Recipe of Chianti Kitchen, the Tuscan
School of Cooking

Ingredients:
For the Pastry:
1½ cups (200 g) all purpose flour
1 stick (125 g) butter
2 teaspoons (8 g) vanilla yeast
1 whole egg
1 egg yolk
Salt

For the Filling:
8 egg yolks
3 cups (700 ml) whole milk
1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
½ cup (60 g) all purpose flour
½ teaspoon ground vanilla or vanilla extract
½ cup (handful) pine nuts
Zest of ½ organic lemon
Powdered sugar for decoration

Preparation:
To prepare the pastry, combine the flour, vanilla yeast and room temperature butter.  Add the egg, the egg yolk, the sugar and a pinch of salt and knead until you have a smooth, light pastry.  Form a ball, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.   In the meantime, start to prepare the filling by heating the milk, the vanilla stick and the lemon rind in a pan on medium-high heat.  While the milk is heating, whip the egg yolks and sugar until the mixture becomes almost white and mix in the flour carefully, little by little, then whisk in the milk mixture that is at the boiling point.  Return to medium heat and stir for about 10 minutes until dense.  Cover with plastic cling wrap (so as not form a skin) and set aside to cool.  Take the pastry out of the fridge and roll the dough out onto parchment paper until it’s very thin, then place it in a 10 inch round pastry pan.  Make some holes in the bottom of the pastry with a fork without piercing the paper.   Now fill the pastry with the cream, sprinkle the pine nuts over the top and place in a preheated oven at 355˚F (180˚C) for 40 minutes. Allow it to cool, sprinkle the powdered sugar on top and serve with a generous glass of Vin Santo.
Serves 6