Have you ever had “Torta della Nonna”? Do you know the taste of fine shortcrust pastry paired with a lemony vanilla cream and toasted pine nuts? Whatever your answer, you have to try our recipe.
And the hardest part of this recipe is waiting until the Torta della Nonna is completely cooled and ready to serve.
You will need the following ingredients for your Torta della Nonna:
For the shortcrust pastry:
160 g butter
400 g flour
1 pinch of salt
3 eggs
150 g sugar
Grated half an organic lemon
For the cream filling:
750 ml milk
1 organic lemon
3 eggs
1 egg yolk
a little vanilla powder
200 g sugar
35 g starch flour
30 g wheat flour
50 g pine nuts
The preparation of the Torta delle Nonna:
First of all, let’s take care of the shortcrust pastry, because it needs to rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Sift the flour mixed with the salt onto a work surface or into a large bowl. Make a well in the middle and add all the ingredients – the butter is cut into small pieces – and knead into a smooth dough. Wrap the dough in cling film or wrap it in airtight plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for 30 minutes or longer.
In the meantime, prepare the filling for the Torta della Nonna. To do this, put the milk in a small saucepan and grate large pieces of the rind from the washed lemon. Add these to the milk and heat it. Make sure that the milk does not boil.
Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, egg yolks, vanilla, sugar, cornflour and flour. Use a whisk, as no lumps should form.
Now take the lemon peel out of the hot milk and stir in your egg-vanilla mixture vigorously. Bring the milk to the boil, stirring constantly, so that everything boils down to a pudding. As soon as it thickens, take it off the heat. Pour the pudding into a bowl and cover with cling film to prevent a skin from forming. The custard must now cool completely.
Take a round cake tin with a diameter of about 28 cm and line it with baking paper. Roll out two thirds of the shortcrust pastry thinly on a floured work surface and line the tin with it. You also have to pull up the edge a good bit. Pour the cooled custard into this and smooth it out. Roll out the remaining dough thinly and place it on top of the custard. Press the edge down a little. Finally, sprinkle the pine nuts over the cake and place it in an oven preheated to 160 degrees Celsius. Bake for about 50 minutes. Then turn the oven up a little (to 180 degrees) and bake for another 10 minutes. Keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn’t get too dark.
Once the Torta della Nonna has cooled completely, sprinkle with a little icing sugar before serving.
We can’t wait to see how you like the Torta della Nonna!
