Panina coll' Uva

Panina with raisins, this is a very traditional bread/cake... In facts, every bakery in Arezzo, the town where I live, produces a huge quantity of it during the whole Lent till Easter and sometime a little after... It is consumed with boiled eggs and salami at breakfast on the Easter Day.

It is made from a fresh yeast dough with the addition of soft raisins and typically ground saffron that gives the yellowish colour and a pinch of pepper ( I've liked to perfume with some macis from my cupboard ) and olive oil from our family production...I find the oil gives the Panina a lovely moisture and lightness better than lard that is mainly used...

 ...while raising...

Pizza Pizza...

...from our ritual Saturday dinners......Margherita with some leaves of fresh rocket...

..and with lots of  Stracchino Cheese and Mozzarella ...before baking...

...my husband's favourite...not mine...and here,...off the oven ...

Merry-go-round Cake...

...a melting-in-the-mouth lemon mousse between layers of raspberry meringue...

garnished with a circle of little meringues..dots of homemade strawberry conserve..leaves of mint....and a sprinkle of Sichuan pepper reminding the scent of the citrus...

Sticky Apple Strudel Buns...

...from a very soft dough made with potatoes...

...and with a sweet heart of tender apples and raisins but the crunchiness of the walnut bits. Glazed with some caramel sauce...

Easter Zuccherini

Traditional Easter Cakes with a crunchy pastry, very fragrant and with all the scent of the Spring in the mixed citrus zest and saffron...

Rock Choc Cookies

 

...a kind of drop cookie, with a crunchy outside for the cereal mix crumbs and a moist inner with raisins and the fragrance of the orange zest..then again, some crunchy bits...the roughly chopped walnuts and the bitter chocolate chips..all for creating a real harmonious taste...

Rocky Road Brownies...

...an American recipe for the traditional Brownie, but with the scent of cardamom and orange essence and a weird topping...marshmallowbitterchocolatehazelnut topping..

Surely not my favourite kind of cake but curious to try this recipe at least once and taste what Americans like...

Bunny Cake..

..a beautifully moist Carrot Cake with the taste of the hazelnut and the scent of the orange zest..  ...garnished with a velvety salted macis toffee sauce and decorated with lavender perfumed carrots in syrup...all the components absolutely home made...