Are you ready to prepare some cakes for the upcoming Easter by yourself? Fiadoni are typical Easter cakes prepared in Trentino. Actually, Fiadoni are Easter cakes baked also in many other Italian regions, but here in Garda Trentino we have borrowed them from the Valsugana area (where we actually come from) adding a special ingredient: our honey!
Honey is one of the most outstanding products in nature, a gift from some precious insects as bees are, that can be only produced in intact environment. Those places, far from polluted air, intensive farming with chemicals and pollution, allow to produce a kind of honey which is rich in nutrients and extremely strong tasting. That’s why Trentino can boast an excellent tradition in the production of this healthy nectar! This region has always respected the important work of bees, necessary for the trees’ pollination and the bee yard protection.
Each area has its specificity and gives its flavours to the different varieties of honey: wildflower, acacia, chestnut, rhododendron, dandelion and the amazing wild honeydew. Garda Trentino produces a high-quality honey that is usually harvested three times a year. According to the changing of weather conditions and harvest method, it is otherwise possible to have more honeydews or just one as well.
To prepare my fiadoni trentini I have chosen a simple and liquid acacia honey produced by a local farmer whose aim is to 100% respect bees and who produces a top-notch honey. I have never tried to prepare these cakes before, but the crunchy and tasty results (and healthy as well) have got me in amazement! If you’d like to welcome Easter time with some good local traditions and all the sweetness of Garda honey, just like me, take your rolling pin and lots of love. The same love the local beekeepers use to produce this wonderful nectar every day!
Ingredients:
For the dough: (you could use some freshly-made puff pastry or:)
400 gr flour (00 type)
1 sachet dehydrated yeast
1 hg sugar
a bit of fresh milk
200 gr butter
1 organic lemon zest (form North Lake Garda)
For the filling:
300 gr chopped almonds, walnuts and hazelnuts (from Bleggio area)
1 tbs breadcrumbs
2/3 tbs honey from Garda Trentino
a pinch of powdered nutmeg and cloves
To cook:
1 tbs flour
1 egg
a bit of butter
powdered or grain sugar to sprinkle
Accurately knead all the ingredients for the dough using some milk (a small amount) until getting a soft dough, but not too much. Make it rest while preparing the stuffing.
Grind the nuts, blend with breadcrumbs and spices thickening with the honey (if it’s too dense, melt it in a water bath). Roll the dough out on a floured pastry board in a very thin layer (as it works for strudel), cut it into 10-cm squares and put the filling in the middle. Fold it into triangles. Make the sides overlap well. Brown the cakes with some beaten yolk, put it into a pan greased with butter and slightly floured. Bake it in a pre-heated oven for 20 mins.
Have some nice Easter preparatives everyone!
