Eating local means different things to different people.

For some, it█s using ingredients within their home state wherever possible or within 100 miles.

In Puglia, it means using foods produced town by town to create your pantry, fridge and eating style.

Today we head to Alberobello, famous for their fairy-like houses known as trulia.

But for me, the best part is their almonds and their figs.

I can't wait to show you this town as we live our healthiest lives on Christina Cooks.

Funding for Christina Cooks is provided by: GreenOnyx, producers of Wanna Greens A tiny but nutrient dense fresh green vegetable.

Wanna Greens can be added to any meal, snack or dessert.

Fresh greens.

Wanna Greens.

Additional funding provided by Finamill.

The flavor of freshly ground spices and dried herbs with refillable, swappable pods.

Finamill.

And by Mauviel, creators of copper, stainless and steel carbon cookware for professional and home cooks.

A story of passion since 1830.

And by Suzanne█s Specialties Offering a full line of alternative, vegan and organic sweeteners and toppings.

Suzanne█s Specialties.

Sweetness the way Mother Nature intended.

And by Jonathan█s Spoons.

Individually handcrafted from cherry wood, each designed with your hand and purpose in mind.

Additional funding provided by: Hi, I'm Christina Pirello, and this is Christina Cooks, where each week we take fresh, seasonal ingredients and whip them into amazing dishes.

Will they all be plant based?

Yeah.

Will they all be delicious?

Absolutely.

So I have a confession to make.

When I leave my office for the day and go to the gym for about the last half hour of work, I watch YouTube videos on cooking, like, obsessively.

And so lately in my feed has come up Canale.

This is a canale.

It's a little French pastry made of eggs and butter and rum and vanilla and a tiny bit of flour.

And they have a great history, which I'll tell you.

But I kind of became obsessed in can I make these vegan?

And I did, obviously.

And now I make them all the time, all the time.

So let me tell you about these little desserts and we'll talk about dessert in general.

First thing I want you to notice about the canale is the size.

Canale are about three bites, which is the ideal size for a dessert because after three bites, you really don't taste sugar anymore.

So you may as well have three bites that are great and that you really enjoy and you savor.

So canale come from Bordeaux.

And Bordeaux is known for their wine, of course.

So what they used to do was use egg whites to seal the wine casks, and they had all these yolks left over.

So they gave them to nuns to use to cook for the poor.

And somewhere along the line, canale, which means fluted, came up to be this little cake.

Nobody knows the exact history because of revolutions and uprisings and books were burned.

So sort of the history is that.

And so they're made by taking milk, we're using oat milk.

And in this recipe, although I'm kind of a freewheeling baker, as you'll see in the next recipe, I use a scale for this one.

This is a very sort of precise, exacting recipe.

If you want it to work, and you kind of do, so into 205g of oat milk, goes 100g of coconut sugar.

Here's the one downside of using coconut sugar, which I love.

It does make them darker inside and not the traditional golden yellow.

But that's okay.

We don't care about that.

The other thing that goes in is 15g of vegan butter substitute.

Use whatever kind you want.

It doesn't matter.

And as soon as this vegan butter melts, this liquid is ready.

In the meantime, we take 205g of sifted █ You have to sift █ I know I'm not a sifter.

I'm not a whisker.

In this recipe, I'm both █ of sprouted whole wheat flour.

You really have to sift it for this to work.

A tablespoon of egg replacer.

Make sure you get it all in there.

Half a teaspoon of baking powder, and just a pinch of salt.

That's it.

You're going to whisk these together.

I know, I'm sifting and whisking.

Then you're going to take your warmed coconut milk.

Oat milk, not coconut milk.

Don't use coconut milk.

It's too fatty.

You're going to kind of stir it till it just stops steaming a ton.

Now, normally in a canale, they have to cool this down because you're using egg yolks.

And if you use hot milk, you'll cook the eggs and have scrambled eggs, and no canale.

Doesn█t matter because these are vegan.

But what I do is, as I pour the liquid in, I'm whisking the whole time.

And we're going to whisk this up until you have a smooth batter that's extremely thin.

