Panettone and pandoro are undoubtedly mainstays on the Italian Christmas table, but they're always served alongside other regional sweets, such as the Marche's Cavallucci di Apiro.
Cavallucci di Apiro: A brief history
Cavalluci di Apiro are a sweet from the Marche region, that, once upon a time, the vergare — “peasant women” in the local dialect — prepared at home. The recipe takes its name from Apiro, an inland hilltop town.
Like most dishes with humble origins, Cavallucci di Apiro contained readily available ingredients, such as the nuts picked at the end of summer and sapa, cooked wine must that was boiled down into a thick, sugary syrup. Households kept this on hand to make secret homemade liqueurs like mistrà, a local specialty distilled from wine.
Cavallucci di Apiro: The recipe
As is the case for territorial dishes, recipes vary from town to town and family to family, especially when it comes to the filling, so we did our best to craft a single standard recipe.
Serves 5
Ingredients:
For the puff pastry:
2 lb. flour
1 cup sugar
2 cups seed oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. baking powder
White wine, heated with sugar
For the filling:
10 oz. sapa (or cooked wine must), heated then cooled
4 oz. walnuts, shelled
4 oz. almonds
4 oz. hazelnuts, shelled
3⅓ Tbsp. raisins, candied fruit or dried figs
Mistrà (or marsala)
3⅓ Tbsp. cocoa powder
1 orange or lemon peel, grated
¾ cup espresso
¾ cup sugar
3⅓ Tbsp. breadcrumbs
To decorate:
powdered sugar
superfine caster sugar
alchermes to taste
Method:
Start with the filling
Do ahead: Make the filling the night before to ensure the ingredients blend together smoothly.
Soak the raisins, dried figs, or candied fruit with the mistrà or marsala. Chop the walnuts, almonds, and hazelnuts then add them to the sugar, orange (or lemon) peel, cocoa powder, espresso, cooked wine must, and breadcrumbs. Mix everything in a bowl and then transfer to the fridge. Let sit overnight.
Time for the pastry dough and assembly
Preheat the oven to 355°F. On your work surface, prepare the flour fountain mixed with the baking powder then add the seed oil and cooled sapa. Knead the dough for around 10 minutes and then with a rolling pin, roll it into a sheet that's 1/5″ thick. From this sheet of dough, cut out rectangles. In the center of each rectangle, place a spoonful of filling and close the dough into the shape of a wallet. Curve it lightly at the closure and press the tines of a fork into the edges. On both sides, cut just a little bit on the ends to create a sort of fringe effect.
Bake
Transfer the biscuits to a baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with powdered sugar or the alchermes/spiced liqueur mixed with superfine caster sugar.