St. Martin’s Day Coffee Recipes

Coffee drinks and sweets for St. Martin’s Day celebration

November 11 is celebrated in Italy and many Christian countries as St. Martin‘s Day. Several drinks and sweets are associated with this holiday: let’s find out which coffee recipes are related to St. Martin’s Day.

History and tradition

The day of November 11 is often associated with the first tapping of new wine and in the past with the renewal of agreements in agriculture, but especially celebrates Martin of Tours.

Martin of Tours (later to become St. Martin) was a Roman military man who lived in the fourth century.
Legend has it that during a winter night on guard duty, he cut off part of his military cloak to give it to a beggar for protection from the cold. The following night Jesus appeared to him in a dream, and when he woke up his cloak was whole again.This episode affected him deeply and marked his conversion to Christianity.

St. Martin’s Summer Coffee

The first recipe we propose is the “
St. Martin’s Summer Coffee
“. This is an elaborate creation by Nespresso since the original recipe calls for materials and ingredients from the famous brand, although clearly it can be adapted to pods and coffee machines of a variety of brands.

Materials and Ingredients

• Tall Cocktail Glass (350 Ml)
• Coffee machine with cappuccinator or nozzle for The steam
• 
  Coffee Capsule
  espresso
• 40 ml amaretto syrup
• 100 ml of milk
• Portion of chocolate powder
• A pinch of chili pepper

Proceedings

1. Heat the milk and mix it with the chocolate powder.
2. Pour syrup into a latte macchiato glass and make some milk foam using the steam nozzle of the coffee maker or cappuccino maker
3. Pour the hot milk into the glass and mix it with the syrup
4. Top the mixture with milk foam.
5. Make an espresso and slowly add it to the mixture in the glass
6. Sprinkle the chili foam

Curiosities

The definition “St. Martin’s Summer” found in the name of this recipe refers to the autumn period around precisely November 11 when, after the first cold spells, milder and more favorable weather conditions occur. It is always related to the story of St. Martin mentioned earlier since, immediately after the famous episode of the gift of the cloak, legend states that the sky cleared and the temperature became milder, as if suddenly summer had returned.

St. Martin’s Biscuits

Other popular sweets of this holiday are the “
St. Martin’s Biscuits
“, a Sicilian recipe that often sees them served together with a glass of marsala or moscato wine: a variation is to accompany them with a good coffee, perhaps spiked.

Ingredients (for 15-20 cookies)

• 500 g “00” flour
• 140 g of sugar
• 100 g butter
• 20 g anise seed
• 5 g cinnamon powder
• 150 ml of lukewarm water
• 25 g of brewer’s yeast

Proceedings

1. Place flour, sugar, cinnamon, and aniseed in a bowl and mix
2. Add and knead the butter cut into squares and the chopped brewer’s yeast, adding warm water a little at a time
3. Take about 50 g of dough for each cookie and form a stick 20 cm long, then roll it on itself slightly obliquely
4. Cover a baking sheet with baking paper and lay the cookies on top, letting them rise for one hour
5. Bake at 200°C in preheated static oven for 15 minutes; then raise the temperature to 180°C and continue cooking for 20 minutes, finally lower again to 160°C and bake for another 20 minutes
6. Turn off the oven and leave the cookies inside a few hours for you to acquire crispness