And you're probably thinking, I don't know about this.

I don't know how that's going to turn into a batter, but it does.

You're going to take this smooth whisked batter.

Covered in plastic and put it in the refrigerator for 24 hours or more.

In 24 hours, the milk and the flour will sort of absorb each other and the batter will become thick.

So when the batter becomes thicker, this has been in the fridge for 24 hours.

You're going to take your whisk again and loosen it, and you can see how it's become thicker and smoother.

So we're going to be using that.

We're going to whisk into that because you don't want to do this when it's hot.

You want to whisk in vanilla.

Traditionally they use rum.

I just can't with rum.

if you want to use rum, use rum.

But it's just not a flavor I like.

So I use a touch of orange extract, just maybe half a teaspoon.

You can put this in the batter when you first make it, or you can do it after it's chilled.

I do it either way.

Whenever I think of it.

Doesn't matter.

If you want to use rum extract, you can do that too.

It's just not a flavor that works for me.

You can also use vanilla bean if you don't want to use vanilla extract, but I use vanilla paste.

So now we have these are canale molds.

The best ones are copper and stainless on the inside.

This is kind of what you want in this pan.

I have melted some vegan butter and you're going to pour it into each little mold.

And then with a brush, brush each one to cover all the little flutes and the decorative bottom, and then pour any excess back in the pan.

And you do this for all four.

Most people make four canale at a time.

The recipe that we're making makes four perfect canale.

And I know I'm all about Italy, right?

I'm all about Italy in this show, but this dessert is just such a winner and such a wonderful, yummy, looks really fancy, so easy-to-make dessert, that I'm willing to leave Italy for a minute.

The other important thing to remember to is dessert in general.

As you pour this in, you want to fill about.

Three quarters of your tin.

If you overfill, the canale will rise up out of the tin.

It should rise up and be straight and then sink back down.

If you overfill these, they'll rise up and sort of split open at the top.

They'll still taste great, but they won't look as pretty.

And one of the things that's the biggest appeal about canale is how adorable they are.

And so you just fill to right about there.

Now these are going to go into the oven at 475 for ten minutes.

Then you reduce the heat to 350.

And they bake for another 55 minutes.

When they come out of the oven piping hot, using your hot pad, you immediately turn them out onto a cooling rack, and as they cool, they take on that gorgeous texture that we know as canale, which you'll see in a minute.

Now, as they cool the canale, they develop a sort of little crusty exterior, and they stay custard like in the center.

And they should be able to pass the fork test, which is see how hard these are.

And then when you cut them open, they're custody inside and delicious and beautiful.

And so you just you break them like this and you have this soft, gooey interior and it's like heaven.

They're like heaven.

And up next, a cookie.

So now we're going to make a chewy chocolate chip almond cookie because there's no life without dessert.

I'm going to start by adding some vegan butter.

Eight tablespoons into a bowl with six tablespoons of coconut sugar.

Now this recipe's not as exact as the last one.

We're going to add a quarter cup of brown rice syrup.

A teaspoon of pure vanilla extract which should be really great vanilla.

You can use vanilla paste as well.

But vanilla should smell like you want to dab it behind your ears and walk around smelling like a bakery.

That's how great it should be.

About a half teaspoon of cinnamon you can go a little higher.

Remember that cinnamon helps to regulate blood sugar too, so it's not a bad thing.

Although you can overwhelm a dish with cinnamon.

We're going to add a pinch of salt.

And then we're going to start to cream this.

And you're going to do this until the butter is really, really creamy and mixed with the sugar, just like you would if you were doing like a butter and sugar cookie.

And you'll have to stop and kind of clean down the side of the bowl.

You know, people are always very leery when it comes to desserts.

Shouldn't eat dessert, dessert█s not healthy.

But studies show that people who eat dessert regularly lead A, are happier, and they actually find that they are less bingy in their eating.

And if your desserts contain nuts, there's fiber and good protein and good quality fat.

And if you use fruit, there's antioxidants.

If you use dark chocolate, it's anti-inflammatory.

So it's a win win, win, win win win.

And it's dessert.

