The history of "The Sisters Nurzia" starts at Arischia, a pretty little town of L'Aquila, where traditions have an ancient taste in the early nineteenth century. Gennaro Nurzia, strong both of craftsmanship of distilling spirits and a great initiative, led him to expand his business to that of confectionery production. Ulysses Nurzia, the grandson of Gennaro, to give new impetus to the existing business, working with inexhaustible anxiety to create new flavors and tastes. Experimenting with new recipes made a revolution in the nougat as at that time it was spread the white type "Cremona", remarkable for the flavor and crumbly, but of considerable hardness. Ulysses ennobled the product by adding to the classical components of nougat (honey, almonds or hazelnuts and egg white) chocolate, an ingredient at the time "precious" and managed to finally get a soft nougat through the discovery of a particular "manicatura”.
It was so born the "Nurzia soft chocolate nougat”. We have not stopped and, based on the recipe for "soft nougat chocolate”, we were able to produce, with the same passion of Ulysses, a wide range of delicious and wholesome products (cookies, panettone, chocolate) to deserve the growing preference on the part of the old and new consumers.

The nougat is prepared in a special pan known as a "torroniera". Firstly, honey is cooked with egg whites, before adding cocoa, sugar and toasted hazelnuts. The warm mixture is then poured into steel trays lined with rice paper and allowed to cool overnight. The next day it is cut into various sized bars and then packaged.

Torrone Recipe - Nougat

Torrone, otherwise known as nougat, is a concoction made from honey, well-whipped egg whites, vanilla, and walnuts or almonds; it's an ancient sweet that requires considerable skill and care to make well, and in the past was also a great favorite among pastry chefs because it can be used as a building material for making fanciful cakes and other such delights. It's made throughout Italy, and Sicily's is especially renowned.

Ingredients:
* 1 2/3 pounds (700 g) honey
* 1 3/4 pounds (800 g) blanched, peeled almonds
* 1 3/4 pounds (800 g) sugar
* 4 egg whites
* Rice paper or edible wafers of the kind used for baking

Preparation:
Preparing torrone at home is not easy; one needs exercise great care in the cooking, stirring the ingredients constantly to obtain a well-amalgamated mixture. Begin by cooking the honey for an hour over a double boiler, stirring constantly, until it has caramelized.

In the meantime make a syrup with the sugar (you'll want three volumes of sugar to two volumes water), heating the mixture gently while stirring it constantly too lest it stick to the bottom of the pan.

Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks, and add them, a little at a time, to the caramelized honey. Mix and continue cooking, directly over a low flame, stirring all the while. The honey will begin to expand and become frothy; continue mixing for a few more minutes and gradually incorporate the syrup, mixing well. Continue cooking and stirring, and when the mixture begins to tighten up and harden, incorporate the almonds. Mix thoroughly and turn the mixture into a pan, preferably square or rectangular in outline, that you have lined with wafers or rice paper. Cover the top of the torrone as well, and press down so as to level the torrone and press out any air bubbles that may have formed. When the torrone has cooled, turn it out onto a wafer-lined work surface, and use a sharp knife to slice it as you prefer. The best way to cut a crumbly torrone is to place the knife blade on the torrone and tap it sharply with the other hand to obtain irregularly shaped chunks of torrone. Torrone should be kept sealed in a cool dry place.

A variation: Use just 12 ounces (300 g) honey and 1 2/3 pounds (700 g) toasted hazelnuts.

These information come from ItalianFood.com