• 8 egg yolks
  
• 4 egg whites
  
• 10 oz confectioner's sugar, 
  
• 5 oz 00 flour, 00 flour or pastry flour (all-purpose s OK but denser)
  
• 5 oz potato starch
  
• 10 oz butter
  
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  
• zest of 1 lemon
  
• a pinch of salt
  
• 1 sachet or 2 teaspoons of baking powder
  

This is a delicious, simple, light Italian cake. For more details about how to bake a great cake, see my How-To menu.
Place the butter, the vanilla extract and half the sugar in a mixer (all ingredients should be at room temperature and the butter should have become soft). Beat at medium speed until they form a soft uniform mixture.
Add the 8 yolks, one at a time, incorporating each before adding the next. Once the mixture is smooth, add the lemon zest.In a separate bowl, beat the 4 egg whites and the pinch of salt together with a hand mixer, until they form stiff peaks. Using the same add mixer, incorporate the second half of the sugar to the whites.
Mix and sift the flour together with the potato starch and the baking powder. Incorporate them delicately and gradually into the butter and eggs mixture. Now incorporate the stiff egg whites into the rest: hold the bowl containing the egg whites over the mixing bowl containing your batter, and tilt it, letting the egg whites slide into the batter. Using the edge of a large spatula, cut a path down the middle of the mixture. Then gently turn half the mixture over onto the other half. Continue cutting down the middle and turning a portion over. (Don't stir! Only work the batter enough to incorporate the whites, and never use an electric mixer for this step!!!)
Pour the mixture into the center of a buttered and floured cake pan and transfer it to a moderate oven (about 350°F) for about 45-50 minutes. Do not open the oven during baking!!! The cold air could make the cake sink. After it has cooled down, sprinkle the top with more confectioner's sugar, using a sieve to distribute it evenly.

In 1492 Jews were expelled from Sicily and Sardinia (which at the time were Spanish territory), and brought their Arab-influenced culinary traditions, including ricotta-based desserts, to the communities they fled to. Today, ricotta tarts and cakes are popular all over Italy. 
Technically, ricotta is not a cheese, but a cheese by-product: it’s made by re-heating the wheys left over from cheese-making.  By the way, this is why ricotta is naturally low in fat (about 5% for the whole milk ricotta, against 40+ % in cheddar, and something crazy like 87% in cream cheese!) – no need to buy the “fat-free’ kind.  In this simple recipe, ricotta replaces butter, resulting in a much lighter, guilt-free cake.

• 10 ounces whole milk ricotta
  
• 2 1/4 cups 00, pastry or cake flour (or 2 cups all purpose plus 1/4 cup potato starch)
  
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
  
• 1 pinch of salt
  
• 3 eggs, separated
  
• grated zest of one lemon
  
• 1 package or 2 teaspoons of baking powder
  
• butter to grease the pan
  

Grease a tall baking pan or bundt pan. and dust with flour. Pre-heat your oven to 365 F.
With a hand mixer or a whisk, blend the ricotta very well with the sugar until smooth and creamy. Mix the flour with the baking powder and salt, sift them together and add gradually to the ricotta mix. Add the three egg yolks, one at a time, and the lemon zest.
In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff with an electric mixer/whisk. Slowly fold them into the ricotta/flour mixture with a spatula, using an upward motion. Pour into the greased pan and bake at 365 F for about 40 minutes. Allow to cool on a rack for at least 30 minutes, remove from the pan and decorate with confectioner's sugar and slivered almonds.

• 3 ounces unsalted butter, left outside to soften for at least 2 hours (plus more for greasing pan) (for a parve cake, you can replace the butter with 2 ounces light olive oil or canola oil, or 3 ounces high-quality margarine)
  
• 1/4 cup walnuts
  
• 3/4 cup pastry flour or all-purpose flour
  
• ½ cup potato starch
  
• 1 large pinch of salt
  
• 1 package baking powder (16 to 20 grams)
  
• 1/4 cup honey
  
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
  
• 1 whole egg
  
• 1 egg yolk
  
• 1/2 cup milk (or rice milk)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  
• 1 large pear
  

