[Sca-cooks] Canisiones/Calisones

[Lilinah]

I thank Johnna Holloway and David Walddon for further information on 
Canisiones/Calisiones/etc. It reached me too late for my first batch. 
But i'll study the info more when i do these again.

I made a short crust, using 1-1/2 cups unbleached wheat flour (no 
malted barley!) and 1/2 cup pastry flour - both from Arrowhead Mills. 
The pastry flour wasn't quite whole wheat, but it definitely was not 
as white as the "all-purpose". I mixed the flour with a pinch of 
salt, 1/4 cup white sugar, and several pinches of saffron crumbled. 
Then i put 2 sticks of very cold butter in the food processor until 
they were like peas, then i poured in the dry ingredients and gave it 
a whirl, just enough to get the two to kind of mix together. I mixed 
1-1/2 capfuls of rose water with about 1/4 c. water and worked it 
into the flour and butter with 2 forks so it would adhere to itself. 
Then I chilled the dough, which had lovely bits of butter in it.

I had previously made almond paste with 1 lb. blanched almonds and 2 
cups white sugar, and a splash of almond flavoring (i like it 
almond-y - and some period recipes call for the addition of some 
bitter almonds). Then i worked in 2 capfuls of rose water.

I took the dough out of the fridge, divided it into equal halves, and 
rolled out one part on parchment paper. Then i rolled out half the 
almond paste on another piece of paper so it was just slightly 
shorter than the dough. Then i flopped the paper over into the dough. 
The dough was a bit sticky - it's rather hot here today - so i dusted 
frequently with flour, and rolled the almond paste up in it, 
jellyroll style.

Naturally i repeated the process with the other half of the dough and 
of the almond paste.

Then i baked the two "logs" at... uh... 350? 375? F. for about 40 
minutes until they were golden. I let them cool to a bit below body 
temp, then sliced them while still warm. The dough was a bit crumbly, 
but only a bit, and since these are for a friend's Laurel Vigil, i 
didn't eat a slice, but i did cut off the ends to even them out and 
ate that part. I'm sure they're going to be quite delicious.

This time they each made 12 slices - i might be able to get 15 or 
more slices if i make each log a bit longer and lower.

I sure hope i get one tomorrow night!

I'm thinking of icing them with powdered sugar mixed with water and 
some rose water... it'll be too much sugar for me, but probably not 
for other folks.

It wouldn't be bad if i did it the same way again, but i'm 
wondering... Would the dough be less crumbly if i added an egg or 
two? Used less shortening?

Someday when i have the right tools, i'd like to try the ravioli 
version. A friend picked up a pasta roller for me at a thrift store - 
but it's missing its handle... making a little difficult to use :-)
-- 
Urtatim (that's err-tah-TEEM)
the persona formerly known as Anahita

My LibraryThing
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/lilinah