The holiday season smells sweet and homey: that may be one reason why preparing the typical sweets of the Christmas Is one of the most beautiful ways to spend time with family.
Christmas is just a short time away! Are you ready? Numerous Neapolitan families get together to celebrate it by inviting friends and relatives and setting the table with a plethora of typical dishes.
But what are the Neapolitan sweets that are eaten on holidays? The bakery Neapolitan can boast of an incredible variety of desserts, among which are the rococo and the mostaccioli.
History
La storia di questi semplici e tanto graditi dolci natalizi è antica: la tradizione vuole che i mostaccioli, come i roccocò, si preparino a partire dall’December 8, official day of the Immaculate conception, just as one does for the Christmas tree, because it is this date that is recognized as the beginning of the holiday season.
The origins of Mostaccioli
The first description of mostaccioli, the mustaceans, refers to Cato In his book "On agriculture.".
Already the Romans used the mustum, that is, the must of grape cooked, which to date is said to be vin cotto, because it was unfermented; with some coarse flour and a little honey, these cookies were made, to be offered to those leaving or to aid digestion, given the presence of theanise in the recipe. The greeting was sweetened by these dark, fragrant treats.
The name mostaccioli It then recalls the use of kneading flour with some must cooked: they started with about 4.5 kg of flour to which they added anise seeds, cumin, a little bit of honey, bark of laurel crushed into very small pieces and, of course, the cooked grape must and a little bit of water to knead and obtain a soft dough, from which to then make sweets by cutting them into the shape of rhombuses, then cooked together with bay leaves.
The origins of the Roccoco
The origins of the recipe date back to 1320, and to have prepared them for the first time, were some nuns who devoted their spare time to cooking: the nuns of Real Convento della Maddalena in Naples.
The term rococo is derived from the French rocaille, because of the baroque, rounded shape similar to a shell rounded.
Today's traditions: Neapolitan mostaccioli
The Christmas air in the city of Naples has a distinctly spicy scent thanks to the famous traditional sweets.
There are those who prefer soft and crumbly mostaccioli, and those with the icing at chocolate, white or fondant.
Below we show some sweet and easy-to-make recipes.
Neapolitan mostacciolo recipe
How to realize them:
- Pour the flour, almond granules and sugar into a bowl;
- Sift the bitter cocoa powder , pisto and ammonia
- Grate the orange zest and mix well;
- Pour in flush, the water, at room temperature. While pouring in the water, knead with your other hand and knead it by hand until all the ingredients are well blended;
- Now wrap the dough ball in baking paper and let it rest in the refrigerator for at least an hour. After the time has elapsed, roll out the dough with a rolling pin between two sheets of baking paper and obtain a surface about 7-8 mm thick. From this cut out diamond shapes whose sides measure about 7 cm;
- Arrange the lozenges on the drip pan and go through the various baking steps: bake in a hot oven at 180° for about 18 minutes;
- Once cooked let them cool, then roughly chop the dark chocolate and let it melt in a double boiler;
- Arrange on a wire rack, with a sheet of baking paper underneath , and let dry in a cool place until the chocolate has completely set and then coat the cookies.
Alternatively, there are also those who prefer soft mostaccioli by adding the juice of orange, the almonds and honey.
Other varieties of mostaccioli
Its variants are classified into: mostaccioli pugliesi, particular for their softness due to the presence of the "vin cotto"; mostaccioli Sicilians, which are prepared with the semolina, the vin cotto, the cinnamon, almonds, hazelnuts and orange and lemon zest; mostaccioli Sardinians, particular for their coverage with sugar icing, while those salentini for preparation with simple ingredients, such as flour, almonds, cinnamon, cloves and orange zest. Finally, the mostaccioli vegans, so called because they do not contain honey and eggs; finally, it is also possible to prepare mostaccioli without eggs, butter and gluten-free.
Each country has its own secret recipes and they are cooked in many different ways.
Today's traditions: the Neapolitan roccocò
A traditional Parthenopean crunchy and spicy dessert that exudes an unmistakable, rather peculiar smell , with a flattened doughnut shape and a brown but golden color. It is made with almonds , flour, sugar, candied fruit and pisto (in Naples called a'cartell),that is, a mixture of cinnamon, cloves, coriander, star anise and nutmeg, spices that give it an exotic scent.
The roccoco is baked at the oven, a hard and thick cookie , and are dipped in the vermouth or in the sparkling wine to be softened, but also to fully enjoy the flavor.
Rococo recipe
Servings per 10 pieces:
- 250g flour;
- 250 g sugar;
- 100 g almonds or hazelnuts;
- Candied citron 2g;
- 2g pisto;
- Orange peel;
- Bicarbonate q.b;
- A brush of egg;
- Pinch of salt.
How to realize them:
- Squeeze the pulp from the mandarins and oranges and dilute with water until a maximum of 250 cl of liquid is obtained;
- Place the flour on the pastry board, make a hole in the center where you place more than half of the coarsely chopped hazelnuts and the rest whole, then the sugar, the previously prepared liquid, grated lemon peel, orange blossom vial, cinnamon sachet, ammonia and vanilla;
- At this point begin to knead until the mixture is completely blended;
- With the resulting dough form strings with a maximum diameter of 2 ce the length of 8 cm to which you will give the shape of a circle, typical of roccocò;
- The resulting roccocòs are arranged on a buttered baking sheet ;
- They are then brushed with a beaten egg yolk to brown the surface and i pass in the oven at a temperature of 120°;
- Infine, quando i roccocò risulteranno ben dorati, toglierli dal forno e lasciarli raffreddare.
Ecco a voi le ricette, non vi resta che gustarle!
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