Pinolata Italian Pine Nut Cake Recipes

Steps:

• In a large ceramic bowl with a wooden spoon or in a mixer with a dough hook mix together the flour, eggs and salt to make a stiff dough that pulls away from the walls of the bowl. You may end up using your hands to finish the job if mixing with a wooden spoon. If the dough is still sticky to the touch add more flour. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth and doesn't stick to your fingers. . Quarter the dough and roll the segments into ropes the thickness of 1/2-inch. Cut off knobs of dough 1/2-inch long (some people roll these into balls but I don't).
• In a 3 quart saucepan heat oil for deep-frying to 365 degrees F. Fry the dough pieces until golden brown in batches, a handful at a time and drain on a paper towel. The dough will sink in the oil then come floating to the top. They do expand in the oil so leave them some room. Allow them to cool while you make the caramel.
• In a large saucepan combine the honey and sugar and bring to a boil. Working quickly with a wooden spoon stir in the fried dough pieces to coat them with the honey caramel. Quickly spoon the sticky dough balls onto 2 plates and form into a tall mound resembling a pine cone, then quickly sprinkle pine nuts or confetti sprinkles over the surface so they stick to the honey caramel before it cools and is no longer sticky. If there's a second person around to help with this, get them. It's a bit of a group or family project. You can also place smaller amounts into foil cup cake cups for individual servings. Let cool and serve. Keeps up to 1 week. To eat just pick off dough pieces and enjoy.
• Notes about the recipe: Some spell it Pinolata with one T. It sometimes has pine nuts or "pignolla" stirred into the caramel or is formed into the shape like a pine cone so the name may have come from that. In Sicily they're called Pignolata, in Naples (Italy, not Florida) the same thing is called Struffoli.
• I first had this at the holidays at an Italian friends house and they make them every year. But because they're fried they fit for Hanukah too. They're something you serve after a meal and really need coffee to wash them down. It's a very tactile dessert that you pick apart tiny caramelized nugget by tiny caramelized nugget.

Steps:

• Using an electric mixer, beat the butter, sugar, vanilla, fennel seed, and salt in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg. Add the flour and mix just until blended.
• Transfer the dough to a sheet of plastic wrap. Shape the dough into an 8-inch-long log. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for 2 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line heavy large baking sheets with a silpat or parchment paper. Cut the dough log crosswise into 1/8 to 1/4-inch thick slices. Transfer the cookies to the prepared baking sheets, spacing evenly apart. Press the pine nuts decoratively atop the cookies. Bake until the cookies are golden around the edges, about 15 minutes.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Heat a skillet over medium heat. Cook and stir pine nuts in the hot skillet until toasted and fragrant, about 5 minutes.
• Beat white sugar and butter together in a large bowl using an electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Beat eggs, 1 at a time, into creamed butter mixture, beating well after each addition. Whisk flour and baking powder in a separate bowl; stir into creamed butter mixture until dough is just mixed. Fold pine nuts into dough.
• Spread corn flakes into a shallow baking dish. Form dough into balls, about 1 tablespoon per cookie; roll each in the corn flakes, pressing gently to coat. Arrange cookies, 1-inch apart, on the prepared baking sheets.
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, about 23 minutes. Cool cookies on the baking sheets and dust with confectioners' sugar.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
• Break the marzipan in pieces into a medium-sized bowl. Mix in the sugar, salt, flavorings and almond flour; the mixture will be crumbly. Add the egg white, beating until the mixture is smooth.
• Place the pine nuts in a shallow dish. Using a teaspoon cookie scoop, or your lightly oiled or wets hands, drop one inch balls of dough into the pine nuts, rolling and pressing gently to coat them thoroughly. You may also simply grab a handful of pine nuts, and roll the dough between your palms, pressing in pine nuts as you go.
• Place the cookies on lightly greased or parchment-lined cookie sheets, leaving about one inch between them.
• Bake the cookies for 20 to 22 minutes, or until they're lightly browned. Cool them on the pans for five minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.