, they are most traditionally cut into wedges and served with a glass of wine, liquor or a cup of coffee.

Other Christmas sweets have the word bread in their name -- panforte, strong bread and panpepato, peppery bread -- but they are not really breads. Panforte, associated with Siena in Tuscany is a compact cake made of candied fruits, nuts, honey and spices and dusted with powdered sugar or a fine chocolate glaze. Panpepato, depending on the region of Italy, is usually studded with nuts, dried and candied fruit, chocolate and the pungent tastes of pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves.

Many almond based confections associated with Christmas include: amaretti, small round slightly bitter almond cookies, packaged loose in clear bags or wrapped in pairs in flowerlike tissues; ricciarelli, delicate, diamond shaped cookies made of almonds, sugar and honey, covered with powdered sugar or chocolate glaze; pasta di mandorla, marzipan or pasta di mandorla, almond paste and sugar shaped into fruit and vegetable forms.

A greatly appreciated Christmas gift is also a box of Italian chocolates. Whether it be dark or milk chocolate with luscious fillings or the very popular Baci and Gianduiotti, these chocolate products are packaged in distinctive luxury boxes renowned for their elegance and romantic charm. A sweet tooth can also be treated to the tradition of Italian candies, among the best in the world. Hard candy, soft or chewy, filled with creams or coffee, with fruit, with balsamic herbs, and with fresh flavors as mint, anise, and licorice. There are also the famous gelatin fruits, soft mouthfuls of pulp that maintain the flavor and the perfume of Sicilian citrus fruits as well as flavors from fruits of the Italian forests.

For the most refined palates, marrons glace, large meaty chestnuts cooked in a sugar syrup become delicious soft candied fruits and are available in elegant packaging. A variety of chestnut pastes, creams, roasted chestnuts in jars and even dried chestnuts are available. For the purest at heart, fresh chestnuts from Italy can also be found in most of the stores.

For those who want a quick but luxurious dessert for the holiday season, look for the imported glass containers of Baba al'Liquore, tiny brioche cakes in liquor or La Frutta Spiritosa, whole fruits such as figs, pears, apricots, or cherries steeped in various liquors. These are quite decadent when placed over ice cream or sponge cake.

Not a dessert, but also available during the Christmas season is mostarda, a traditional and exotic accompaniment to the savory course of the holiday dinner. Although there are many regional variations, Mostarda di Cremona, luscious whole fruits candied in a thick, golden, mustard flavored, spicey conserve is most prevalent in our markets.

If you get caught up in the commercial frenzy of the holiday season and find that the time that you usually set aside to bake your families traditional sweets has escaped you, dash off to our fabulous pasticcerie, pastry shops to find all the freshly baked traditional desserts that you remember -- struffoli, mostaccioli, croccante, straccii di nonna, cartellate, marzipan, pizzelle and cassata.

Why not continue the traditions of the early Romans who offered honey-covered cakes to the gods in the belief that divine nourishment was sweet. Isn't sweetness synonymous with happiness and joy. Whether you are putting together a gift basket of sweets, looking for that perfect elegant sweet gift or need a special ingredient to complete your own holiday baking, look no further than the specialty grocers, pastry shops or confection stores in the North End. Buon Natale.

These fig filled cookies are made especially at Christmastime throughout Sicily. Village women and their children help each other to bake a sufficient quantity to offer holiday visitors as well as to have enough on hand to last through the winter months. Although the most common shape is a horseshoe, they can also be made into ravioli shapes or more elaborate carved designs.

PASTRY:

3 1/2 C. all purpose flour
1 C. sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
12 T. butter (1 1/2 sticks), cold
2 eggs
2-3 T. milk
pinch salt

Combine the flour, sugar, and baking powder in a bowl and stir to mix. Rub in the butter, creating a powdery mixture. In a small bowl, beat the eggs and 2 T. of the milk and stir this into the flour mixture to form a dough. If the dough is too dry add the extra T. of milk. Place the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead lightly a few times. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill while preparing the filling.

FILLING:

1 lb (2 C.) dried figs
1/4 C. golden raisins
1/4 C. currants or dark raisins
1/4 C. candied orange peel, rinsed and diced
1/4 C. almonds, toasted and chopped
1/4 C. walnuts, toasted and chopped
1/4 C. pine nuts, toasted
2 oz. (1/2 C.) semisweet chocolate, chopped or grated
1/3 C. apricot preserves
1/4 C. dark rum
1 tsp. instant espresso powder
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground cloves

Stem the figs, place in a bowl, cover with boiling water; steep 10 min. Drain and coarsely chop in a food processor or cut into small pieces by hand before steeping in water. Combine with the remaining ingredients. To prepare in advance, cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 3 days.
Divide the dough into 12 pieces and roll each into a cylinder about 12 in. long. Flour the work surface and the dough lightly. With a rolling pin, roll it into a rectangle about 14 X 3 in. Place a line of filling down the center of each rectangle. Lift up the long edges of the dough to enclose the filling and pinch to seal. Turn the filled sausage of dough over so that the seam is on the bottom and cut it into 4 in. lengths.

Using a sharp paring knife, make a series of diagonal slashes in the top of each roll. Slightly twist and curve the roll into wide horseshoe shapes. Transfer the cucidati onto parchment lined cookie sheets.

EGG WASH:

1 egg
pinch salt
optional topping: chopped pistachio nuts
colored sprinkles

Whisk the egg and salt together and paint the cucidate, using a soft brush.

Bake the cucidate in a preheated 350° oven for about 20 min., or until they are light golden in color. Cool on racks. Store in tins between layers of wax paper.

(adapted from GREAT ITALIAN DESSERTS by Nick Malgieri)

As good as it is, traditional Panettone can be used as a base for many simple but elegant desserts.

1. Cut panettone into thin wedges, top with a sauce, decorate with a few raspberries and serve. The sauce could be as simple as liquor flavored whipped cream or zabaglione, chocolate sauce, custard sauce, pureed fruit, or mascarpone blended with rum and finely chopped croccante.

2. Use Panettone as a substitute for: bread in home made bread pudding, lady fingers in a tiramisu recipe, bread for French toast, toasted bread.

3. Cut the top off the panettone about one inch down and continue cutting layers as though you were cutting a cake into layers. Drizzle each layer with a liquor that has been diluted with some water. Slightly soften several flavors of ice cream (as many as you have layers) and top each layer with a different flavor. Rebuild the panettone with the different layers of ice cream. Wrap with aluminum foil or plastic wrap and freeze overnight. Before serving, remove the wrapping and sprinkle the top with powdered sugar.

Dried soft figs are filled with a sweet mixture and served warm or stored under liquor. This recipe reflects the influence of the Greeks as they invaded and left their traces in southern Italy. SYBARIS was an ancient Greek city in southern Italy (Calabria), famed as a center of luxury. This is one of my favorite Holiday food gifts!

large, dry, soft figs
walnuts and/or almonds
chocolate, chopped into small bits
candied fruit, preferably orange rind
optional for storage:
liquor
sugar perfumed with cinnamon or clove

1. Make a small slit in each fig, allowing it to retain its original shape. Into the slit, tuck one nut, a very small piece of chocolate and candied fruit. Place on paper truffle or small muffin cups. Before serving, place in a microwave oven on med./high for one minute or until warm enough for the chocolate to melt. Place on a platter with a small dish filled with grappa for dunking.

2. Optional: For longer storage, after the figs have cooled, dip each into liquor of choice and pack in a glass storage jar, sprinkling each layer with perfumed sugar. Cover completely with the same liquor, placing a weight on top so that the figs remain pressed and submerged in the liquor. Keeps indefinitely.