Torta di Mandorle e Pignoli

Large pastries filled with almond cream and pine nuts are common in the Piedmont, and I have seen them as far south as Rome. The pine nuts contribute an elusive richness to the filling. If you have trouble finding them, or find that they are prohibitively expensive, substitute coarsely chopped slivered almonds.

Sometimes I vary this by combining the almond filling with an equal volume of pastry cream (Crema Pasticciera,) and making enough fi