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 04/03/07 Baci di Caffè from CookiesFromItaly.com

"Siamo pronti per le feste?" Welcome to another recipe edition from Adriana's Italian Bakery!

This week's Italian recipes:
  -Funghi Ripieno
  -Colomba di Pasqua
  -Baci di Caffè

Happy Easter to all our wonderful subscribers! Enjoy the recipes and the complimentary news article report from "Only In Italy.com".

Enjoy the issue!

Yours Truly,              
Adriana Ciccarello       


 Cookie of the Week: Traditional Almond Cookies

"Traditional" Almond Cookies: A soft and chewy Italian almond cookie with a crisp outside and tender inside. Made exclusively from our own home grown natural almonds, the freshest farm eggs, flour, and sugar. No preservatives, additives, artificial colors, nor flavors. Serves 5-7.
900 grams (2 lbs.) is only 13.99 Euro ($18.50-$18.75) + Shipping.

Example Order: One order to anywhere in the USA costs 13.99 Euro plus 8.70 Euro for Global Priority Mail shipping (7-8 days) for a total of 22.69 Euro ($30.00-$30.25 U.S. Dollars).


 Recipe: Funghi Ripieno

Funghi Ripieno
Stuffed Mushrooms

Ingredients:

10 medium size mushrooms
1 (2 inch) piece of celery, chopped
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 egg yolk
1/2 onion, chopped
1 cup grated Parmigiano cheese
2 shallots, chopped
Salt and pepper

Directions:

Remove stems from mushrooms. Using a scooping knife, empty mushroom caps.

Chop the stems. Set pulp and chopped stems aside.

In frying pan, brown onion in virgin olive oil.

Add the shallots, celery, mushroom stems and pulp, egg yolk and cheese.

Salt and pepper to taste.

Cook over medium heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Using a blender or food processor, puree the mixture.

Fill the caps with puree and place in a well oiled baking dish.

Bake for 10 minutes at 350° F. Serve hot. Makes 4 servings.

That's it!


 Recipe: Colomba di Pasqua

Colomba di Pasqua
Easter Dove

Ingredients:

3/4 oz (20 grams) fresh yeast or 2 teaspoons (10 ml) dried yeast
6 fl oz (175 ml) hot milk
15 oz (400 grams) plain white or Italian type 00 flour
4 oz (100 grams) unsalted butter
3 large eggs and 1 egg yolk
4 oz (100 grams) superfine sugar
1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) salt
1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
Grated zest of 1 orange
Grated zest of 1 unwaxed lemon
2 and 1/2 oz (65 grams) raisins
2 and 1/2 oz (65 grams) mixed candied peel
Icing sugar, for dusting
4 oz (100 grams) whole, blanched almonds

Directions:

Blend the yeast with the warm milk then leave for 15 minutes until frothy.

Stir in 4 oz (100 grams) of the flour, cover and leave for 30 minutes.

Melt the butter and leave to cool. Whisk together the eggs, egg yolk and sugar, then whisk in the butter.

Stir in the salt, vanilla, orange and lemon zests. Add the remaining 11 oz (300 grams) flour and mix together with a wooden spoon.

Beat in the yeast mixture until the mixture is smooth. Mix in the raisins, reserving 2, and the candied peel. Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover with a clean tea-towel and leave for 1 and 3/4 to two hours until doubled in size.

Draw the outline of a dove shape onto 2 sheets of parchment paper. Line 2 baking trays with the parchment sheets.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 2-3 minutes. Divide in half and shape each piece into a dove and place each dove on a separate baking tray. Use the reserved raisins for the eyes.

Cover with a clean tea-towel and leave to rise again at room temperature for about one hour until double the size. Stud the doves with the almonds.

Pre-heat the oven to 375° F (190° C).

Bake the Easter doves in the oven for about 15-18 minutes until golden brown and firm to the touch. Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool. Dust with sifted icing sugar before serving. Makes 2, each to serve 6.

That's it!