Instructions

Heat oven to 350 F and grease a 9”  springform pan with butter (or line it with parchment).
In a food processor, grind the walnuts into a powder. Add the sifted flour, salt, baking powder and  combine.
In the food processor or using an electric mixer, combine the butter, honey, and sugar. Beat until fluffy (about 10 minutes). Mix in the eggs (for an even fluffier cake you can beat the egg white till stiff, and add it last).
Slowly stir in the milk and vanilla, until completely incorporated.
Cut the pear into thin slices and arrange them in concentric circles on the bottom of the pan, then pour in the batter. Bake until golden brown (about 45 minutes). 
Allow to cool on a wire rack and decorate with confectioner’s sugar. It can be served on its own or accompanied by a warm custard cream.

The chestnut tree can live for up to 500 years and its fruit has been a staple in many peoples' diets since ancient times. In Italy, mountain people ate mostly chestnuts until well into the twentieth century! Chestnut is technically a nut, but it's much less oily than all the others, and therefore easier to digest.
  
Ingredients (serves 8)
1 lb chestnuts
4 eggs, separated
3 apples
1 and 1/3 cups granulated sugar or brown sugar
1 heaped tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 pinch salt
4 ounces graham crackers
2/3 cup milk (or parve soy or rice milk)
butter or oil to grease the pan

Wash the chestnuts, make a slit in the side of each one, and cook in boiling water for 30 to 40 minutes or until tender but firm.  Skim them out, and the brown skin should come off easily.  Taste them, and if they are not well cooked you can put them back in the boiling water for a few minutes until tender. 
Using a food processor, grind the graham crackers into a powder; add the grated apples, and the mashed chestnuts (you can use a potato masher. you can also mash them in your food processor, but it won't get rid of any residual peel as well as the potato masher).
Add the cocoa, sugar, milk or soy milk, salt, and egg yolks, and combine well.
In a separate, clean bowl, beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks, and incorporate them carefully into the mix.
Pour the mix into a greased baking pan dusted with brown sugar,  and bake in a pre-heated 350 F oven for about 30 to 40 minutes. Serve cold.

Being slow-churned, Italian Gelato doesn’t contain as much air as American ice-cream, which is why its flavor is more intense. It also contains fewer calories, because it's made mostly with milk instead of cream (it contains about  4–7% butterfat, versus 14% in ice cream). 
Gelato as we know it today is said to have appeared for the first time in Renaissance Florence, but sources suggest that other peoples had already  been enjoying different types of frozen desserts since ancient times. 
In antiquity, snow was gathered in the winter and stored compressed in special underground chambers, so that it would last through the summer; enormous amounts of frozen drinks made from snow mixed with fruit juices and honey were apparently consumed at the Imperial Court of Rome.
The Chinese had also been experimenting with these delicacies, adding dairy to the equation. But it was in the Arab world that frozen desserts grew lighter and more refined with the introduction of cane sugar, starting in the 9th century. From Arab Sicily, sorbetto and semifreddo slowly made their way to Naples, Florence and Venice, and finally to the rest of Europe.
It was supposedly a chef at the Medici Court of 16th century Florence to come up with the first "real" gelato, churned over salt and ice. Caterina dé Medici  married the king of France and introduced the delicious novelty to the Paris Court where it was met with    great and lasting success.
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1/2 teaspoon powdered vanilla or vanilla extract,
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 5 egg yolks 
- a pinch salt

Whisk the egg yolks with half the sugar until creamy. In the meantime, pour the milk into a saucepan, add the vanilla and the other half of the sugar, and almost bring to a boil. Gradually add the hot milk into the egg mixture, whisking continuously. When all the milk has been added,add a pinch of salt and cook the mixture over a double boiler, on very low heat, stirring continuously until it thickens (when you dip a spoon it it, it should coat it). Transfer through a strainer into a bowl set over crushed ice, cover, and place in the refrigerator (not the freezer!) until cold. When it's cold, transfer to an ice-cream maker and follow the instructions. If you don't have an ice cream maker, do what my mom and I used to do when I was a little girl: transfer the gelato into the freezer for half an hour. Then take the bowl out (it will have started to freeze mostly at the edges) and  beat the ice cream mixture with a whisk until it’s uniform and creamy  again. Put it back in the freezer for another half hour, then repeat. keep taking out the bowl and whisking the mixture every 30 minutes and putting it back in the freezer for a total of 3 or 4 times. Then put the gelato back into the freezer for a final time for at least one hour until it's ready to be eaten. It could take longer than one hour depending on the quantity of gelato you are making, so you should just check the consistency before serving. Serve in chilled cups or glasses.
**** It can be made Parve using soy, rice or coconut milk instead of cow's milk.

