Favorite Italian desserts

[AlexRus]

Hy there. I gonna open a small confectionery in Russia. Please, give me some ideas of your favorite desserts and its recipes. What is the most delicious Italian dessert you've ever eaten?

[weinoo]

Beautifully ripe peaches topped with crumbled amaretti cookies (baked) and a glass of vin santo.

[Mjx]

Tough call, but at this moment, I'd have to say budini di riso. They're perfect on their own, and with pretty much any take on coffee, hot or cold.

[Jaymes]

Another fan of amaretti. If your focus is at all Italian, wouldn't suggest you even open without them.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Zabaglione with amaretti cookies; light gelatos and sorbettos (particularly the fruit flavours), preferably in Pizzelle cups; also Cannoli di Pizzelle which are the same thin cookies filled with flavoured cream; spumoni; tartufo; pignolati.

Hmmm. I'm quite attached to the freddos and semifreddos, it seems...

[djyee100]

Tiramisu. Really. When made well, it's a great chocolate-coffee combo. I've eaten some memorable chocolate budino in my time, also. And then there's Ricciarelli, soft almond cookies from Siena, that are sold at one of my favorite bakeries.

Maybe I'm the wrong person to ask this question. I've never met an Italian dessert I didn't like.

The recipe for the Ricciarelli is here. I only have the link; I haven't tried to bake the cookies myself.

http://blog.marlainthekitchen.com/2012/09/26/arizmendi-ricciarelli.aspx

For something new and different, I suggest a look at Rosetta Costantino's cookbook, Southern Italian Desserts. There are desserts in there that I've never seen before. Many of the pastries have ricotta-based fillings. If you make your own ricotta (and it's easy) that would be one less ingredient you would have to import. On Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1607744023/ref=rdr_ext_tmb

[ChrisTaylor]

Since I was a wee lad it's been cannoli. The one with the real fake chocolate cream. Oh yeah.

[janeer]

My favorite dessert to eat in Italy is biscotti di Prato dipped in vin santo. I often give this combination as a gift. I also like a good ricotta cheesecake with glacé fruit and chocolate at the holidays

[Lisa Shock]

Gelato, mostly the fruit flavors and sorbettos.

That said, the best pistachio paste I have ever tasted (and I go to pastry chef conventions and taste a lot of product) was one made in Sicily -it was a very dark brown color. I tasted two different gelatos made with it and they were amazing. Normally, I am not a huge fan of the nut flavors, this changed my mind. So, remember, use high quality ingredients, be open to odd colors, and shop around for the best taste.

[Ashen]

To me italian sweets don't necessarily equate to the standard definition of dessert, eg. something sweet meant to be eaten the end of a meal, but to things eaten with a coffee or as treat at other times of the day.

Some of my favourites that could work for a bakery/sweet shop would be, crostoli, pane d'oro , pannetone , fougasse dolce(my favourite is flavoured with spumadoro orange flavouring) there are a few similar fried fritter/donut type things like fritelle , zeppole, castagnole that are great if you were prepared to make them fresh to order.

[annachan]

Sfogliatelle is my favorite. Though I won't turn down a good cannoli.

[ChrisZ]

I love tiramisu. I've eaten tiramisu almost every day for the last few years. However I am also a relatively recent convert to cannoli, especially with a sweet ricotta filling.

If you decide to make / sell cannoli, then can I suggest you fill the tubes to order. There are several benefits - you can keep piping bags with the different fillings properly refrigerated, and the shells don't go soggy. There's something very satisfying about a really crunchy cannoli.

[Bill Klapp]

Panna cotta. No fruit, no runny caramel sauce, just the panna cotta.

A source for some Sicilian ingredients that might play a starring role in your new enterprise:

www.dalfredo.it

I do not think that this is the place for the Bronte green-brown pistachio paste mentioned above that is used for gelato, but the sweet pistachio spread from these guys is one of the best things that I ever put in my mouth. Also, I believe that if you search "Bronte pistacchio", you will turn up a bunch of potential sources for the paste...

I agree about panettone, but you can probably import better than you can make. It is, however, seasonal in Italy, so maybe you would want to make it year-round in Russia!

Edited January 27, 2014 by Bill Klapp (log)

[Hermann Morr]

Chocolate sausage ( salame di cioccolata ) with a glass of cold Barolo Chinato wine.

Or Pattona, chestnut flour cake with pineseeds and raisins.

[SobaAddict70]

Zabaglione.

Fruit (oranges, strawberries, melon), macerated in fresh fruit juice with a little sugar.

Figs, stuffed with chocolate, almonds and bay leaves.

Chestnuts simmered in wine.

Cassata.

[Sophie Cook]

My top favourite is Millefoglie, closely followed by Cannolli!

Edited August 18, 2014 by Sophie Cook (log)