Let's fill your kitchen with the wonderful scent of the holidays - heavy with spices and sugary perfumes - play some christmas jazz and turn on the oven.
We like to wish you all a very happy christmas - to all of you who stopped by Todi on your Umbrian holiday - once again thank you - we hope you had as good a time with us as we enjoyed looking after you. May all your wishes for your next Italian vacation come true and hopefully we will see you back here in Todi.
If you still haven't been with us in Todi - well then have a look at - www.ilghiottoneumbro.com - for a little holiday inspiration - the cooking calendar for 2018 is packed with great cooking stays from a long weekend in the Umbrian country side - to a full week of cooking fun.....
Once again - all the best for the season to come - may your stocking be full of good food, vino, family, friends, loved ones, laughter and fun.....Now let's start baking......
These are really tasty rice fritters - originally from Sicily and served mainly for the Carnevale - but us Danes really have a thing about rice for X-mas - so we decided to give these a try - and boy did they work out just right...Light, crispy on the outside and soft and tender inside. Not too sweet - you can eat a lot....and they are really easy to make for the christmas party....so do give them a try....
About 40 fritters
300 g risotto rice
pinch for salt
250 ml milk
1 tbsp caster sugar + extra for sprinkling
7 g dried yeast - 1 sachet
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
zest of 2 oranges
250 g all purpose flour
150 ml water
sunflower oil for frying
Add rice and salt to a pan and cover generously with water. Bring to the boil and cook the rice until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain and leave to cool. This can easily be done the night before.
Add your cooked rice to a pan and pour in the milk. Bring to the boil and let the rice absorb the milk until the rice has a creamy consistency. Stir in the sugar. Transfer to a bowl and leave to cool.
Meanwhile disolve the yeast in a small amount of water.
Add cinnamon and zest to the rice together with the yeast, Give it a good stir - we like to use our hands for this. Gradually add the flour and mix well. Pour in a little of the water at the time - you might not need it all. Keep adding till you have a creamy dough/rice. Cover with a cloth and leave to rise until double in volume - about 2 hours.
In a pan with low sides, heat about 5 cm of oil. Take a small cutting board, one that will fit into your pan. Grease the board lightly with a bit of oil, then add 1 or 2 laddles of the dough onto the board. Try and keep the dough in a rectangle, about 10-12 cm on the short side. Once your oil is warm, use a knife to scrape small ropes of the dough into the hot oil. Be careful and don't overcrowd the pan - cook 4-5 fritters at the time. Fry until golden and crispy - about 3 minutes - keep an eye on the oil, you want to keep the temperature on medium to high.
Once cooked, lift them out of the oil and place them on some kitchen paper to remove excess oil. Transfer to a serving plate and sprinkle with some sugar. Serve while warm.
Every wine region in Italy always has one or even several traditional sweets, that include the local wine...here in Umbria we often serve these small ring shaped cookies after the dinner: They are ideal if you don't really have room for dessert - but just want a little something sweet before coffee. You traditionally dip the cookies into the same wine, that you made them with. Here in our region they are often made with passito from the Sagrantino grape. We also like to use Vin Santo or Marsala - and then you can play around with herbs and seasonings as well. This year we added fresh rosemary and some aniseed for a little extra kick.
About 20-25 cookies:
200 g all purpose flour
65 g caster sugar + extra to roll them in
1 tsp baking powder
1 pinch salt
2 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
1 tsp ground aniseed
50 ml sunflower oil
75 ml vin santo
In a bowl mix all the dry ingredients, then pour in the oil and wine and mix well. Once the dough has come together, turn it out onto your work surface and give it a light knead. Cover with cling film and let the dough rest for 10 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 180c degrees.
Pour some sugar onto a small plate.
Take walnut size pieces of the dough and roll them into small robes. Gather the ends to form a ring. Turn the ring in the sugar and place on a baking sheet with baking paper.
Bake in the preheated oven for 18-20 minutes - rotating the sheet halfway to ensure even baking. Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Store in an airtight container.
Who doesn't like sprinkles? Add a festive touch to these super crispy and buttery cookies with multi colour sprinkles.....the more the merrier....then again you can add all kinds of nut, herbs or spices to these to make them your own. For for the holidays we party hard with colourful sprinkles.
This recipe is the perfect one for storing the ready made dough in the freezer for later baking - this way you can always serve freshly baked cookies for your guests - we sure always have a few sticks of dough in our freezer for those unexpected guests.
About 40 cookies:
120 g butter, room temperature
140 g sugar
1 egg
190 g flour
1 pinch of salt
as many sprinkles as you like, we normally add 4-5 tbsp + extra to roll the cookies in
In a bowl whisk the butter and sugar using an electric handheld whisk until white, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and whisk again to incorporate. Now whisk in the flour and salt until smooth.
Divide the dough among 2 pieces of baking paper and shape into a roll/log using a spatula. If you want to bake the cookies right away, place the dough in the refrigerator for 60 minutes to harden or for later baking place the dough directly in the freezer.
If your dough has been frozen, then take the dough out of the freezer and place in the refrigerator some hours before baking.
When baking preheat the oven to 180c degrees.
Place some spinkles on a small plate.
Cut the dough into 1cm slices and roll the edges in the sprinkles. Place on a baking sheet with baking paper. Bake in preheated oven for 10-12 minutes, rotating half way. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container.
Classic cookies, that we always end up baking for x-mas - super easy to make and again, you can vary the seasonings to your liking - traditionally you would use cinnamon, like we do today - but we also sometimes use cocoa, licorice or a mix of spices, that often include ginger, nutmeg, cardemon, cinnamon and a touch of white pepper.
These cookies get the traditional cracks during baking.
About 30-35 cookies:
60 g butter, room temperature
160 g caster sugar + 1 1/2 tbsp
1 egg
240 g all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1 large tbsp ground cinnamon
In a bowl whisk butter and the 160g of sugar, using a handheld electric whisk, until white, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and mix to incorporate. In a different bowl mix flour with baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix in the dry ingredients a little at the time into the butter mixture. Once the dough has come together shape into a ball and wrap in cling film, place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to rest.
Preheat your oven to 170c degrees.
Place the rest of the sugar and in the cinnamon in small bowl.
Take small pieces of dough, like a little walnut and roll into a ball. Roll these in the spice mixture and place on a baking sheet with baking paper.
Bake for 10-15 minutes in the preheated oven, rotating halfway. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container.