In Italy, torrone (tuh-ROE-nay) is a traditional Christmas dessert, and the most popular candy in Italy.

In France, it’s known as nougat: a confection made from egg whites, honey, sugar and toasted almonds.

There are many regional variations; some are softer, some chewier. If you’re headed to any Italian city—or have friends who are—ask them to bring some back.

Especially well regarded are torrone from the Italian regions of Abruzzo and Sicily, and from the cities of Alba (in Piedmont), Cremona (in Lombardy) and Siena (in Tuscany) are especially renowned.
 
 
THE HISTORY OF TORRONE

Modern torrone may be derived from an ancient recipe or Roman or Arabic origin, possibly North Africa or Egypt. One source says that the first documented mentions of torrone come from the early Renaissance in Spain.

The record isn’t clear on either, but there is history that dates torrone the Renaissance.

The dessert was created in Cremona for the marriage of Francesco Sforza and Bianca Maria Visconti on October 25, 1441. Its shape, a long rectangle, was modeled after the city cathedral’s bell tower, the Torrazzo, after which it is thought to be named.

Following its introduction at the wedding, torrone was considered an elegant treat and was gifted at Christmas among affluent people.

Not surprisingly, torrone also became (and still is) a popular wedding favor.

Each year, the residents of Cremona celebrate the candy at La Festa del Torrone, an eight-day celebration in November that includes a reenactment of the legendary marriage.

Today, torrone is eaten after lunch and dinner from Christmas Day until January 6th, or Epiphany (although it is enjoyed year-round). If you don’t want to make it, buy it at a store that specializes in products from Italy.

Torrone is often served with an after-dinner amaro (bitters), a sambuca (a sweet anise-tasting digestivo), or a liquor, such as Strega [source].
 
 
TYPES OF TORRONE

Today, torrone is made throughout Italy. Each region has its own signature recipe.

There are two main types of torrone: hard and soft. The difference in the cooking time and the amount of egg whites used.

Both are made in large formats, sliced to order; in bars; or in individually wrapped pieces the size of hard candies. There are:

 
While both types of torrone are made of egg whites, nuts and sweeteners, recipes for both textures vary:

 
If your appetite is whetted and you don’t want to make your own, head to TorroneCandy.com.

Torrone can be purchased in a variety of forms including bars, cubes, rounds, blocks, and bite-sized pieces and comes in two types of consistency:
 
 
RECIPE: HOMEMADE TORRONE

Although it’s very sticky and sometimes hard to handle, fresh, homemade torrone is delicious and enables you to create your signature recipe.

You can Americanize it by adding Heath Bar toffee bits, M&Ms, a peanut butter swirl, you name it.

This recipe from DeLallo uses a blend of almonds and hazelnuts, but you can use any blend or single nut you prefer. Just toast the nuts. Here’s how.

The recipe requires wafer paper, an edible paper that is flavorless (some have a vanilla flavouring) and dissolves in the mouth. It doesn’t affect the flavor of the food, but keeps sticky confections from sticking.

Here are more uses for wafer paper.

Ingredients For 10-12 Servings

 
Preparation

1. COMBINE the honey and sugar in a large glass bowl over a pot of water, making sure that the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water. This is your double boiler. Cook over medium heat for 30 minutes, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. When there are about 5 minutes left…

2. BEAT the egg whites and a small pinch of salt to stiff peaks using a stand mixer, hand mixer or whisk. Whisk the egg whites into the honey-sugar mixture, one whisk-full at a time, making sure to incorporate each whisk-full completely before adding more.

3. USE a wooden spoon and continue mixing for another 40-50 minutes, or until thickened: a ribbon of the mixture will stay on the back of the spoon for 5-7 seconds. Add the lemon and orange zests and the toasted nuts. Stir to combine.

4. LINE a baking pan with parchment paper, followed by a single layer of the wafer paper (trimmed as necessary). Add the torrone filling, smoothing the top out with a spatula. Then top with another piece or two of wafer paper.

5. PLACE a weight on top of the entire torrone, and set aside for 1-2 hours. If you don’t have pie weights, add a piece of parchment or foil to the top of the pan and fill with dried beans or loose change. You can also use a slightly smaller baking pan that will fit on top. Regardless of the method, protect the edible paper top with parchment.

6. REMOVE the weights and protective parchment or foil, turn the pan upside down on a board and cut the torrone into small rectangular pieces. Store it in an airtight container with wax paper between the layers.

________________

*Tip: When a recipe needs only egg whites, consider buying a carton of already-separated whites.

[1] Homemade torrone. The recipe is below. Cut the pan into longitudinal strips, then cut individual pieces to your preference (photos #1 to #3 © DeLallo).

