This week is full of holidays, including the start of the Jewish New Year - Rosh Hashanah. Beginning this Wednesday night, Rosh is also one of the major high holidays, during which Jews get together with family to welcome the new year. Typically, there's a big dinner with lots of sweet things that symbolize the start of a sweet new year. In honor of that, I'm featuring a mini round-up of desserts fitting for the occasion:
Apple Fig and Almond Crostata - I love that this rustic tart combines seasonal ingredients such as apples and figs. While it looks impressive, it's wonderfully forgiving, meaning that you can improvise with it and make lots of aesthetic mistakes, because it'll still look and taste really good.
Castagnaccio (aka spicy chestnut cake) - Another rustic dessert, this one uses mostly dried fruit, nuts and savory herbs such as fresh rosemary. It's a pretty hodgepodge of things that work really well together and remind you of fall. This is a perfect kind of cake to have with tea or coffee, and a generous helping of honey on top.
Nectarine Upside Down Cake -Another fruity dessert, this one switches things up, as it uses nectarines instead of apples, which are traditional for Rosh Hashanah. Fresh or frozen nectarines will do just fine, and make sure you also use the plain Greek yogurt the recipe suggests to keep the cake nice and moist.
Baked Apples with Chocolate Granola - Anyone who's looking to whip up a quick, homemade apple dessert can create this. Made up of any kind of sliced apples, a few dashes of cinnamon, lemon, maple syrup and sage, it's my own take on the classic apple crisp, except with granola on top.
The particular dessert I'm going to concentrate on here is called Castagnaccio, which is a spicy, chestnut flour-based dessert. It's filled with everything but the kitchen sink including pine nuts, dried cherries, golden raisins, rosemary, cocoa, chestnut honey and a whole bunch more. It might sound a bit wacky but once this toothsome dessert hits your palate, you won't be sorry you made it.
Castagnaccio (Serves 16)
Ingredients:
2 cups of chestnut flour
2 tbs all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt1 tbs baking powder
1 tbs cocoa powder
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup dried sour cherries
1/3 cup of golden raisins
Heaping 1/2 cup of toasted walnuts, chopped
1/3 cup of toasted pine nuts
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup of olive oil
1/2 branch of rosemary leaves, stripped and chopped
3 tbs chestnut honey
For Chestnut Honey Syrup
1/2 cup chestnut honey
2 tbs granulated sugar
1 cup Vin Santo
2 wide strips of orange zest
Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and line a 9 x 2 inch cake pan with parchment paper.
In a large mixing bowl, place chestnut flour, all-purpose flour, salt, baking powder, cocoa powder and sugar. Mix well to combine, then mix in the nuts and dried fruit. Make a well in the center of the bowl. Add the eggs to the well, followed by the olive oil, rosemary and honey. Combine the well ingredients lightly with a fork, then using your hands, mix everything together until completely combined. Press mixture into cake pan evenly, smoothing the top.
Bake for approximately 20 - 25 minutes, or until puffed and slightly cracked. Remove the pan to a rack to cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then unmold the cake onto the rack to continue cooling. Invert it so the top of the cake is facing up.
While the cake is cooling, place all the syrup ingredients into a small saucepan, stirring to combine them. Bring the mixture to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for 3 minutes. Brush the hot syrup over the surface of the warm cake. As the cake continues to cool, keep brushing it lightly with the syrup on the sides and top, until it is glossy and moist on the surface.
Transfer the Castagnaccio to a stand or plate for display. Serve in very thin slices with a glass of dessert wine.
