Category: Sweet/Dessert
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Marzipani: A Sweet Slice Of The Salento, Italy
These cookies from Puglia has nothing to do with marzipan Before you start thinking biscuits made of marzipan, stop right there. These are delicious biscuits called marzapani, but the only thing they have in common with the almond paste is that they are made with lots and lots of almonds. Marzapani are a combination of…
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Chocolate Brownie Cake (Torta Caprese)
Chocolate cake, no people, and incredible tourist spots The recipe I’m about to unveil is called Torta Caprese. I had the luck to be able to go to Puglia a few weeks ago, thanks to my parents-in-law, who gave my husband a fantastic birthday present of looking after the kids while he went to…
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Chiacchiere (Crunchy Italian Carnaval Treats)
Crunchy treat time during European Carnaval It’s Carnevale in Italy, and everywhere you look, these scrumptious pastries jump out and you and scream, “EAT ME!! EAT ME!! No, not just one of me! MORE!! MORE!!”. Carnevale is celebrated in many parts of Europe for a few weeks before “Shrove Tuesday”, after which you…
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Apple Cake: Torta di Mele
The no-fat apple cake discovery My parents-in-law were over from Italy in the weekend, and while they were here, for my pleasure (and soon to be for yours!), my mother-in-law showed me how to make this deceptively healthy cake called torta di mele. I say deceptively healthy as after all, it is a cake, and with…
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Panettone: Why I Don’t Dare To Make It At Home
Why I haven’t had the courage to make panettone at home Panettone is a wonderful, fluffy, sweet, fruit-laden cake-like bread that is eaten in Italy at Christmas time. I just had the good fortune to be able to attend a weekend course on how to make it run by a fabulous baker called Marco…
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Salame Dolce di Nonna Benedetta
A sweet recipe passed down over generations This recipe for Salame dolce comes from my mother-in-law, who used to make it with her grandmother when she was a little girl. And who knows where her grandmother got it from…….she probably made it with some relative or other when she was small, so we…
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Torta Sbrisolona: Sweet, Crunchy Almond Delight from Beautiful Mantova
Sbrisolona: the cakey-biscuit from Romeo’s Mantova in Italy Is it a cake? Or is it a biscuit? Or shall we just not care about the semantics and gobble it all up?!! This is a delicious cake/giant biscuit called sbrisolona, which is a specialty from the beautiful city of Mantova, which I have written…
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Panna Cotta: Surprisingly Easy To Make!
Panna Cotta, literally, “cooked cream” (sounds better in Italian, doesn’t it!) seems to be on every Italian restaurant menu, and on many restaurant menus outside of Italy too. One day while reading one of my favourite cooking blogs, Chocolate and Zucchini, I stumbled across a recipe for panna cotta that Clotilde had weaseled…
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Strawberry Sorbet, The Italian Way
What to do with strawberries during strawberry season It’s strawberry season!! Yahoo!!!!! The first strawberries that appear in the shops where I live in France are called gariguette. It’s when you know that Spring is really here: well, that and because of all the cars with foreign number plates from Northern parts…
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Red Wine Chocolate Cake
Why you should stay in an agriturismo in Italy. It’s not just for the chocolate cake! Before I tell you all about this luscious Sicilian chocolate cake (Torta al Cioccolato di San’Elia), I want to tell you all about a type of holiday in Italy that is a recent newcomer, but has become…
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Italian Jam Tart (Crostata di Marmellata)
What makes Italian jam tart so special Italian jam tart is another recipe that I learnt (or “learned” if you’re American….when I was studying in the States, the professors ALWAYS told me I had a spelling error for that one!) from an Italian friend who is an incredible cook. Pasta frolla (if anyone…