We all know that the Mayas and their ancestors may already have been gobbling unsweetened hot cocoa 2000 years ago. Some historians also believe that we have to thank the Jews, for introducing sweet, hot chocolate drinks to Europe. In fact, many Conversos fleeing the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisition ended up in South America in the early 1500s, and learned how to grow and process the cocoa beans, which they then exported to the Old Continent, together with cane sugar. I am beaming with Jewish pride! ;-)))
Hot chocolate and coffee both became very popular in Europe, including Italy, between the late 1600s and the 1700s - but while many people could afford coffee, because it was imported directly from Arabia, chocolate came from the Americas and had to pass through many intermediaries, which made it more expensive and exclusive.  In Venice, one of the first centers of this chocolate and coffee trend, both beverages were such a hit with the locals that several "Malvasie" (the old term for wine bars) had to close down.

• 4 teaspoons high-quality unsweetened cocoa powder, or 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate
  
• 1/3 cup whole milk 
  
• 2 to 3 teaspoons sugar, or to taste
  
• a small pinch of sea salt
  
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoon potato starch
  

With Cocoa: Place the cocoa, potato starch, salt  and sugar in a small and heavy or non-stick saucepan. Add the milk very slowly, whisking continuously (use a whisk, not a spoon to avoid clumps). Move the saucepan to the stovetop, and bring to a boil on low heat, stirring continuously; allow to simmer for about one minute or until it thickens and serve accompanied by small cookies.  
With Chocolate: use only  high -quality dark chocolate (at least 60 percent cocoa - the more, the merrier!); place  a saucepan with the chocolate  in a large pan of shallow warm water, and bring the water to a gentle simmer on top of a range until the chocolate has melted. Add the milk, sugar, salt and potato starch to the chocolate very slowly, stirring continuously; discard the pan of water and place the saucepan with the chocolate on the flame; on low heat, bring to a boil and allow to simmer until it has thickened to heavenly creaminess.  

The combination of hazelnuts and chocolate is wildly popular in Italy – I’m sure you have heard of Nutella!  The original version is Gianduja, a concoction made of chocolate and hazelnuts invented in Turin during the Napoleonic blockade, when the precious cocoa beans had become scarce and the famous Piedmontese chocolatiers had to find a way to make them go further. It didn’t hurt, of course, that their hazelnuts (from the Langhe area of Piedmont) were supposed to be the best in the world, and that Turin was the birthplace of solid chocolate. As you can imagine, the result was much more interesting than other hard-times-inspired products  (like the French coffee with chicory), and even after the end of the blockade the Torinese kept enjoying their newfound delicacy, which they named “gianduja” after a local marionette character.
Besides enjoying the magical combo in the form of a spread or in confections (the delicious gianduiotti! The first-ever chocolates to be individually wrapped!), you can of course try my gianduja-themed puff cake!
If you need another excuse before you give in to yet another dessert, make sure to read my previous post about the perfect Cioccolata Calda (Turin-style!), and the Jewish history of Chocolate, and you may be inspired......

