Gubana Goriziana

Gubana Goriziana, or Presnitz, is Gorizia's most typical Easter dessert.
According to ancient tradition, gubana Goriziana is prepared at home by families during Holy Week and eaten as an "Easter snack." The dessert embodies and blends spring and autumn flavors, with the sharp sweet-tart notes typical of citrus fruits, but also hints of spice: sultanas, walnuts, pine nuts, candied citron, and a splash of rum or Marsala make up the filling, jealously guarded by a rich layer of rolled puff pastry.
Gubana has always been an aristocratic-bourgeois dessert, representing the synthesis of different cultures and preserving all the aromas and flavors of the most typical Central European tradition.

For visitors with a sweet tooth, a stop at one of Gorizia's most renowned pastry shops is a must for a taste. Gubana also makes a delicious and original souvenir, embellished with splendid packaging featuring Art Nouveau decorations.

Typical recipe

Ingredients

Puff pastry: 1.5 kg butter, 1.5 kg flour, 6 egg yolks, the juice of 3 lemons, 1 glass of white wine, water to taste, 30 g salt. Add a couple of tablespoons of sugar if desired. Proceed as usual for puff pastry, using the butter and pastry dough, folding the dough as usual, and letting it rest between each. The difference compared to traditional puff pastry is that this one, due to the egg yolks and wine in the pastry dough, is tastier.

Filling: 1 kg walnuts, 1 kg almonds, 1 kg hazelnuts, 1 kg sultanas, 1.5 kg sugar, 300 g candied citron, 300 g candied orange peel, 200 g pine nuts, crumbled biscuits, rum or marsala, sweet wine, spices to taste (vanilla pod, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, pepper)

To brush the inside of the pastry: egg (or just egg yolks), granulated sugar and vanilla pod

Preparation

The dried fruit should be ground into a coarse grain and mixed with the finely diced candied fruit. A good rule of thumb for enhancing the flavor of dried fruit is to always toast it in the oven before using it. Raisins should be soaked in rum or sweet wine. All the filling ingredients should be mixed together and left to rest for several days, stirring occasionally.
Roll out the thin pastry into a rectangle to form a gubana, brushing it with a cream made from egg yolks, sugar, and vanilla seeds. After placing the sausage-shaped filling along the long side of the pastry, roll it up into a strudel and then twist it all up again. The filling-to-pastry ratio is about 3 to 1 on average; that is, for the indicated filling quantities, the puff pastry weighs 3.2 kg. Before baking at 180°C (350°F), brush with beaten egg. Bake for 45 minutes. When cooked, gubanas generally weigh between 500g and 1kg, with smaller ones weighing up to 1kg.