So once this is all creamy, you'll add to it a half cup of sprouted whole wheat flour.

A cup of really fine almond flour.

And this is going to give you that chewiness.

Some oats about a half cup and a half teaspoon each.

Baking powder and soda.

And then you're going to mix this.

You want to start slow or put a towel over your mixer.

So there's not flour all over your kitchen.

And then this is going to create sort of like a stiff cookie dough.

While it's mixing we'll add one half cup of walnut pieces.

And you can either chop a chocolate bar, a dark chocolate bar, or you can add a cup of chocolate chips, non-dairy dark chocolate chips.

Once your batter's mixed.

The way I do it is I use an ice cream scoop so that I have a regular sort of size to my cookies.

These are going to go into the oven at 350 for 14 minutes to get a great cookie.

And after they come out of the oven you see you have these beautiful chewy when they break open.

They're just these really chewy yummy cookies.

And now we're off to Alberobello.

(Italian music plays) So one of the things I love about Alberobello, besides the beautiful trulli and the history are the almonds.

And I'm here with Rosanna, who owns a lovely shop that sells, among other things, Mandalay de Alberobello, which are almonds of Alberobello.

And Rosanna, my question is, why are these almonds so special?

(speaking Italian) Because of the varieties, the land, the sun, (speaking Italian) So what Rosanna just said is that these almonds are special because they're particularly sweet because of the variety.

And they can be used in things from cookies to placed inside dried figs.

And these are called, we would say in English, almonds of like a mollusk because they're so easy to open.

And the flavor is so good, you can actually hear the almond shaking inside.

So one of the reasons they're so special is the variety the sun, the earth, but also the naturally sweet flavor of this variety.

One last thing, Rosanna.

(speaking Italian) What are these?

-Mandala.

(speaking Italian) So these are rich almonds.

(speaking Italian) Are praline almonds.

-(speaking Italian) So they simply have coated on them cinnamon, sugar, cocoa powder and vanilla.

That's it.

(both speaking Italian) So these are sweet almonds coated.

-Crocante.

-Crocante.

Crunchy.

Delicious.

Rich.

amazing delicious almond.s So another special thing about Alberobello is the food particularly the almonds.

(Italian music concludes) (gentle music plays) So in celebration of our visit to that magnificent city, we're going to make a typical Pugliese cake that's extremely healthy and naturally on its own vegan.

And it's called a rosatta.

I don't know why it's called a rosatta.

Maybe Rosatta invented it, but it's a beautiful, simple cake that anybody can make.

And we're going to start with farro flour, and now farro flour I love because it is lower in gluten but not gluten free.

But what I love really about it is the soft texture that it gives a cake.

And when I say soft texture, you know, when you hear bakers talk about the crumb, the that means the moistness, the way it sort of bounces back when you touch it.

And farro flour gives me that.

We're going to add to that some natural leavener like a baking powder.

But this is the Italian version.

We're going to use about two teaspoons because I have two cups of flour.

So typical.

Right.

A teaspoon per cup.

Some powdered vanilla Italian powdered vanilla.

You can use liquid vanilla, too, doesn't matter, or you can use powdered.

You can use vanilla paste, vanilla bean.

It's okay.

And then I'm going to mix these things together.

And you're wondering where the almonds come in.

Well almond flour almond flour will give us a richness and a sort of chewiness to the cake that is typical use about a cup.

Sweeten it with some coconut sugar.

Now normally regular sugar is used, but I don't use that.

I like this low glycemic indexed coconut sugar because it helps the body to digest a little more easily, and it doesn't cause an insulin trigger.

It's a really wonderful sweetener that tastes like brown sugar.

It does not taste like coconut, which is a plus.

Now we're just going to mix this together.

You can see this is all our dry ingredients.

You can whisk if you want to.

I'm really not a whisker but feel free.

You can sift it if you want to.

I don't do that either.

But feel free.

It's your call.

But once your dry ingredients are mixed together like this, now we'll start to add our fat.

And that will be olive oil, extra virgin olive oil.

And since I have three cups of flour, I'm going to use two thirds of a cup of extra virgin olive oil.