[2] Mixing the ingredients.

[3] There’s a delicious almond in every bite.

[4] Use the freshest almonds you can buy (photo © Good Eggs).

[4] Use the freshest almonds you can buy (photo © Good Eggs).

[5] Any mild honey will do (photo © National Honey Board).

[6] Get out the sugar bowl (photo © Hannah Kaminsky | Bittersweet Blog). h gt

[1] Pears poached in port and red wine, with a “cloak” of pistachios (photo © Santauri Restaurant | Los Angeles).

[2] Make the recipe with Bartlett (above) or Bosc pears (photo © Good Eggs).

[3] Bosc pears (photo © Good Eggs).

[4] Add some pomegranate arils to the plate for holiday color (photo © Good Eggs).

[5] Add some green to the red arils (photo © Good Eggs).

[6] The pears are poached in ruby port, which is also a great pairing with the dessert (photo © Sandeman).

When we saw this poached pear recipe, we knew we wanted to make it for the holidays, accented with some red raspberries and green mint.

It’s a welcome alternative to heavier desserts at the end of a Christmas dinner or other seasonal celebration.

The recipe is courtesy of Executive Chef Brendan Mica at Santauri restaurant in Los Angeles.

A beautiful, light and airy venue, Santuari serves California cuisine with Mediterranean accents inside the historic Toluca Lake Tennis Club.

Rich in history, the space, which is opposite Warner Bros Studio, was once frequented by stars such as Johnny Carson, Clint Eastwood and Farrah Fawcett. (If you’re in the area, take the studio tour and then have lunch.)

The food: Beautiful!
 
 
RECIPE: POACHED PEARS WITH A PISTACHIO CLOAK

This recipe needs to be made a day in advance. Poaching pears is easy, you can split the labor by making the candied pistachios the day before the pears.

There is also a surprise mascarpone filling.

Add a red and green holiday garnish with pomegranate arils and mint leaves.

If you don’t have a kitchen scale with metric measurements, the conversions are easy to find online.

Ingredients For 8 Servings

For The Candied Pistachio Cloak

 
Preparation

1. BRING all the ingredients to a boil and reduce by half. Discard the liquid.

2. DEEP FRY and allow to cool. Once cool, chop 2/3 of the candied pistachios in a food processor. They should have a sand-like consistency. Reserve the remaining whole pistachios to garnish the plates.
 
For The Pears & Poaching Liquid

 
Preparation

1. MAKE the poaching liquid. First toast all spices in a tall flat-bottom pot. Once fragrant, remove from the flame and add the port and red wine. Add the sugar and honey and bring to a simmer (do not boil). While the liquid is heating…

2. CUT the bottom off the pears—just enough so they sit flat. Core the pears using a melon baller. Peel the skin and place the pears directly into the poaching liquid. The liquid should cover the pears.

3. GENTLY ROTATE the pears during the cooking process. The pears should be firm but soft enough to cut with a spoon (insert a paring knife to test). Estimated cooking time is 20-35 minutes.

4. STRAIN the spices, reserving the poaching liquid. Refrigerate the pears in the poaching liquid overnight. The poaching liquid will become the glaze when you assemble the plate.
 
 
For The Honey-Lemon Mascarpone Filling

 
Preparation

1. BLEND the mascarpone ingredients. Remove the pears from the poaching liquid and carefully pat dry the insides. Pipe the filling into the pear cavities. Roll the stuffed pears in the chopped candied pistachios.

2. REDUCE the poaching liquid until it has a syrup-like consistency and coats the back of a spoon.

3. PLACE each pear on a plate and drizzle with the reduced poaching liquid. Garnish as desired with pomegranate arils and mint leaves.

Pomegranate Mezcal Punch
[1] Persephone Punch, made with mulled pomegranate juice (photo © Gem & Bolt).

[2] Star anise pods, available from Silk Road Spices (photo © Silk Road Spices.

[3] Pomegranate and its arils. The juice is squeezed from the arils (photo © Kelly Cline | iStock Photo).

[4] Juniper berries, available from Silk Road Spices (photo © Silk Road Spices.

[5] The 200ml bottle of Bolt Mezcal (photo © Gem & Bolt).

One of the differences between tequila and mezcal is the smoky flavor of mezcal (here are the other differences).

This punch uses mezcal instead of tequila to add something extra.

The recipe, from Gem & Bolt Mezcal, was named for Persephone, the Greek goddess of vegetation and the unwilling wife of Hades, god of the Underworld.

If you recall your Greek mythology, Persephone was abducted by Hades. Zeus demanded her return, but first Hades tricked her.

