Torrone Tart

Torrone Tart

Nutty Fruity Torrone Tart!

Italian Torrone is a nougat candy made out of honey, sugar and egg whites that can be shrouded in either chocolate or delicate white wafer.  Usually there are nuts as well as a citrus flavor mixed into the nougat.  There's a soft chewy version and then there's another version that splinters into sweet little shards when you bite into it.
I'm a fan of the hard version but will take any version when I can get it.
Here's a picture of the confection below.   But this IS NOT what I'm making.  I'm making the tart shown above by translating a recipe from my Italian language recipe book.  The tart is not a candy confection but it has many similar ingredients and is appropriately named....'Torrone Tart'.   I'm hoping it will eliminate the need for me to attempt to make the candy version ever again. 

This is the candy version that is popular all over Italy

Before I get into the results of this recipe, I'll go on record that my brother Ralph and I are the only ones in our family who have actually tried to make Torrone.  Neither of us succeeded with our one or two attempts and we both swore off ever attempting to make it again.  It's not a cheap experiment when you factor in the cost of a lot of nuts and honey.  I've seen it made in Italy and it was a serious commitment of time to heat the honey/egg white mixture to a consistency that works.  There were cauldrons the size of small Italian cars that were tended by the candy makers for 11 hours....yes, 11 hours...to get the right temperature. This meant constant stirring over heat to bring it to the right temperature.  Watching it being made somehow gave me the stupid notion that it was something I could handle without an army of volunteers to stir and watch the pot.  You know what they say...."a watched pot never boils"....aint that the truth!  I really didn't have any intention of stirring for 11 hours but I found a few recipes that implied that the harder version could be accomplished within 90 minutes.  You know that other saying...."if it sounds too good to be true...it is".  I personally gave up after 90 minutes because the temperature just wouldn't budge.  I was hoping it might have just been a flaw in my thermometer but it wasn't.  I've read where some people 'accidentally' get a harder version when they wanted a softer version while the hard version eludes those of us who really really want it.
In spite of all this, the final product was still tasty but it was like free flowing lava that just didn't set up.  I gave up on my idea of wrapping up bars of candy to give to my friends at Christmas and resorted to making salted caramels...which are awesomely good but not exactly an Italian recipe.  I might still sneak those caramels into this blog somewhere because I like them so much.  Not to be wasteful, I put the tray of Torrone lava in the freezer and then cut it into pieces to be stored in a frozen state for frequent sweet tooth attacks.   I also churned it into ice-cream and snuck it into anything that seemed like it could handle extra nougat sweetness.  I declared victory when I was down to my final 1 inch piece that I shoved into my mouth.   Ultimately, I missed that lava stuff when it was gone....sigh. 

So, when I saw this 'Torrone Tart', it got my attention.  There is a  pastry that lines the springform pan.....like a lemony shortbread cookie.  The inside of the tart is filled with a creamy white meringue mixture that resembles what soft Torrone looks like after you cook it for 11 hours but before it hardens...oozy goodness.   After it's baked, there is a 1 inch hardened meringue top that covers a softer darker nougat fruity filling inside.

The taste test was pretty interesting.  My brother gave it a 10 out of 10.  He thought it tasted exactly like Torrone.  He used to actually import and sell Italian Torrone as part of his gourmet product website so I consider his opinion to be somewhat expert.  Having said that,  I personaly had a hard time really declaring it to be identical in taste but it was largely because of the texture (not my hard crackly Torrone).    It's something we decided will be an addition to the Christmas table.   One other thing to note is that this recipe, like others in the beast of a book I'm translating, suggested it would feed 4-6.  It will feed 12 at a minimum!   What you don't eat, you can easily freeze....yet another opportunity to savor something resembling Torrone for a longer period of time.    The recipe itself is pretty simple if you don't count the chopping time for the almonds, candied citrus and chocolate.  You can probably use any crust that you're comfortable using but I recommend that you sneak grated lemon rind into the pastry to heighten the Torrone experience. 

Before I share the recipe, I'm going to go on record as saying that this recipe was more confusing to translate than some of the others.  A few of the ingredients failed to make it into the instructions (small 'walnut sized' piece of butter and a 'little bit of' flour).  I used my best judgement and assumed that these ingredients were used to prep the pan before baking.  It also had a baking instruction that called for baking for 40 minutes and then 'leaving it to dry' but it doesn't instruct you as to whether you leave it in the oven or on the counter.  I split the difference and turned off the oven after 40 minutes, cracked the door for 2-3 minutes to let a lot of the heat escape and then closed it again and left the tart in the oven for about another hour.  I wouldn't change anything about this process since the texture of the tart was really perfect. 

I knew it was inevitable that I would get at least one of these recipes where the instructions were left to the imagination, Italian tradition or common sense vs. being well written down.   I guess that's one of the reasons I'm trying to experiment so that they can be written down with more accuracy..

Final conclusion, it really was a success as a good dessert that feeds a lot of people.  It was sweet and delicious.  A small piece is a great accompaniment to a cup of coffee.  I wouldn't declare it off limits as a morning sweet...... if you're that kinda person.  It tasted a little like a chocolate covered version of Torrone.....but, in the end it wasn't Torrone and only made me want to attempt to make that daggone honey candy again.  I just checked my freezer and there's enough room to store another failed attempt if required.  I might have to give it a shot so stay tuned.  I'm assuming that the author of the Italian recipe book might have recognized that most people don't have the talent or the time to make Torrone so she intentionally left it out.  That makes the challenge much more interesting!

