Feast Days Pinon Torte Recipes

NATIVE AMERICAN PUEBLO FEAST DAY COOKIES RECIPE - (4/5)

Steps:

• Preheat your oven to 350ºF. In a mixing bowl, cream 2/3 cup of sugar and lard. Add egg and blend thoroughly. Stir in the flour, baking powder, vanilla, and anise seed, blending thoroughly. Gradually add milk until a stiff dough is formed. Mix in the piñon nuts or substitute. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured board to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut into 2-inch cookies with a cookie cutter. Sprinkle the tops with mixture of the remaining sugar and cinnamon. Bake the cookies on a well greased baking sheet for about 15 minutes or until golden. Cool on a rack.

FEAST DAYS PINON TORTE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9-inch round cake pan. Refrigerate.
• In food processor, grind pine nuts until moist and meal-like. Add cornmeal and blend again about 30 seconds, just enough to combine.
• In a double boiler over medium-high heat, melt the butter and chocolate together, stirring occasionally so that they melt and blend evenly. Add to the pine nut mixture in the food processor and blend 30 seconds to a minute, until smooth.
• Beat the egg yolks, sugar and vanilla together in a bowl and add to the other ingredients in the food processor. Blend again until smooth.
• Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake 20 minutes, or until the cake is firm and springs back slightly when pressed in the center. Do not overcook.
• Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Serve with peach honey (see recipe).

PIñON NUT TORTE

Steps:

• Crust: In a food processor, combine the flour, sugar, salt, and grated orange peel. Turning the food processor on and off, cut in the vegetable shortening until coarsely blended. Add enough ice water to form moist clumps. Mold the dough into a ball, then flatten it into a disk. Wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour. Bring the dough to room temperature and roll it out on a lightly floured surface to a size that will cover the torte pan (about 12 inches). Press the dough into the pan with your fingers and trim the edges. Place the Crust in the freezer for 15 minutes. Pour in the Filling and bake. *A frozen pie crust works well if you need to save time. Filling: Preheat the oven to 350°. Combine the corn syrup, eggs, sugar, melted butter, and vanilla in a medium-size bowl. Whisk until the mixture is well blended, then fold in the piñon nuts. Pour the Filling into the torte shell and bake for about one hour. Let it cool completely. Cut into wedges. Serve with vanilla ice cream with candied orange strips (available at most candy stores) and Spanish Coffee. **To roast Piñon nuts, preheat the oven to 400°. Spread the nuts in a single layer on a baking sheet and roast for 7-12 minutes, or until they are a rich golden brown. The nuts burn easily, so keep an eye on them and shake the pan occasionally to avoid scorching.

FEAST DAY PUFFS

Steps:

• 1 In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast and sugar over the water. Let stand until creamy, about 2 minutes. Stir until the yeast dissolves. 2 In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour and salt. Add the yeast mixture and stir until well blended. Cover with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place for 1 1/2 hours. 3 In a deep heavy saucepan, pour enough oil to reach a depth of 2 inches, or if using an electric deep-fryer, follow the manufacturer's directions. Heat the oil to 370°F on a frying thermometer, or until a drop of the dough slipped into the oil sizzles and browns in 1 minute. Have ready a tray lined with paper towels. 4 Scoop up a rounded tablespoon of the dough. Use a second spoon to slip the dough off the spoon into the oil. Do not crowd the pan. Cook the zeppole until golden brown and puffed, about 3 minutes. 5 Remove the zeppole with a slotted spoon or skimmer and drain on paper towels. Fry the remainder in the same way. Dust generously with confectioner's sugar. Serve hot. From "1,000 Italian Recipes." Copyright 2004 by Michele Scicolone. Used with permission of the publisher, Wiley Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

DATE NUT TORTE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
• Grease and flour the bottom of an 8-inch square pan.
• In mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, orange zest, dates and nuts.
• In a small mixing bown, beat the egg with the vanilla extract until foamy.
• Gradually add white and brown sugar.
• Beat until thick and lemon-colored.
• Stir into date/nut mixture.
• Spoon batter into pan.
• Bake 25-30 minutes, until lightly browned.
• Cool; cut into servings and top with ice cream or whipped topping.

NATIVE AMERICAN FEAST DAY COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat your oven to 350º F.
• In a mixing bowl, cream 2/3 cup of sugar and lard.
• Add egg and blend thoroughly.
• Stir in the flour, baking powder, vanilla, and anise seed, blending thoroughly.
• Gradually add milk until a stiff dough is formed.
• Mix in the pinon nuts.
• Roll the dough out on a lightly floured board to 1/2 inch thickness.
• Cut into 2 inch cookies with a cookie cutter.
• Sprinkle the tops with mixture of the remaining sugar and cinnamon.
• Bake the cookies on a well greased baking sheet for about 15 minutes or until golden.
• Cool on a rack.
• Makes 2 dozen two inch cookies.

PINON

Steps:

• Cut onion and bell peppers into 1/4-inch dice. Drain whole tomatoes, reserving juice, and chop. Halve olives crosswise.
• Heat a large nonstick skillet until hot and crumble beef into skillet. Sauté beef over moderately high heat, stirring and breaking up any clumps, until no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Stir in salt, black pepper, onion, and bell peppers and sauté, stirring, until vegetables are softened, any juices are evaporated, and meat begins to brown, about 6 minutes. Stir in tomatoes with reserved juice, olives, and remaining filling ingredients and simmer, partially covered and stirring occasionally, until most of liquid is evaporated, about 30 minutes. Discard bay leaves. Cool filling uncovered. Filling may be made 2 days ahead and chilled, covered.
• Cut ends from plantains and peel fruit. Diagonally cut plantains into 1/3-inch-thick slices. In a large nonstick skillet heat 1/3 cup oil over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking and sauté plantains in batches, without crowding, until golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes on each side, adding remaining oil to skillet as necessary. With a slotted spatula transfer plantains as fried to paper towels to drain.
• Preheat oven to 350°F. Oil a 2 1/2-quart baking dish (about 1 1/2 inches deep).
• In a small bowl beat together eggs and water and pour half of mixture into baking dish, tilting to coat bottom and sides. Arrange about one third plantains over bottom and up sides of baking dish tightly in one layer. Spread half of filling in dish and sprinkle with half of Parmesan. Arrange half of remaining plantains on top of Parmesan in one layer. Top plantains with remaining filling and sprinkle with remaining Parmesan. Top pie with remaining plantains. Pour remaining egg mixture over pie, tilting dish so egg spreads to edges.
• Bake pie, covered with foil, in middle of oven until heated through and bubbling at edges, about 1 hour. Cool pie 10 minutes. (If desired, unmold before serving: Run a thin knife around edge of pie, invert a serving plate on top of pie, and invert pie onto serving plate.)