Yup, the good stuff.

I'm in Puglia, the capital of olive oil that produces, you'll hear me say this a million times, 40% of the olives that make olive oil in Puglia.

In Italy actually, mostly comes from Puglia.

Look at that color.

It's almost creamy.

This oil.

So nice that's going to go in.

We're going to slowly start to mix this together and you'll start to see batter form.

But it'll be way too thick.

Now normally people would use milk in a cake.

But this is from cucina povera.

So what they use for the balance of their liquid is water.

And that still gives us a good rich cake.

And think of the calories you save.

A pinch of salt, which makes it sweet.

And I like to add a couple of tablespoons of arrowroot at this point, which will behave sort of like an egg.

Some water.

I'm gonna have to sort of, you know, figure this one out because I'm not really sure how much water to add.

And you're thinking, wait, what?

She doesn't how much water to add?

It all depends on your flour.

Depends on how you store it.

It depends on whether you keep it in the freezer or in the cupboard.

If you keep it in the freezer, your flour█s more moist.

It'll need less liquid.

If you keep it in the cabinet, it needs more, so you just slowly add maybe a third of a cup at a time until you get to a cup, and that will usually do the trick.

And then you mix until you have a nice smooth batter.

I need a little more water.

You know when you say, oh, it just is going to need about a cup, you know you're going to need more.

You know, it's like when you're cooking for company and you think, no, I can do this.

And then everyone comes and watches you cook.

There you go.

So now we have a nice loose what's called a spoonable batter.

And the almond flavor will be amazing.

And now when you have a batter that looks like this, you take an oiled cake pan.

Make sure you well oil the cake pan and preheat your oven to 350.

When you bake with natural ingredients no eggs, no butter, things like that.

Your flour, particularly whole grain flours like farro, really like to absorb liquid, so you don't want your batter sitting around while your oven preheats.

You want to get it mixed in the pan and in the oven.

And once all your batter is in, take a spoon and just even it out.

Like, just take it.

Move the batter around.

This also will take any bubbles out of your cake, and you just do this until it's nice.

And even so, you don't have a cake that's lopsided.

Although it'll still be delicious.

So.

And then this beautiful cake, it's going to go into the oven at 350 for about 35 to 40 minutes, until when you touch the top, it springs back.

See you in 40 minutes.

(gentle music plays) So you can see the cake cracked on top, as it should.

When you touch, it bounces back.

You can use a toothpick if you want to test it, but as long as it bounces back when you touch it, this will turn out and be gorgeous.

So our cake is cooled and it's a springform pan so I can release it like that.

And we'll take our serving platter.

Flip, the cake drops.

It's a beautiful, simple cake.

No dressing, relying on the beautiful flavor of the almonds.

I'm loving cooking here in Puglia.

So, what are you waiting for?

Let's get back to the cutting board and I'll see you next time on Christina Cooks: the Macroterranean Way.

Funding for Christina Cooks is provided by: GreenOnyx, producers of Wanna Greens Organic and sustainable, Wanna Greens are grown in a completely closed, indoor environment.

At Wanna Greens, we believe in the benefits of fresh greens for people and the planet.

Additional funding provided by Finamill.

The flavor of freshly ground spices and dried herbs with refillable, swappable pods.

Finamill.

And by Mauviel, creators of copper, stainless and steel carbon cookware for professional and home cooks.

A story of passion since 1830.

And by Suzanne█s Specialties Offering a full line of alternative, vegan and organic sweeteners and toppings.

Suzanne█s Specialties.

Sweetness the way Mother Nature intended.

And by Jonathan█s Spoons.

Individually handcrafted from cherry wood, each designed with your hand and purpose in mind.

Additional funding provided by: You can find today's recipes and learn more by visiting our website at christinacooks.com and by following Christina on social media.

Learn how to add delicious plant based dishes to your daily diet with the companion cookbook VegEdibles.

Featuring more than 80 easy-to-make recipes To order your copy for $32.95 plus handling, call 800-266-5815 or visit christinacooks.com.

Add “Back to the Cutting Board” and get both books for $55.95 plus handling.