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Nougats
Italian chocolate torrone
Chocolate Torrone/Ada Boni's Torrone tenero al cioccolato (Using a double boiler, made with cocoa powder, hazelnuts and honey
Originated from: Italy
Occasion: Christmas
Contributed by: Taken from "Il Piccolo Talismano Della Felicita" by Ada Boni (1929)

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Ingredients

200 grams (about 7 ounces) honey
300 grams (about 10 1/2 ounces) sugar
500 grams (about 16 ounces) hazelnuts, shelled and lightly roasted
180 grams (about 6 1/3 ounces) cocoa powder
2 egg whites
hosts (thin white-colored wafers)

Original Italian text
Miele grammi 200
Zucchero grammi 300
Nocciole grammi 500
Cacao grammi 180
Chiare d'uovo due
ostie




Directions

Place water in one pan, than place another pan on top of it, creating a double boiler.

Place honey on top of the double boiler with boiling water in it, stirring the honey constantly until it is caramelized -- about 1 1/2 hours.

In another double boiler place sugar in the top part and add 2 tablespoons of water; let the mixture boil until it is caramelized.

In another bowl beat egg whites until stiff.

Add the beaten egg whites to the caramelized honey a little at a time, stirring well.

Add the caramelized sugar to the mixture and mix very well.

Meanwhile in a separate double boiler mix coca with 2 tablespoons water and 1 tablespoon sugar and cook until creamy, stirring constantly.

Add the nuts to creamy cocoa mixture.

Add the creamy nut and cocoa mixture to the caramelized honey.

[Line a baking pan with a large host sheet.]

Pour the nougat on a large host sheet -- about 1 1/2 inches deep.

[Place another large host sheet on top.]

[Place a weight on top of the chocolate nougat sandwich.]

[Cool for about 20 minutes.]

[Cut into long rectangular pieces.]

Wrap in wax paper to keep fresh.

Place a weight on top of the chocolate torrone.



Original Italian Text

Mettete il miele in una casseruola piuttosto grande e poi ponete questa dentro un altra ancora pi grande messa su calore moderato e contenente acqu bollente.

Mescolate continuamente il miele, la cui cottura avverra in circa un'ora e mezzo.

Mettete le nocciole in forno per torrefarle e potele mondare dalla pellicola.

Mettete il cacao in una casseruolina su calore debolissimo, sciogliendolo con mezzo biccheri di sciroppo di zucchero, fatto con tre cucciaiate di zucchero e due cucchiaiate d'acqua, e lavoratelo con un cucchiaio in modo di averlo liscio e della densita di una crema spessa.

Provate di quando in quando la cottura del miel che dovra giungere alla carmella.

Montate in neve le chiare e quando il miele sara cotto le aggiungerete un po alla volta, mescolando sempre

Pochi minuti prima che il miele arrivi di cottura avrete cotto 200 grammi di zucchero, e quando anche questio sara arrivato alla caramella versatelo nella casseruola piu grande dove sono il miel e le chiare.

Fatto cio aggiungete il cacao sciolto e da ultimo le nocciole, che dovranno esser tiepide.

Mescolate bene ogni cosa, togliete dal fuocco, ed il torrone e fatto.


Notes

The following text was taken from Wikipedia: "Il talismano della felicita" (The Talisman of Happiness in English), written by magazine editor Ada Boni and published by Italian publishing house Editore Colombo, is a well-known Italian cookbook originally published in 1929. It is believed to be the first Italian cookbook specifically targeted to housewives, and along with the work of Pellegrino Artusi and Editoriale Domus' Il cucchiaio d'argento is considered one of the defining recipe and cooking-advice collections in Italian cuisine. The standard edition is 1054 pages long and was last reissued in 1999; it was also available in an abridged version known as Il piccolo Talismano from the same publisher. An extremely abridged translation, translated by Matilde La Rosa, who also added some "American-style" Italian recipes, with an introduction and glossary by Romance linguist Mario Pei, was published in 1950 as The Talisman Italian Cookbook: Italy's Bestselling Cookbook Adapted for American Kitchens (Crown/Random House, 1950). La Rosa and Pei decided to leave out recipes that were not of Italian origin for the American edition, and also added a few Italian-American recipes that were felt at the time to be necessary in an Italian cookbook. The La Rosa translation is now out of print...." Photo: Mary Melfi.

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