PRINJOLATA

Preheat oven to 180C/Gas4; butter and lightly flour a baking tray; in a mixing bowl combine the sifted flour, salt, baking powder and sugar; make a well in the centre; add eggs and egg yolk and stir until soft dough forms; if dough is too hard add a little milk; roll out dough to a thickness of 1 cm and spread on a greased baking tray with the aid of your hands; bake for 15 minutes until a pale golden colour; remove from oven, cool slightly and whilst still in the tray cut into small squares; turn the squares over and bake for another 10 minutes until crisp and golden

Mix icing sugar and butter in a big bowl, add a few drops of vanilla essence and using electric beater, beat until very creamy and pale, adding the warm milk a little at a time

Combine sugar and water in a small saucepan; stir over low heat until sugar dissolves; simmer uncovered for 5 minutes without stirring; using electric beater beat egg whites in a clean dry bowl until stiff peaks form; slowly pour hot syrup over egg whites beating constantly until icing is thick, glossy and has increased in volume

Slightly crush the biscuits and put into the butter icing mixture then add the 100g pine nuts and 100g blanched almonds; mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon; put this mixture on a serving plate little by little forming a pyramid shape with your hands; cover thickly with the frosting and decorate with halved glace’ cherries, pine nuts, almonds and melted dark chocolate