Back to this recipe.....there are two parts...the short crust pastry and then the meringue cream filling.

Ingredients (for 6 servings....ha ha ha)

Short Pastry Dough for a 9 inch spring-form pan:

500 g  (3 1/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon) flour
220 g (1 cup) sugar
Pinch of salt (about 1/8-1/4 teaspoon)
200 g (14 1/2 tablespoons) butter
Grated rind of one lemon
145 g (3 large) eggs plus 2 tablespoons of ice cold water

Filling:
6 egg whites
300 g caster sugar (I'll share a tip on how to make this in the instructions below)
110 g chopped citron or candied citrus (recipe is in my blog for Sfogliatelle but you can buy citron)
110 g chopped dark chocolate (60-70% cocoa)
1 'Noce' of butter (this actually translates to 1 piece of butter the size of a walnut)
Little bit of flour (hmmmm...not sure what this means but assume a tablespoon)

Making the Pastry Dough:

1. Mix together the flour, sugar and salt in a large pan or in a food processor. Add cold butter that has been cut into 1/2 inch pieces.   I opted to use a large metal pan to mix the ingredients so that I could take easier pictures of the process and because I actually like the texture of pastry dough when I can control the butter texture more easily.  A food processor is fine to use for this particular pastry because it's more like a shortbread cookie.  It's a very simple pastry recipe so use your best technique to incorporate butter and flour or just use another slightly sweet pastry if you have one you like.    
   
2. I used a pastry cutter to mix the flour and butter.  You want to get it to where the mixture resembles a very course texture with some larger pea sized pieces of butter that are still obvious.
   
3. Mix the eggs, lemon rind and water in a bowl with a fork
4. If you are using a pan, create a well in your flour and pour in the egg mixture.  Start to incorporate with a spoon.  You will then need to get your hands involved and combine everything until most of the dry parts are incorporated and you can knead it a little.   If you use a food processor, add the egg mixture and pulse until the mixture barely comes together.  You don't want a tennis ball of dough running around in your food processor or you'll end up with a cardboard texture to your crust.  You really just want the mixture to be able to come together when you pour it all out on a pastry board and then knead it with your hands.  You'll want the final product of this step to look like the third picture below.  
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. OK....here's a fancy word you can tuck into your conversation with gourmet friends....FRAISAGE.  This is the process of smearing the last bits of  butter  chunks that are left in the kneaded pastry so that it results in longer 'shards' of butter that help keep the pastry tender.   You just pull off a handful sized piece of the semi-kneaded dough and use the palm of your hand to 'smear' it on your counter.  You gather that up and do another piece and keep on adding each 'fraisaged' piece of dough to form a large clumpy ball of dough.  One good smear of the smaller pieces does it.  You don't want to overdo it....and it's really not entirely necessary to even do it with this dough but that's what the recipe called for so I did it.  I've used this technique for other more delicate pie crusts....bingo!!!  It's a great way to guarantee that your pie crust stays really flaky.  
   
6. Once you've fraisaged all these pieces of dough and formed one ball of dough, cover it in plastic and let it rest in the fridge for at least 2 hours.  It's sort of fun to do this so it's easy to get the butter a little to soft....which is why the longer rest period is preferred.  You'll want the butter to harden back up in the fridge.  
   
7. True confessions:  Ooops....I forgot to add the lemon rind to my eggs so I added it to the dough at the end and just incorporated during the 'fraisage.  It worked fine.   Cooking is about making mistakes and experimenting with solutions.  Like I said...this dough is very forgiving because it's more like a shortbread cookie than puff pastry or pie pastry.     

Making the Filling and Assembling the tart:

1. Preheat the oven to 355 degrees.
2. Butter and flour a 9 inch springform pan.
3. Chop, chop chop and then mix together....the candied fruit or citron, the almonds and the chocolate
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. Whip the egg whites with the caster sugar.  If you don't have caster sugar, it's pretty easy to make. I put about 1/2 cup of granulated sugar in a coffee grinder and grind for about 9-10 seconds.  You don't want to get to a consistency of powdered sugar.  It should still have the slightest texture of grains.  Some grinders might take a little longer.  I have a Krups and it works fast so after 9 seconds it was done.  Alternatively, you can use a blender if you're making more volume.  The egg whites, when mixed with the sugar and whipped will form very soft peaks like below:
   
5. Add the nut, fruit, chocolate mixture to the egg whites using a spatula to blend.
   
6. Remove the pastry from the refrigerator and roll it out to a 14-15 inch diameter that is about 1/4 inch thick.  It has to be be large enough to fit the bottom and sides of the pan.  Layer it in the pan and up the sides.  Trim the excess around the rim.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
7. Pour filling into tart crust and bake for 40 minutes.
   
8. After 40 minutes, turn off the oven and open the oven door for 2 minutes to let the heat escape.  Leave the tart in the oven and then re-close the door.  Let it 'dry' for another 45-60 minutes before removing it.  If anything looks like it's overbrowning, just remove it earlier.  The tart should be lightly browned on top and look like a crisp meringue.  
   
9. Cool completely and remove the sides of the spring-form pan
   
10. Here's the decadent finished product.  It will feed 12!!!!
    

This recipe is really special.  The texture on the inside gets more firm after you refrigerate so it does resemble a soft torrone.   I've already frozen some of this tart because there were only 6 of us to enjoy it the other night.  I'm craving it right now and glad that it's frozen so that I'm not tempted. 

Buona Mangiata!