Bocconotti, with chocolate and almond cream

THE Bocconotti they are typical sweets of the Abruzzo tradition, but it is common to find them during the holiday periods also in other regions of Southern Italy. These are small cakes of soft shortcrust pastry, with a filling that can vary from a chocolate cream to jams of various kinds. The common denominator is the presence of almonds to give it crunchiness and taste. The preparation is simple, and it looks a lot like the recipe of another typical dessert of the southern regions, that is the pasticciotti. We will start from the preparation of the shortcrust pastry, of which there are numerous recipes and balances between the various ingredients. Basically we will use flour, butter, which we can also replace with oil in equal quantities, sugar and eggs. The recipe that I propose is suitable for making a common and versatile shortcrust pastry for various preparations, from biscuits, to folders, up to the funds for pies. In the recipe I chose the icing sugar which is more easily incorporated, giving a smooth and crumbly pastry, and the yolk. For the realization of the chocolate cream I used the custard base as a recipe. And don’t forget the almonds! There are times to respect, especially to let the shortcrust pastry cool. We can leave it rest in the fridge for 30 minutesor we can leave it overnight and use it the next day.

Ingredients for 8 people

  • Yolk: 1
  • 00 flour: 125 g
  • Powdered sugar: 50 g
  • Salt: 1 pinch
  • Yolk: 1
  • Milk: 125 ml
  • Sugar: 25 g
  • 00 flour: 10 g
  • Dark chocolate: 50 g
  • Flaked almonds: 20 g
  • Preparation: 60 minutes
  • Cooking: 15 minutes
  • Total: 75 minutes
  • Calories: 199 Kcal / portion

Preparation

1

Let’s prepare the shortcrust pastry: place the flour, sugar, a pinch of salt in a bowl and mix. We add the butter at room temperature. We start working with our hands, crumbling the butter, and incorporating it into the dry ingredients. This is the sandblasting phase, i.e. crumbling and rubbing the compound between the fingers, to obtain the consistency of the sand. In this phase all the butter has amalgamated with the flour.

2

We combine the yolk, and continue to knead, until you have a compact and homogeneous dough. We wrap in cling film and let it rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

3

In the meantime, prepare the cocoa cream: heat 100 ml of milk in a saucepan over low heat.

4

In a separate bowl, work the yolk with the sugar, and then add the flour.

5

We add the milk to the egg yolks that we have just whipped with the sugar, continuing to mix. Once we have added all the milk, transfer the mixture to the saucepan and bring to the fire. Over medium heat, stirring constantly, let the cream thicken.

6

In another saucepan, melt the chocolate in the remaining 20 ml of milk, and add it to the base cream. Let it cool in a small bowl, placing the film in contact with the surface of the cream.

7

We take the pastry, divide it into 4 parts and begin to spread it on a cutting board, or sprinkle it with flour or cover with parchment paper, to prevent it from sticking.

8

With a pasta bowl or a glass, we make some discs of dough, which once pierced, we will place in the molds. Put a teaspoon of cream in the center of each disk, add the almond flakes, cover with another disk, and seal the edges of our cake. We repeat the operation until the pasta is used up. The number of sweets that you will be able to obtain also depends on the diameter with which you make them.

9

We brush the surface of each cake with milk or egg yolk, and bake at 180 ° C for about 15 minutes. Check the cooking with a toothpick, which once skewered should come out dry. Furthermore, the browning of the surface is also an indicator of cooking. Our bocconotti are ready to be tasted.

storage

We keep for 3 days, in a closed container, in the fridge.

Variants

Each region has its own variant, so we can try to prepare them with a ricotta and candied fruit cream, or make a salty version, preparing a savory pastrythen adding a teaspoon of salt instead of sugar, and stuff with mushrooms.

Curiosity

These sweets are somewhat reminiscent of pasticciotti, with which they share the territory of origin, but also the base of shortcrust pastry, differing in shape and filling. The name “bocconotti” seems to derive from the possibility of eat them in one bite.

Ingredients for 8 people

  • Yolk: 1
  • 00 flour: 125 g
  • Powdered sugar: 50 g
  • Salt: 1 pinch
  • Yolk: 1
  • Milk: 125 ml
  • Sugar: 25 g
  • 00 flour: 10 g
  • Dark chocolate: 50 g
  • Flaked almonds: 20 g
  • Preparation: 60 minutes
  • Cooking: 15 minutes
  • Total: 75 minutes
  • Calories: 199 Kcal / portion
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Philip Owell

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