 Recipe: Baci di Caffè

Baci di Caffè
Coffee Kisses

Ingredients:

2 eggs
4 oz (125 grams) superfine sugar
4 oz (125 grams) self raising flour
4 tbs (60 ml) corn flour

For the Filling:
3 egg yolks
2 oz (50 grams) superfine sugar
2 tbs (30 ml) plain white or Italian type 00 flour
8 fl oz (225 ml) hot milk
1 tb (15 ml) finely ground fresh coffee
4 fl oz (100 ml) heavy cream
Icing sugar, for dusting

Directions:

Pre-heat the oven to 350° F (180° C). Grease several baking trays.

Put the eggs and sugar in a mixing bowl and beat together until thick and creamy. Sift the flour and corn flour together, then fold through the egg mixture in two batches.

Spoon 12 heaped tablespoonfuls of the mixture onto the baking trays, allowing plenty of space for spreading. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes until pale golden and firm to the touch. Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool.

To make the filling, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar and flour until thick and creamy. Gently heat the milk and coffee in a saucepan but do not allow to boil. Gradually whisk the milk mixture into the egg mixture. Return the mixture to the saucepan and heat, stirring, until the mixture thickens. Remove from the heat, cover with greaseproof paper and leave to cool.

Whisk the cream until stiff. When the filling is cold, fold in the cream.

To serve, spread the filling over the flat side of half of the coffee kisses and top each with another coffee kiss. Dust with icing sugar and serve immediately.

That's it!

Submit Your Thoughts

 

 Only In Italy!

"Only In Italy" is a daily news column that translates and reports on funny but true news items from legitimate Italian news resources in Italy. Each story is slapped with our wild, often ironic, and sometimes rather opinionated comments. And now, for your reading pleasure:

Italians Claim to See Mysterious Vision of Famous Monk's Face in Statue

June 18 - Thousands of faithful and curious Italians have visited a statue of Christ after a woman said she saw the face of mystic monk Padre Pio appear on the bronze figure in the northwestern city of Genoa.

"The Cardinal of Genoa came to see it last night and he agreed that there was a face but said that further investigations were needed," Mauro Boccaccio, spokesman for the regional government of Liguria, said Friday.

Boccaccio said a woman was first to notice the face appear Wednesday when she came to view the Christ of the Deep, a bronze figure of Christ that artist Guido Galletti designed in the 1950s to be submersed under the sea.

Padre Pio was said to have the power to be in two places at once and to display the stigmata, bleeding wounds in the hands and feet similar to those of Christ. He died in 1968 and was made a saint in 2002. Some eight million pilgrims visit the town where he is buried each year.

The Christ of the Deep statue has been undergoing restoration work for the past eight months and is due to be returned to the sea on June 26.

"It's an icon for thousands of divers from Italy and from abroad, both believers and others," Boccaccio said.

Authorities were still planning to return it to the sea near the town of Portofino, though investigations into the vision could delay that, he added.

More than 5,000 people came to see the statue, which still appears to show a face, Thursday alone.

"They're still lining up today," Boccaccio said.

"Per favore." Isn't religion wonderful?

We realize that many people today base their entire existence on blind faith towards their favorite religion and we respect it. But one cannot interrupt the daily routine of life to stop and ask brightly lit objects why everything in their lives is going to hell!

What if a Sicilian farmer one day claims to see the face of Mussolini on one of his cows. What are Sicilians supposed to do? Accuse the cow of being a fascist, shoot it and then hang it upside down in a piazza for all to see? Of course not. It's just a cow with a funny looking face on its hide.

Hmmm...If you had to pray to this statue, what would you say?

"Dear Lord, Please tell me why had Italy fished this wonderful statue out of the ocean, spent 8 months restoring it only to have it thrown back in the water?"

"Only In Italy" Subscribe today and you'll discover why the last improvements to Italy were made by Julius Caesar and why it's been downhill ever since!  Click Here to Subscribe!



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