Christmas Bundt Fruit Cake

  Fruit cakes, either people hate it or love it. Some have too much dried fruits and some cakes are too dense that you can probably throw it at a window and the glass will shatter....lol. Well here is my version of a fruit cake. It's not a loaf and it doesn't have 10 different types of fruit where you can't even taste the cake itself. It's like a pound cake and the 4 main ingrediants are cranberries, walnuts, red cherries and a taste of orange. Not heavy on the fruits and not too sweet........:0)

St Joseph's Zeppoli for Easter

So, i made St Joseph's Zeppoli for Easter . Also called sfinge, and in Rome, Bigne di S. Giuseppe, is a pastry typical in Italian cuisine. Commonly light, deep fried, or baked, these doughnuts or fritters shape are usually topped with powdered sugar and may be filled with custard, jelly, cannoli style pastry cream, or a butter-and-honey mixture. Zeppoli are traditionally consumed on La Festa di San Giuseppe ( Saint Joseph's Day), on March 19th. In Rome, Naples and Sicily, these little pastries are sold on many streets and are sometimes gifts on this day. 

Easter Bread

 

Bread has long played an important role in religious ceremonies and holidays. This is true in many cultures and cuisines. Holiday breads are often baked in symbolic shapes and include special ingredients. They can be made sweet or adding Anise. Some bake it like a bread or cookie and will either insert a raw egg in the dough which will cook in the oven or boil the egg first, color it and then insert it in the dough. Toppings can be added with slithered almonds or sprinkles. Here i made a sweet bread without anise with colored eggs and added sprinkles.

                                              

St Joseph's Zeppole

So, i decided to make St Joseph's Zeppole for the first time. Zeppola ( Zeppole for plural) or St. Joseph's cakes, also called sfinge, and in Rome, Bigne di S. Giuseppe, is a pastry typical in Italian cuisine. Commonly light, deep fried, or baked, these doughnuts or fritters shape are usually topped with powdered sugar and may be filled with custard, jelly, cannoli style pastry cream, or a butter-and-honey mixture. Zeppole are traditionally consumed on La Festa di San Giuseppe ( Saint Joseph's Day), on March 19th. In Rome, Naples and Sicily, these little pastries are sold on many streets and are sometimes gifts on this day. 

Irish Soda Bread

So, I decided to make Irish Soda Bread for St. Patricks Day. It was very hard to find a tradtional recipe because there is so many recipes to chose from. So, finally one of my husband's friends, who is Irish, passed me a recipe. It's not the traditional Irish Soda Bread, but, it was very, very good. What I found out is that traditional Irish Soda Bread does not have raisins. If your "soda bread " has rasins, it's not traditional soda bread. It's called "Spotted Dog" or " Railway Cake".  "Bread" a traditional Soda Bread is usually baked and leavened food made of a mixture of whose basic constituent is flour or meal.  "Cake" a sweet baked food made from a dough, or thick batter, usually containing flour and sugar and often shortening, eggs, and a raising agent (as baking powder). I have tried both . Both really good but i must say the "cake " was tasty. Especially toasted with a spread of butter.

Struffoli

Struffoli is a Neapolitan's dish made of deep fried balls of dough about the size of marbles. They are crunchy on the outside and light inside. They are traditionally served with honey with bits of orange rind and/or chopped nuts. They grace the table at Christmas and Easter and are served warm or room temperature.
The dough is the most important part when making this. This dessert has different recipes so you  have to play with it. And when it comes to adding the flour it's all about eyeing it and feeling the texture of the dough. When frying them you have to make sure that you don't over cook them or they become too brown and crunchy. After you heat up the honey and sugar, add the toasted almonds, which, I use, then add the fried balls in the honey, stir it, and serve.