Today I’m handing over the reigns to the lovely Lyndsey from What You Sow. What You Sow is an online gardening shop selling beautiful gifts for budding and experienced gardeners alike. Lyndsey has a lovely blog attached to her shop, where she shares recipes, crafty projects and plant based posts. Her guest post is perfect for a Sunday morning treat. Here it is…

As a huge fan of Gabriella and the Mangia Bene blog, I’m utterly delighted to have been invited to take part in the Puglia party, and hope you all enjoy my contribution.

Now before I start, I should tell you that I’ve never been to Puglia, though since getting to know Gabs, it is firmly on my wish list of holiday destinations.

I love hearing Gabriella’s travel stories; of her family, of the weather and the beaches, but as someone who loves to grow things, my favourite stories are where she tells me all about the sorts of things that are cultivated in Puglia and the recipes that they are used in. It’s so warm in that little corner of the world, that all those favourite Mediterranean vegetables are grown in abundance; the tomatoes, the aubergines, the courgettes, plus wonderful things like figs and olives (did you read the post on the Rizzello olive oil? Dreamy), and when she told me that almonds were grown in the region too, I decided I would like to share a recipe with you for almond cornetti.

The word “cornetto” translates as “little horn” and Cornetti are the Italian cousin of the croissant, served throughout Italy for breakfast with cappuccino or espresso. Sweeter, and slightly heavier, the cornetto is traditionally made with olive oil instead of butter, giving it a texture somewhere on the way to a brioche. The addition of orange zest makes cornetti a little extra special.

Cornetti can be filled with custard, jam, honey or Nutella. Nowhere have I come across any mention on almond cornetti being widely available, so this is my take on what I would eat for breakfast if I lived in Puglia.

Cornetti are hard to come by in the UK, so short of making your own (try this cornetti recipe), you may just have to resort to using croissants, a day or two old if possible.

You will need the following ingredients for transforming 4 large cornetti/croissants.

For the syrup:

50g golden caster sugar

100ml water

Juice of half an orange

For the frangipane (almond cream):

100g golden caster sugar

100g ground almonds

1 medium egg

50g butter at room temperature

Plus a handful of flaked almonds and a teaspoon of icing sugar for dusting.

 Method

1)     Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

2)     To make your syrup, put the 50g of sugar and 100ml of water into a pan and bring to the boil. Allow the sugar to melt, then take off the heat to cool.

3)     In the meantime, cream the butter, sugar and ground almonds.

4)     Once this is all mixed and soft, add the egg to make a lovely gooey frangipane cream.

5)     Cut each cornetto in half, but don’t slice right through.

6)     Add the orange juice to the sugar syrup then dip each cornetto into the orangey mixture. Don’t leave them to get soggy, just dipping them in is fine.

7)     Spread a generous amount of frangipane inside each cornetto, then another generous dollop on top of the closed cornetto. Sprinkle some of the flaked almonds on top.

8)     Bake for around 10 minutes and remove when the flaked almonds on top start to toast.

9)     Once they’re out of the oven, it’s time to fill up your Bialetti Moka machine (any self-respecting Italian family wouldn’t consider having any other brand in their home) and brew some espresso. By the time the beautiful bubbling sound alerts you that your coffee is ready, your cornetti will be cool enough to eat.

10)  Dust cornetti with icing sugar and serve for breakfast with a strong espresso.

I hope you enjoy trying this recipe and do let us know how you get on. Thanks again to Gabriella for letting me share this recipe with you and I’m looking forward to seeing which recipes she shares in the last few days of the Puglia Party!

P.S. If anyone is interested in how many calories each almond cornetto contains, I would estimate about 3000. They contain a lot of sugar.