Buon Natale e Buon Anno Nuovo
One more sweet recipe and a sweet subscription deal to end the year
Welcome to Buona Domenica, a weekly newsletter of inspired Italian home cooking and baking. I’m a journalist, cooking instructor, occasional tour guide, and author of eight cookbooks on Italian cuisine. Looking for a particular recipe? You’ll find all Buona Domenica recipes indexed here, ready to download or print.
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Dear friends,
As I sit down to write this, the last batch of cookies has been baked, the calamari are prepped and awaiting their braise in tomato sauce, and a pot of rapini is simmering on the stovetop.
I’m keeping it short today, as some of us (ahem) still have gifts to wrap. Speaking of which, I have a gift for you, a final recipe of the year. I wanted to end 2023 on a sweet note to thank you for being here, and especially for sticking around during my weird Italian summer of the broken ankle. (It’s doing much better, by the way, though my days of wearing heels are probably over for good.)
I’ve mentioned before that my dad, Frank, did not care for junk food and especially empty-calorie sweets; there were no boxes of Hostess cupcakes or Twinkies in our pantry. But he did occasionally bring home sweet treats. His work sometimes took him to Canada or New England, and he would return with a jug of pure maple syrup and those sparkling, dense maple candies shaped like maple leaves or pilgrims. A couple of times he came back from Japan with boxes of bite-sized confections that were hand molded to look exactly like tiny sweet potatoes. And occasionally, he’d return from his Saturday errands with a block of halva and those individually wrapped, small rectangular sesame and honey candies.
Those early tastes are no doubt why I’ve always been fond of small sweets, and especially halva, a dense, creamy-crumbly confection typically (though not always) made from ground sesame seeds and lots of sugar. Versions of halva can be found from Turkey to India, though it is thought to be of Persian origin. Even in southern Italy, there is a honey and sesame brittle with almonds called “giuggiulena” that is a sort of cousin to halva.
We have a fantastic Middle Eastern grocery here in Alexandria, VA, called Mediterranean Bakery, from which I buy thick slabs of pistachio-studded halva that I keep stashed in the back of the fridge. On winter afternoons, I like to shave off slivers of it with a paring knife to enjoy with tea or coffee.
A couple of months ago, I bookmarked a recipe for sunflower seed halva in Irina Geogescu’s wonderful baking book TAVA: Eastern European Baking and Desserts from Romania and Beyond. I finally had a chance to make a batch and it’s as good as I hoped—buttery and toasty and sweet, though not as cloyingly sweet as most halva. Irina’s addition of a little instant coffee powder to the mixture is a touch of genius; it adds depth, tempers the sweetness, and rounds out the flavors in the confection.
Do you have a favorite confection?
RECIPE: Sunflower and Sesame Halva
This is a good sweet to make ahead and set out on a holiday buffet table, or just to keep in the fridge. That way, when you’re in need of a pick-me-up, you can cut yourself a thin, or a thick, slice to enjoy with a cup of coffee or tea. Irina’s original recipe is made just with sunflower seeds. I was running low on those, so I made up the difference with sesame seeds, a bag of which I had stashed away in my freezer. Recipe slightly adapted from TAVA.
Makes 2 small loaves
INGREDIENTS
150 g (1 1/4 cups) sunflower seeds [I used salted]
150 g (1 1/4 cups) sesame seeds
60 g (generous 1/4 cup) caster (superfine) sugar
1 tablespoon instant espresso or coffee powder
100 g (3 1/2; 7 tablespoons) butter, melted [I used salted]
2 tablespoons runny honey
Sunflower oil, for coating two mini loaf pans
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Coat the insides of two mini loaf pans (5.75 x 3 inches/15 x 8 cm) with sunflower oil. Lightly toast the sunflower seeds in a dry skillet, stirring often, for about 5 minutes, until they are a shade or two darker in color and you can smell their toasty aroma. Pour them onto a plate to cool. Toast the sesame seeds in the same skillet, also for about 5 minutes, until lightly browned and fragrant. Pour them onto a plate to cool.
2. Transfer the toasted seeds to a food processor fitted with the metal blade and blitz together with the sugar and coffee until they are reduced to fine bits—almost powdery in texture. Pour the mixture into a bowl.
3. Combine the melted butter with the honey, stirring well, then pour it over the seeds. Use a spoon or silicone spatula to mix the ingredients, stirring only a few times, until the butter is absorbed. If you stir too much or do this step in the food processor, the butter will start to seep out and your halva will be greasy.
4. Spoon the halva into the prepared mini loaf pans (mine are non-stick but I greased them anyway). Press the halva into the pans with the back of a spoon or spatula and even out the top. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap or foil and place in the refrigerator overnight to set. To serve, run a thin angled spatula along the edges of the pans to loosen the halva, then turn the confection out. Cut into thick slices or squares. Store leftovers, covered, in the refrigerator.
Do you have a favorite confection?
HOLIDAY READING
From the author of A Bold and Dangerous Family (which I mentioned last summer), A House in the Mountains focuses on the lives and activities of four Piemontese women who joined the Italian Resistance during the waning days of World War II and Italy’s ensuing civil war.
This NYT profile of Baronessa Beatrice Monti della Corte, who hosts a coveted, invitation-only writers’ residency at her rural Tuscan estate, described in the article as “a sleepaway camp for great writers, its ritual group meals and hours-long chats bonding residents in what many described as everlasting friendships.”
What are you reading these days?
PICTURE ITALY: Aosta, Christmas 2018
Daniela, my fabulous illustrator, and I wish you a happy and peaceful holiday and all good things in the New Year.
Alla prossima,
Domenica
P.S. This newsletter resumes on January 14, 2024. See you then!
Happy between-the-holidays days! Thanks for the NYT link, what a great story.
I’m reading a vintage mystery (Murder in the Snow by Gladys Mitchell--first I’ve read of her, but I love golden age mysteries)
And confections, hmmm. For years we made and gifted almond toffee, this is the first time in eons we haven’t. I find the older I get the less I like super sweet things...last year I made it one last time because I didn’t want to disappoint anyone, and this year I freed myself 🤣
That said there were 7 (🤷🏻♀️) batches of cookies made.
Buon anno and thank you for all the great recipes and reads this year!
Merry Merry 💫