Category Archives: Desserts

Rice Fritters from Siena

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With carnival season approaching bakery windows are brimming with all sorts of fried pastry in Italy. Each region or even city has their own specialty. Recently visiting Siena I enjoyed a taste of their rice fritters – Frittelle di Riso – in historic Piazza del Campo. A little hut is set up there around this time that turns out freshly fried Frittelle by the minute. Outside a line of people impatiently wait for these delectable crispy treats. A sign outside listed the genuine ingredients. Coming back home I couldn’t help making them myself. I wasn’t disappointed – I think I came pretty close! Of course to fully enjoy them you should really come to the beautiful medieval city of Siena yourself. Continue reading →

Healthy Cream Filled Brownie Valentines

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These flourless and fat- free Healthy Cream Filled Brownie Valentines come from a Jamie Oliver inspired chocolate beetroot cake recipe. In my version I used steamed beets instead of fresh ones, substituted regular sugar with coconut sugar and I also added chopped walnuts. The batter was baked in a rectangular pan with a lower rim to make heart cutouts easier to form. Ultimately each heart was sandwiched together and topped with whipped cream and raspberries. Continue reading →

Apple Pear Miascia

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This Apple Pear “Miascia”, a traditional cake from Como could be grouped together with other “frugal” cakes in
Italy such as the “Torta Paesana” of Brianza. These cakes both use day old bread soaked in milk but the “Miascia” has a lighter and fruitier twist in the use of apples and pears instead of cocoa – and walnuts are used here instead of pine nuts. Continue reading →

Easy Pumpkin Sticky Buns

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These Easy Pumpkin Sticky Buns can be made in a snap if you have that tube of ready-roll croissants on hand. Just unroll, pinch together the triangles and reroll again with the pumpkin filling. Slice and bake on top of the caramel sauce. When baked, flip them over and you have delicious topping on top of everything. Couldn’t be easier than that! Continue reading →

Blueberry Panettone

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This Blueberry Panettone is so easy to make with a bread machine. By now there are an infinite variety of panettoni on the market in Italy. This year I opted for a blueberry version which was nowhere to be found so I just went ahead and made one! The kneading and two rises were done by my bread machine after which I pulled out the dough and shaped it into two 1/2 kg. paper panettoni cases and two mini ones and then baked them in my conventional oven. I have to say it wasn’t much harder than making bread. I only had to add the (dried) blueberries and finish off with the last rising before popping them into the oven. This is not the overly sweet store bought panettone that can last weeks in your cupboard. There are no emulsifiers or preservatives here but it’s so wholesomely good that it wouldn’t last long anyway! Continue reading →

Torta Caprese

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Torta Caprese is one of Italy’s favorite cakes created on the island of Capri. It has been said that a baker had forgotten to add flour to the batter but the end result turned out to be better than the original recipe. This cake is choc full of healthy almonds and dark chocolate. Also coconut sugar is substituted for the white sugar which is much healthier without altering the flavor. I also simplified the procedure by beating whole eggs together with the sugar without separating them. The texture is dense but light at the same time and you can whip up this gluten-free concoction in no time – almost as easy as making brownies! Continue reading →

Ice Cream Scones

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Ice- cream cones for breakfast? No, not exactly, it’s actually ice-cream scones! That is scones made from melted ice-cream (especially chocolate if you have any left over lurking in a corner of your freezer and you don’t know what to do with it). Make these scones using the same recipe of “Controversial Cream Scones” in this blog substituting about half the quantity of cream with melted ice-cream. The rest is easy as pie as you’ll see in the directions! Continue reading →