Join us for an Exclusive 2-Hour Live Christmas Cook Along
We will be baking together the most famous Sienese Christmas treats to add to your Christmas cookie box: panforte, cavallucci, and ricciarelli
Ciao, as I announced in the previous newsletter (did you miss it? You can still read it here, it contains a list of my favourite Italian Artisan gifts for Christmas!), on Sunday we will meet for an Exclusive 2-Hour Live Christmas Cook Along. I can’t wait!
If you are new to Letters from Tuscany, our monthly cook-along is a very informal, fun, chatty moment when we cook together, but you can join just to have a chat, or a laugh, ask questions, share stories, or simply listen while having a good cup of tea (or wine, according to which time zone you are in!)
To celebrate Christmas, we will be baking together the most famous Sienese Christmas treats to add to your Christmas cookie box:
Panforte, a dense, spiced, nut-filled specialty bread that is now the symbol of the Sienese Christmas.
Cavallucci, round and rustic, lightly flattened on the ends, floury and a bit lumpy, but with an intense spiced aroma.
Ricciarelli, gluten-free and lactose-free, melt-in-your-mouth almond cookies, with a subtle orange and vanilla aroma.
There’s no Christmas in Siena and in my family without these treats. They are all easy to make, and will last for weeks: make them now, and give them for Christmas as unique, Italian-inspired homemade gifts to your loved ones.
We will meet SUNDAY, December 3rd at 9.00 pm CET - 3.00 pm EST - 12.00 pm PST.
This is an event designed for those who subscribed to Letters from Tuscany: we’re slowly building friendships and shared memories and having lots of fun!
PLEASE LET ME KNOW IN THE COMMENTS IF YOU WILL BE THERE, SO I’LL BE WAITING FOR YOU!
(If you are a paid subscriber, you can find all the recipes, the ingredient lists, the Cook-Along Working Sheet, and the link to join the Cook Along and Live Talk behind the paywall.)
Just a friendly reminder that this Christmas you can gift yourself or give your friends and family a subscription to Letters from Tuscany.
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Panforte
This dense, spiced, nut-filled specialty bread is now the symbol of the Sienese Christmas. You can purchase artisanal panforte from local pastry shops. My favourites are those at Buti, Pasticceria delle Campane, and Manganelli in Siena.
You can find the recipe and the ingredients here. I’ll be making half a dose of panforte and adjust the pan accordingly (I will use a 10cmx10 cm springform pan).
Are you up for a challenge? Let's make the Sienese panforte from scratch
Are you up for a challenge? What if you make panforte, the Sienese Christmas fruit and nut cake from scratch? First, an excerpt from Nigel Slater’s The Christmas Chronicles about panforte. To eat it straight from its white paper wrapper in daylight is to indulge only in its curiously chewable compounded figs and nuts. You need a certain sense of occasion…
Cavallucci
Among Siena’s most traditional Christmas cookies, cavallucci are not elegant or photogenic, lacking the bright colours, icing, and sparkling sugar we expect from a Christmas cookie. Nor do they come in Christmas shapes: they’re round and rustic, lightly flattened on the ends, floury and a bit lumpy.
And yet, with that first bite full of warm spices, rich nuttiness, and sweet candied fruit, you’ll forget all about the presentation.
You can find the recipe and the ingredients here. I’ll be making half a dose, but this is easily scalable.
Cavallucci Senesi - Sienese Christmas Walnut Cookies
This is an exclusive recipe for the subscribers. It is part of a serialized Tuscan cookbook that you will receive over the course of one year, a collection of tested classic Tuscan recipes to add to your cooking repertoire. Learn more about the I Love Toscana project
Ricciarelli
A cross between a small pastry and an almond cookie, ricciarelli feature a dusting of powdered sugar, with a soft inside that melts in your mouth and a striking aroma of bitter almonds.