This festive season, try out this delicious, spicy, nutty pie (or Spongata) from Pontremoli, a cute little town in the Lunigiana region of Tuscany, Italy. It's formed of a filling of hazelnuts and almonds in a sweetly spiced jam, sandwiched between two thin layers of pie crust, with an optional decoration on top 😂.

In this recipe, you'll also learn how I candy orange peels - a simple recipe and technique which keeps for a year - perfect for all your holiday sweet treats.

The Spongata from Pontremoli in the heart of the Lunigiana has Jewish origins, showed up in Italy in the sixteenth century. History says it was brought by Sephardic Jews fleeing the Spanish Inquisition. The basic ingredients of a spongata – a paste of dried and candied fruit like the Jewish fruit compote, charoseth, that is served during Passover. It’s a tart or pie that has a fruitcake, honey-soaked quality to it—it’s served during both Jewish and Christian holidays here, and it’s delicious!

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INGREDIENTS

For the pastry:
- ¾ cups of confectioners’ sugar
- 1 egg yolk
- 11 tablespoons of butter
- zest of 1 lemon grated
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup white wine (you may need more if the dough seems dry)
- 1 egg for egg wash
- 2 tablespoons water

For the filling:
- 5 tablespoon of fig jam
- ¼ cup almonds, roughly chopped
- ¼ cup hazelnuts roughly chopped
- 2 tablespoons of pine nuts
- ¼ cup dried figs, chopped
- ½ cup candied orange peel chopped
- ¼ cup raisins
- ¼ teaspoon of cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ cup of honey
- ¼ teaspoon salt

Egg wash
- 1egg, 2 tablespoons of water combined

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Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F

In the bowl of a standing mixer add flour, sugar and salt, cut butter into small cubes, add to the flour on medium speed until the dough resembles crumbs, add egg and wine. Mix until a soft ball forms. On a well-floured a counter roll the dough on the counter, roll into a ball and then divide the dough in half make form into disks, wrap the disks, refrigerate for 1 hour, can be refrigerated a day in advance. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and let it rest at room temperature for 30 minutes. Roll it out into 10” inch rounds about ¼ inch thick.

In an 9 ½ inch fluted tart pan lined with a parchment paper round, then place the pastry round into the parchment round, spread fig jam on to the pastry bottom.

In a bowl combine the almonds, hazelnuts, pine nuts, figs, orange peel, raisins, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ½ cup honey, mix well place on top of the round in the pan, spread evenly.

Cover the mixture with the other pastry round, cut around the edge and seal using your fingers to create a fluted pattern around the edge. Brush the top with egg wash.

Bake for about 30 minutes until the edges are golden brown and the sugar on the surface is shiny and cracked. Cool and serve.

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Chapters:

00:00 - Introduction
00:23 - Candying Orange Peel
02:34 - Let it Dough, Let it Dough, Let it Dough
05:09 - Preparing the Filling
07:03 - Assembling the Pie
10:49 - Tasting

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