Traditional tuscan breakfast at Fattoria del Colle in Trequanda – recipe for the Ciambellone
Patrizia Cenni, the pastry chef for the Fattoria dell Colle shares with us the recipe for one of her delicious cakes, a traditional dessert to which she has made some small important personal changes. It is Patrizia’s cakes and desserts – fresh fruit tartlets, traditional jam tarts and the vegetables from our own vegetable patch that transform breakfast every morning into a gourmet occasion and a true moment of joy
Advise for gluttons
Breakfast buffet at Fattoria del Colle
The breakfast buffet is only one example of the delicious meals which await those staying at the Fattoria del Colle. A whole table full of local salami, pecorino cheese, vegetable dips, and local fried specialities, together with home made biscuits and cakes made by Patrizia herself. It is almost as if you have gone back in time and arrived as a child in your grandparent’s house, because in Patrizia’s kitchen every cake is homemade, made with loving care and attention to detail to ensure the enjoyment of the newly welcomed guest. Of course, the buffet also includes cornflakes, yoghurt and fruit juices but the real stars of the breakfast are always the pastries.
Patrizia was born in Sinalunga, she is very happily married and has always lived in her home town apart from a 5 year period when she was a small child and she lived in Turin. She learned her art as a Pastry chef in 1985, when she was taught personally by an experienced pastry chef and has been a pastry chef herself for about twenty years.
She loves intense flavours and her favourite tarts are those made with rice and ricotta cheese. They are the sort of desserts which once you have tasted them you cannot stop eating them!! Even Patrizia cannot resist them!!
Sfoglia ripiena di mele con cioccolato al rosmarino
Her latest invention is a small turnover made of puff pastry with Santoia , apples stewed in brandy served with a white chocolate cream, flavoured with rosemary. This dessert is going to be served at the Awards Dinner for the Casato Prime Donne 2011 which is being held on 17th September.
Here is her secret recipe for the most delicious cake which she serves as part of our country breakfast: the Ciambellone. For those who would like to serve this cake as a dessert at the end of a meal we recommend that it is enjoyed together with a good Vin Santo wine.
Ciambellone for 8 people
INGREDIENTS
250 gr sugar, 200 gr 00 flour, 50gr of flour starch, a fruit yogurt or plain yogurt, 3 eggs, ,
3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil suitable to be used for cooking, a knob of butter, 1 sachet of baking powder, a drop of grappa.
PREPARATION
Beat the sugar and eggs with a whisk to mix up the mixture. Add the yogurt, the Oil, the liqueur and then the flour (sifted together with the baking powder). Blend until the mixture is smooth. Grease and flour a doughnut shaped mould, then add the mixture and put it in the oven which needs to be pre-heated to180c. Cook for 15 minutes. The Ciambellone is done when a toothpick comes out dry. Cool the Ciambellone and remove it from the mould. The cake should be stored in a cake container, or wrapped in cling film but not put in the refrigerator.