Mandolata

Mandolata is a traditional sweet from Castelnuovo di Garfagnana, in the province of Lucca, made every year on December 13, for the feast of St. Lucia. Despite its name, which suggests an almond-based dough (mandorla means almond in Italian), mandolata is a kind of brittle made with chestnut honey and walnuts. The unique characteristic of this dessert lies in its preparation.

Ingredients

400 g of chestnut honey
1 tablespoon of sugar
100 g of walnut kernels
Wafers
Olive oil
 
Pour the honey and sugar into a copper saucepan and mix well. Cook over a very low heat for more than an hour, stirring constantly until the honey turns golden and produces a lot of steam.

A small but valuable piece of advice: when you think the time is right, do the "cold water test”: place some caramelised honey on a spoon and dip it in a glass of cold water – when it solidifies it's ready to be worked.

Pour the honey on a marble slab greased with olive oil. When it has solidified a little, start to work it with your hands, pulling it. Warm the walnuts slightly in a hot oven, taking care not to over-toast them.

Add the hot walnuts to the processed honey and mix well. Divide the mixture into rectangles (about 1 cm high) and place them on the wafers.