He encouraged her to eat some pomegranate seeds and then claimed that, because she had tasted food in the Underworld, she was obliged to spend a third of each year there (one month for each seed eaten, as we recall).

These became the winter months, when no crops grew on Earth because of Persephone’s absence from it.
 
 
RECIPE: PERSEPHONE’S POMEGRANATE PUNCH

For an alcohol-free version, serve the mulled pomegranate juice with ginger ale.

Ingredients For 20 Servings

 
For The Mulled Pomegranate Juice

 
Preparation

1. COMBINE the mulled pomegranate juice ingredients a container and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight. Strain and discard the spices.

2. ADD to the punch bowl (or a large pitcher) with the chilled wine and spirits. Stir only slightly to blend: You don’t want to burst the bubbles.
 
 
ABOUT GEM & BOLT MEZCAL

Gem & Bolt is produced by a fourth-generation master distiller in Oaxaca, Mexico, using espadín agave* (Agave angustifolia) and mountain spring water.

Espadín agave, a plant pollinated at night by bats, takes up to 10 years to mature in the hot, dry climate.

The hand-harvested agave is slowly wood-roasted in earth pit ovens, and mashed with a traditional tahona stone, a large wheel chiseled out of volcanic stone, and configured to rotate in a stone pit (here’s a photo).

The roasted mash is then fermented naturally in wooden vats, and distilled in small copper stills.

Adding to its distinction, Gem & Bolt mezcal is uniquely distilled with damiana (Turnera diffusa), an herb from a flowering woody bush native to Mexico.

As far back as the Mayas and Aztecs, the damiana leaf and stem were used to make medicine. The medicine was used for its mood-elevating properties and as an aphrodisiac.

Aphrodisiac or not, you’ll enjoy this premium mezcal.
 
 
SMOKY VS. SMOKEY

Some English words have more than one spelling: doughnut vs. donut, omelet vs. omelette, and so on.

Many of these variations are historical or are from different languages. It often doesn’t make a difference which spelllng you choose.

Except in the case of smoky vs. smokey. Here, there is a clear cut difference.

 
Smokey Bear’s creators spelled his name this way intentionally, to differentiate it from the adjective “smoky” [source].

Few people realize the difference. Thus, there are many foods called, e.g. Smokey Blue Cheese and Smokey Red Sensation Salsa.

________________

*By law, Mezcal can be made from some 30 different agave species, varieties and subvarieties. Espadín is the most prominent variety in Oaxaca. By contrast, tequila can be made only with the blue agave plant, Agave tequilana Weber.

Today’s stocking stuffers are for mint lovers.
 
1. DANDIES PEPPERMINT MARSHMALLOWS

Dandies Peppermint Marshmallows are a limited-edition holiday treat.

Dandies are all-natural, gelatin-free, vegan marshmallows. There’s no high fructose corn syrup or anything artificial: Cane sugar and tapioca syrup are used.

Vegan marshmallows taste just like conventional marshmallows, but tapioca starch is used instead of animal-based gelatin.

They are non-GMO and certified kosher parve by CRC.

The fluffy pink bites add flair to:

 
We added them to our favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, substituting the mini marshmallows for the nuts (photo #1).

This engendered the question:

Why hadn’t we thought to put marshmallows in chocolate chip cookies before this? A great idea!

The Peppermint Marshmallows are available at conventional and natural grocers through January.

Here’s a store locator, including e-tailers.

Visit Dandies.com for more information.

The History Of Marshmallows
 
 
2. LITTLE SECRETS CHOCOLATE PEPPERMINT PIECES

Little Secrets is a new candy brand that creates versions of favorite newsstand candy* in better-for-you form.

The brand uses the highest quality ingredients, including Fair Trade Certified chocolate, sugar instead of corn syrup, and no artificial colors or flavors.

The candies have just the right level of sweetness—not the cloying, sugary taste of most newsstand candies.

For the holidays, these red and white bites have a chocolate peppermint center with a hard candy shell.

Eating them from the bag, add them to cookies, use them to garnish cakes and cupcakes, or create a holiday snack mix. (Include the Dandies Peppermint Marshmallows in that mix.)

The Little Secrets brand is available at Amazon, Peapod, Vitacost, Whole Foods and other stores nationwide.

Visit ShareLittleSecrets.com for more information.

________________

*Newsstand candy is the category of mass-marketed individual candy, so-called because it’s sold at newsstands…and near store check-out registers and elsewhere. Newsstands used to be ubiquitous, where people went to pick up a candy bar. The category may need a new name!

[1] Chocolate chip cookies with Dandies peppermint marshmallows (photos #1 and #2 © Dandies.com).

[2] The limited-edition peppermint flavor is available through January.

