Christmas is just around the corner and these days we are very busy with cooking and baking.
Today we present you another great classic of the Italian Christmas tradition: Torrone.
Torrone is a nougat confection, typically made of honey, sugar, and egg white, with toasted nuts. Every Italian region has its own variant of Torrone depending on the local ingredients. From the north to the south of the Peninsula you can taste Torrone alla piemontese, with the amazing Piedmont IGP hazelnuts, Torrone di Cremona with candied fruit, Torrone aquilano from Abbruzzo and Torrone di Bagnara from Calabria, both made with cocoa powder, Torrone siciliano, with pistachios and almonds etc…
We can keep going forever, they are ALL delicious.
But here at Linguini, as you know, we are big fans of chocolate and hazelnuts (have a look at our Nutella recipe: https://linguini.uk/ricetti/homemade-nutella/). So for our Linguini Christmas Ricetti we are have decided to prepare the so-called “Torrone dei Morti” (Torrone of the Dead).
We know, the name sounds a bit weird but you won’t certainly be disappointed by the taste. Torrone dei Morti is a wonderful sweet treat from Naples, usually prepared for All Saints Day and All Souls Day in early November (from here comes the name “Torrone of the Dead“), but also during the whole Christmas holiday.
So go get the two magic ingredients (chocolate and hazelnuts!) and… ready to start!
Torrone dei Morti (Torrone of the Dead)
Ingredients
- 300 grams Dark Chocolate (60%)
- 130 grams Dark Chocolate (70%)
- 200 grams Bleached Hazelnuts
- 100 grams Double Cream
Instructions
- Melt the 60% dark chocolate with the double cream in a bain-marie until smooth.
- Add the hazelnuts to a bowl and gently pour the melted chocolate. Mix until all the hazelnuts are fully incorporated with the chocolate.
- Transfer the chocolate and hazelnuts mixture into a loaf pan covered with parchment paper. Refrigerate the mixture in the freezer for at least 30 minutes.
- In the meantime, melt the 70% dark chocolate in a bain-marie. When the chocolate is completely melted and smooth, let it cool for 5 minutes.
- Take the loaf pan out from the freezer. The chocolate and hazelnuts mixture has now hardened (the torrone has formed!) so you can remove it very easily from the parchment paper.
- Put the torrone on a rack and pour the melted chocolate all over the surface until everything is covered. Let the excess chocolate drip off. Put the torrone in the fridge for at least 20 minutes before eating it.
- The Torrone dei Morti is ready! You can keep it in the fridge covered with alluminium for 5-6 days.
