Ricotta gnocchi to be served with the works: a big pot of sauce, sweet Italian sausage, meatballs, garlic bread, Caesar, and the tiramisu cake pictured earlier. Perfection.
Italian Rainbow Cookies
Rainbow cookies are everyone's favorite holiday cookie even if they don't know it yet. Here, fluffy, naturally dyed almond sponge cake is layered with apricot jam and raspberry jam and cloaked with dark chocolate.
Tempering chocolate is tedious, but the results are so worth the time commitment (and the arm fatigue).
Tempered Chocolate
12-14oz chocolate (can be chips, chunks, or wafers)
Seeding Method:
Bring about 1 1/2in water to a boil in a small pot. Once boiling, reduce the heat to a light simmer and set a medium bowl containing 60% of the chocolate. Melt the chocolate to 115F degrees, then remove the bowl from the heat and add in the remaining chocolate, stirring constantly. Set the bowl over an ice bath and continue to stir vigorously until the temperature drops to 88F degrees, then, working quickly and still stirring, set the bowl back over the simmering water to raise the temperature back up to 91F degrees. Ta da! Chocolate is ready to drizzle, dip, or drop into candy molds.