[3] Forget the cloying holiday M&Ms: These all-natural Little Secrets taste like grown-up candy should (photos #3 and #4 © Little Secrets).

[4] A holiday snack and garnish.

CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.

[1] Gnocchi Mac & Cheese. Here’s the recipe from DeLallo (photo © DeLallo).

[2] Eggplant Parmesan Baked Ziti. Here’s the recipe from DeLallo (photo © DeLallo).

[3] An easy Rigatoni Pie! Here’s the recipe from Just A Taste (photo © Just A Taste).

[4] If you prefer, Spaghetti Pie! Here’s the recipe from Tastes Better From Scratch (photo © Tastes Better From Scratch).

[5] One of the baked pasta dishes from P.F. Pasta Al Forno in New York City: thin crepes with spinach, ricotta and béchamel (photo © Tina B Photo 2019).

Al forno is Italian for food that has been baked in an oven. That includes pasta.

We think of most pasta as boiled; that’s the easiest way to make it. Remove it cooked from the pot, add sauce, bring it to the table.

But baked pasta dishes are very popular. Think cannelloni, lasagna, manicotti and ziti, for starters. Most of us order them in restaurants, because it’s more effort to prepare them.

Pasta al forno, pasta from the oven, offers delights that are worth the extra time to prepare them.

The “meaty” texture, the crisp browned edges, the layering of flavors, the different textures and presentations…all opportunities to shine.

Sometimes the pasta is double-cooked: boiled before it is baked. The pasta comes out soft, not with the firm al dente consistency that is standard in boiled pasta dishes.

(And may we add, as someone who drops food on herself: Pasta al forno is not drippy.)

Baked pasta is an opportunity to create dishes with many more ingredients than most boiled pasta recipes.

Layer on meats, vegetables, different cheeses, herbs and spices: Every recipe can present a different story, over, say, Spaghetti Bolognese or Linguine With Clam Sauce.

 
THE HISTORY OF PASTA AL FORNO

Northern Italy has a tradition of baking pasta in wood-burning ovens.

Pasta was introduced to Italy in the 8th century C.E. (the history of pasta and the history of oven cooking).

In the Middle Ages (5th century to 15th century), baked pasta was an opportunity for chefs to show off their creativity.

Eventually, baked pasta, pasta al forno, was adopted all over Italy.

It traveled from the north to become a staple dish of Southern Italy, where it’s usually made on Sundays, holidays and special occasions.

Sicilians call it piatto unico, “one plate”: One serving is a complete main course of pasta (carbs), protein, vegetables and dairy (cheese) (source).

Wood was the main fuel for large parts of Europe for many centuries. Today, even though more efficient gas, electric, gas and convection ovens are available, some restaurants and home kitchens still use wood burning ovens because they prefer the flavor that a hint of wood provides (source).
 
 
BAKED PASTA RECIPES

You can bake any pasta, including mac and cheese and spaghetti.

There are meat-based, seafood-based, vegetarian and vegan recipes. There are even sweet recipes, like this delectable noodle kugel, typically served as a side.

Here are collections of recipes: so much variety that we wanted to eat them all.

 
When you consider baking your own pasta, remember that a lot of what goes into the pan depends on what’s in the refrigerator or pantry, and what’s in season.

 
You can add anything you like, from the classics to trendy veggies like cauliflower and kale.

Here are tips for making based pasta from DeLallo Foods.
 
 
A PASTA AL FORNO RESTAURANT

Your city may have a restaurant dedicated to pasta al forno.

New York City just received one, P. F. Pasta Al Forno, in the West Village neighborhood of Manhattan.

This baked-pasta-only concept is the first of its kind in New York, honoring the original Pasta Al Forno in Florence, Italy, which operated from 1964 to 2000.

It’s a counter-service restaurant: Place your order for a slice and wait for it to be called. Then, take it home or dine-one of several group tables.

The rustic decor can transport you back to the Old World, with vintage accents, hand-painted menus, and beverages like Lurisia spring water and premium Italian soft drinks (try the arancia rosso, blood orange).

The breadsticks alone worth the trip. They’re free on the tabletops, and so special that we purchased four bags for gifting.

We couldn’t be happier with the food, either.

Vegan and vegetarian options are available, as well as all-vegetable dishes like baked caponata.

While there is lasagna (how could there not be), the other dishes were new to us, and total delights:

 
Head to PastaAlFornoNYC.com for more mouth-watering delights, including those below.
 

[6] From P.F. Pasta Al Forno in New York City: Timballo Del Anellini, wrapped in fried eggplant and prosciutto; Baked Rigatoni; and Timpano Del Cardinale, ziti wrapped in dried San Marzano tomatoes. (photo copyright Tina B Foto © 2019.