Our household has been officially ready for fall. We sure fought the fact that soon we’d be inside and that going outside was going to get harder and harder. But in the end I knew we were ready for fall this week because even though we had a nice sunny few days, we just have been enjoying staying home to read books and relax as a family. With that, even though every year I tell myself I won’t, has come the desire to cook a warm meal and enjoy lots of baking,

We woke up this morning that the kids had to go to gymnastics, for the girls, and basketball for our oldest son Davide. Because it’s also Saturday, we decided that I’d stay behind with our third child Dorian to keep me some company.

The rain was starting to drizzle outside and it wasn’t until 5 minutes into me trying to get started on a few things, that Dorian had decided it was time for  a walk in the rain. I remembered our walks in the rain in Italy when we visited Tuscany just a month ago, and even though nothing compares to that, I knew that a good mother and son walk would have been the perfect memory in the books of how I wanted to remember my days of motherhood. I finished sipping my Italian orzo with milk and nibbling on a few cookies, and slipped on my short rain boots so that we could both go outside. Luckily the day wasn’t too cold. I really enjoyed taking the time to enjoy a morning walk way better than the fact that I was about to put work first and start doing laundry and tidying up the whole house.

Lucky or me Dorian was also ready a lot sooner than I thought to come back inside. I love that the minute he opened the front door he mentioned how nice it was to be back into our cozy and warm house. I truly work hard to make it such for them, I loved that he did notice.

Once I tidied up everything and beforeI started picking up on a few projects that I hadn’t even meant to do for the day, I finally got in the kitchen and decided to bake. It’s apple season and there is a recipe that my mom used to make all the time as a kid that I have been thinking about for over a month now, so I looked it up and decided to make it. With my own flair as always.

Well, it came out amazing so here I am immortalizing it on the blog.

Without further a dew here it goes.

 

 

Some recipes have just become a family staple. They are simple to make and remind us of fall.

I love that food has a way of creating traditions, memories, and cheerful moments in the home.

I am always trying to make sure that not all family moments are made up by desserts or unhealthy treats. But there is something about making those recipes that you only bring out a few times a year, which make them that much more special and make you look forward to the seasons, even if in some parts of the world those seasons bring a breeze of cold crisp air and shorter days.

This recipe I have adapted to have a lot less sugar because I wanted our kids taste buds to not get used to having foods overly sweetened. So to some it may be surprising at first that it’s only lightly sweet., What makes it so special is how irresistibly soft it is.

Enjoy!

 

Growing up we ate Tiramisú all the time. Panettone was our Christmas staple dessert. Around the holidays my parents would often have lots of families come over. One year a dear family friend made a panettone stuffed with the cream from the Tiramisú. We loved it so much it soon became one of our favorite Christmas recipes. So this year I decided to teach the kids how to make it and share the recipe with you as well. I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as we did.

An Italian classic that can be enjoyed as a breakfast cake, an afternoon snack, or served when guests come over. The coffee cake of Italy can often also be found at corner and grocery stores in prepackaged form or as a cake mix. 

The crostata is  sister to the French tarte. When served in pastry shops, the tarte is usually covered by a clear glaze that is made with gelatin. 

I have so many fond memories of coming home to this dish. Perfect for both summers and winters. We often made this cake whenever we had mature fruit that we didn’t want to spoil.

Often filled with jam, nutella, or a combination of jelly and fruit. 

The most popular fillings are definitely nutella, peach jelly perhaps filled with sliced up apples, or with a chunky homemade fig jam. There are also many versions filled with apricots, wild berries, strawberries, and even chestnut jam.  When choosing jams alone, the crostata turns out at its best with confitures that have lots of bits of softened fruit on the inside. Homemade jams are preferred. I have seen them with fresh plums over a thin layer of jam as well. 

A good rule of thumb when filling them with jam is to pair the jam flavor with the fruit being used. Other times, a contrast can be a winner as well. Take orange jam with apples for example. The sweetness of the apples combined with the citrusy flavors of the orange are a feast in your mouth. 

Feel free to have fun and create your own desired toppings for this dessert at home. 

A lot of the Italian home made cousine, consists of basic recipes where some of the components can be adapted in order to put seasonal ingredients to good use, as well as what may be considered leftover food that one doesn’t want to go to waste. Many dishes in Italy have a slight variation from one region to another because in the past people adapted them depending on what horticulture grew better in their area, together with what the majority of the people could afford to buy for food at the time. So feel free to also create your own variation with the fillings. 

For this recipe I crated my own variation for example and I chose to do a custard filling topped with berries.