A Buccellato is a Sicilian circular cake. This sweet is one of the most traditional in Sicily for Christmas. A crunchy pastry spreaded with melted honey, with a filling made of dried figs paste, nuts, chocolate and spices. With the exception of some sugar used for the pastry, this sweets has not other sugars then the one naturally contained in the figs, nuts and honey.

The dough comprises flour, sugar, butter, and a spoonful of Marsala. In addition to dried Sicilian figs, the filling also contains sultanas, raisins, nuts, pine nuts, 'zuccata' (candied pumpkin), orange peel, sugar, and dark chocolate. They're chopped and mixed together to create the filling, which is then placed inside the dough that's been rolled out into the shape of a large doughnut. The shortcrust pastry is 'pizzicato', or pierced, in dozens of places to reveal tiny glimpses of the filling before the cake is placed in a floured baking pan and brushed with beaten egg before baking. But that's not all — esthetics also count. A few spoonfuls of warm honey are drizzled over the buccellato before the final garnish of candied fruit.

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