yinzer torte

ingredients

• 4 oz. sugar
• 8 oz. butter
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 lemon – zest only
• 1/2 orange – zest only
• 1 oz. maria cookies
• 2 oz. marcona almonds
• 2 oz. hazelnuts
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1 cup quince butter or any other jelly or jam
• powdered sugar for dusting

instructions

For this recipe you don’t need to toast the nuts. Put them in a food processor and grind them as fine as possible. Add the Maria cookies to the nuts and grind them all up. In a separate bowl cream the sugar and butter. Add the egg, and as you mix pour in the vanilla. Zest the orange and lemon into the butter mix, and then add the ground nuts and cookies. Add the cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Quickly combine. When every ingredient is uniformly mixed, add the flour and baking powder. Mix to achieve a cookie-dough-like consistency. Make into a loaf. If at this point the dough is too soft, put it in the fridge for 20 to 30 minutes.

Divide the dough into two parts, one a little larger than the other. The larger portion will be the base of the torte.

As you can see, I couldn’t find my torte pan so I used my springform pan. But of course you can use a torte pan.

Evenly distribute the larger half of your dough on top of your pan. Work quickly, or it will get too soft and difficult to work with. Then spread the fruit jelly over the dough. The final decoration of the torte is really up to you. I illustrated the most common way to go about it, but you can be creative with this step. I did use my pasta cutter, but a knife will do.

Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 to 25 minutes or until the dough turns light golden brown. Let it cool down and dust it with powdered sugar. Before you serve and enjoy, don’t forget to check out Charlie Adler’s wine pairing for yinzer torte!

Buen provecho!