 Ingredients

1 pound of puff pastry (home-made, or 1 package store-bought)
3 medium pears
5 ounces dark chocolate (I used 70 % Scharffen Berger) 
½ cup ground hazelnuts
6 chocolate-flavored tea biscuits, or small biscottis
2/3 cup (scant) sugar
pinch of salt
1 organic lemon
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons butter or hazelnut or almond oil
2 tablespoons milk (or parve soy milk)
flour (to dust the counter)

Directions

Peel and core the pears, slice them thinly and combine them with the lemon juice, the sugar, and the grated lemon zest. Grate the chocolate and coarsely chop the cookies. If using butter, melt it in a pan or in your microwave.
On a floured surface, roll out the pastry into a rectangle and brush the top with the melted butter or oil; top with the crumbled cookies, the drained pears, and the grated chocolate. Roll up the pastry as if making a strudel, sealing the edges and closing the ends.
Brush the top with the yolk (mixed with a couple of tablespoons of milk or parve almond or soy milk) and bake in a pre-heated 250 F oven for about 30 minutes or until golden. Enjoy warm or at room temperature, on a cold winter night :-).

February 5th is World Nutella Day! (it's not a joke, check the details here)
As I must have mentioned previously, Nutella is basically the Italian equivalent of PB&J (=a comfort food that we tend to binge on), and in the States it's kosher-certified by the OU... what are you waiting for? Dig in! What a better way to celebrate Nutella Day then posting an easy and tasty classic, Nutella Crostata? Crostatas are the most popular type of tarts in Italy:  the base is made of  "pasta frolla", a sweet and crumbly pastry dough which can be filled with jam, ricotta, fruit, rice, almonds, and many other ingredients... but if you are a chocaholic, you will find this Nutella version irresistible! 

• 1 and 3/4 cup pastry flour (better) or all-purpose flour
  
• 1/2 cup (scant) superfine (baker's) or granulated sugar 
• 1 egg + 1 yolk
• 1 stick unsalted butter, cold from the fridge, cut into small pieces
• a pinch of salt
• 1/3 a coffeespoon vanilla beans or extract
• 1 large jar of Nutella
  
• fresh strawberries and confectioners sugar to' decorate

Sift together sugar, flour and salt. Place them into your food processor with the cold butter, and process with the metal blade until crumbly. 
Add the eggs, slightly beaten, and the vanilla beans or extract (you can reserve a small amount of the mixture, about 1 and 1/2 tablespoons, to glaze the pastry later). Process again until mostly combined.  Take the dough out of your food processor, and knead into a ball. Cover in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 1 and 1/2 hours or longer (even overnight).
Preheat your oven to 325 F. Take out the dough, reserving aside 1/4 or less for decorating the top (keep the dough set aside for decorating refrigerated). Roll out the rest of the dough between two sheets of parchment or plastic wrap.
Flip the dough over a baking pan lined with parchment paper (or simply buttered and floured); trim the excess and press the remaining dough around the border into the sides. make a few small holes in the bottom with a toothpick or a fork. Spread the bottom with Nutella :-))))
Take out the reserved dough, roll it out and cut it into strips or any shapes you like to decorate the top. If you would like to glaze the dough, brush dough (not the Nutella!) with the reserved beaten eggs mixed with a couple of drops of water. 
Bake for about 35 to 45 minutes, or until pale golden. Allow to cool on a rack, then remove from the pan. Dust with confectioner's sugar and/or decorate with fresh strawberries.
Enjoy! If you can, try not to eat it all in one sitting.....

Growing up in Venice, I was always fascinated with glass mosaic – an ancient art that can create, through the careful rhythm of colored enamels and gold leaf, a magical world where time seems to stand still. Why not experiment with summer fruit? Your kids will love this project!

Ingredients 

• watermelon
  
• cantaloupe
  
• white melon
  
• mango or pineapple
  
• kiwi
  
• 3 small containers or 1 large container plain yogurt
  
• brown sugar and honey to taste
• mint, lemongrass or lavender, lemon and lime juice
  
• 1/2 container blueberries
• cocoa and cinnamon to taste

Dice the different types of fruit into pieces, all the same size. If using white fruit, drizzle with lemon to prevent it from darkening. Make layers of fruit cubes on a serving platter, alternating the different colors, and even creating patterns if you feel particularly artistic. Decorate with fresh mint.
Serve with at least 3 different yogurt sauces made by blending yogurt with any of the following: 1) blueberries and sugar; 2) honey and fresh mint; 3) lemon or lime, brown sugar and lemongrass or lavender; 4) cocoa powder, cinnamon and sugar....