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Christmas sweets

Reggio Emilia

 

BISCIONE

During the Christmas and Santo Stefano lunches, the Biscione was the master, a dessert from the past already known to Marco Gavio Apicius, the epicurean of the time of Tibero, author of the oldest treatise on Roman cuisine.

RECIPE
The biscione Reggiano is a typical product of the culinary art of the ancient pastry shops of the city. It is a typical Reggiano dessert of the Christmas period, in fact in Reggio Emilia it is also called Christmas Biscione.
It is made from simple ingredients such as almonds, sugar, eggs and candied fruit and is baked in the oven. It is produced in the form of a snake, or a dragon with open jaws and can also be very long, rolled over several levels of a cake pan. on the surface it is covered with meringue which must maintain its white color and crumbly consistency.
The biscione Reggiano is included in the list of traditional agri-food products of Emilia-Romagna, an IGP recognition is being investigated.
The Biscione is a typical product of the culinary art of the ancient pastry shops of the town. It is a typical local dessert of the Christmas time; in fact it is also called Christmas Biscione. It is made from simple ingredients such as almonds, sugar, eggs and candied fruit and is baked in the oven. It is produced in the form of a snake, or a dragon with open jaws and can also be very long, rolled over several levels of a cake pan. On the surface it is covered with meringue which must keep its white colour and crumbly consistency. The Biscione is included in the list of traditional agri-food products of Emilia-Romagna, and an IGP (Protected Geographical Indication) recognition is being investigated.

 

BAKED AND FRIED TORTELLINI

At Christmas time, the Tortellini, fried or baked, make their appearance with their exquisite filling made of jams, chestnuts, walnuts, pine nuts, coffee powder, rum or anisette. It is another typical dessert of the local tradition, even deriving from Renaissance cuisine, characterized by the mixture of sour and sweet.

RECIPE
Dough: 500 g of flour, 150 g of sugar, 50 g of butter, 1 sachet of baking powder, 2 eggs, 1 small glass of anisette.
Custard: 6 spoonfuls of flour, 6 spoonfuls of sugar, 6 egg yolks, half a litre of milk, lemon peel or vanilla.
Preparation: prepare the dough by mixing all the ingredients on a pastry board. For the cream, in a saucepan, mix the egg yolks with the sugar, then add the flour and, slowly, the milk, continuing to mix. Place the cream on a medium flame and, always stirring, let it thicken. In order to taste, flavour with vanilla or lemon peel, then you can prepare the Tortellini, using the special molds, and bake them, placed on a greased plate with breadcrumbs or fry them in boiling oil. Serve them sprinkled with plenty of icing sugar. The Christmas pesto is prepared by mixing various jams together with pine nuts, sultanas, pine nuts, cocoa, mustard, but it varies according to the cook.

 

TRIFLE

The trifle is an ancient spoon dessert. In the XIX century, the base was sponge cake, soaked in liqueurs such as alcherme and rosolio, filled with custard.

RECIPE
Ingredients: 5 egg yolks, 5 spoonfuls of sugar, 5 plentiful spoonfuls of flour, 5 scarce glasses of milk, 1 sachet of vanillin, lemon zest, 100 g of dark chocolate, 1 pack of Reggio Emilia ladyfingers, alchermes or a mixture for desserts.
Preparation: beat the egg yolks with the sugar to make the whole frothy and almost white. Slowly pour the flour then, slowly again, the milk; add the lemon zest and the vanillin. Cook and stir with a wooden spoon until the cream thickens without boiling. Previously you have prepared the mold by covering the inside with the ladyfingers, cut into two or three parts, and soaked in the liqueur. Lay a layer of yellow cream and cover it with other soaked ladyfingers. To the remaining yellow cream add the dark chocolate sprinkled in the mixer and pour it into the mold and complete with a layer of ladyfingers. The soup made in this way will be placed in the refrigerator. Before serving it you can sprinkle it again with alchermes or a mixture for desserts.

 

SPONGATA

It is an ancient dessert that someone even traces back to Roman times, to Tito Petronius Arbiter who, in the "Satyricon", describes a similar cake. It is a gem of Reggio Emilia cuisine that never fails at Christmas and New Year's Eve dinners. Its name seems to derive from "sponga" that is sponge, due to the appearance of the pinched surface that makes it look like a sponge.


RECIPE
The skill in preparing the spongata is expressed in the pesto: first of all you need the walnuts of the Emilian hills which must be processed as soon as they are picked up. The walnuts are opened and the kernel is extracted: about 100 quintals of kernels are needed for the Christmas production of spongata. Each ingredient must be wisely combined with precise processing times that have to be respected. On large tables the chopped walnuts are spread with honey, and kneading begins. Then add the almonds and raisins and knead again; the already hard pesto is turned, then the pine nuts - the most delicate, not to be broken - are to be added. The dough should be done with wooden shovels and with your hands. Finally, the mixture is sprinkled with spices, thirteen different types, which give flavour to the spongata.