Cuccaro Vetere is a village perched on top of a hill, with the center overlooking south-east the high course of the stream Lambro while the valleys below gently slope towards the sea. All around, olive trees stretch out in the sun, while at altitude there are centuries-old chestnut, oak and pine woods. Over the centuries, the chestnuts have been the protagonists of the territorial economy, using today as once in the gastronomic specialties of Cuccaro Vetere. Also and especially at Christmas: the Pastorelle, in fact, are the typical Christmas cake of Cilento.

Ingredients

For the stuffing:

1 kilogram of chestnut flour
500 grams of dark chocolate
200 grams of sugar
1 grated lemon peel

For the pastry:

1 kilogram of flour
Extra virgin olive oil
water

Method

For the filling of the Pastorelle you must first clean, boil and crush the chestnuts, then you must mix them with milk and cocoa along with all the ingredients until you get a smooth and homogeneous dough. For the preparation of the dough, turn the flour over the table, add all the ingredients and knead until you get a paste that should become thin with a rolling pin or with the appropriate pasta machine. The dough must then be cut into circular shapes of the desired size and the filling must be put on each disc of dough. With another disc, then, close the two discs of pasta, taking care to press well with the fingers on the edge. Once the round shapes have been obtained, they must be “pinched” at the ends five times in order to obtain five points of a star. It’s time to fry the Pastorelle in plenty of extra virgin olive oil. Once ready, the Pastorelle must be cooled and then sprinkled with powdered sugar or, even better, hot chestnut honey.

Main photo: www.infocilento.it
…buon appetito