recipes | Italy from the Inside

Angela’s chocolate salami

April 24, 2018

Last week I had the pleasure to attend an event where my Italian friend Angela, an experienced cook, was demonstrating how to make a super easy and most of all a super quick Italian dessert: il salame al cioccolato. As the name suggests, it does look like a salami for its shape, of course, but also for its marbled appearance (by the way, those are crushed cookies not fat!). The best part, besides that it is made with Nutella, is that you can freeze it for up to a month which means that you’d always have a sweet treat ready when your friends come to visit you for an afternoon caffe’.

Here’s the recipe:

If you live in the Seattle area, Angela will be happy to help you with private hands-on classes, catering, kids classes, and more. Visit her website for more information and to see many photos of her delicious Italian dishes.

Same Italian Christmas cake recipe, 6 years later…

December 5, 2017

Every year Christmas brings joy, presents and a wide range of Christmas recipes. The one I’m sharing with you today is actually a recipe that we posted back in 2011. However, since it’s an Italian classic and super easy to make, I’m going to share it with you once more.

Introducing, again, the pandoro farcito con crema al mascarpone.

What you need:
– 1 pandoro (if you cannot find it in the stores, check on Amazon)
– 2 egg yolks
– 4 tbsp sugar
– 3 tbsp mascarpone cream
– powdered sugar
– Gianduiotti chocolate (optional)

First beat the egg yolks with the sugar, then add the mascarpone cheese until you get a smooth cream. Set aside.
Cut the pandoro in 5 layers.
Spread the crema al mascarpone on each layer (the more liquid the better, it will make the cake softer).
Place each layer back, without matching the edges, in order to create a Christmas tree-like shape.
I used Gianduiotti chocolate to decorate the cake, but you can use any other decoration, sometimes we even use small candles.
Finally, sprinkle the cake with powdered sugar and decorate the top with your favorite object (I “borrowed” baby Jesus from the nativity).

Buono, buono, anzi, buonissimo!

Sweet simplicity

November 4, 2014

One of the things I miss the most about Italy is la pasticceria, the store that sells sweets and where, as you step in, you start floating one foot above the ground embraced by a delicious fragrance of baked goods. The sfogliatina alla crema that you see above was one of the first sweets I had after arriving in Italy following a long year in the States. I remember I was almost crying for the emotion.

The sfogliatina alla crema is one of the simplest Italian desserts: just cream and puff pastry. And yet it is delicious. Fortunately there is an easy way to duplicate it: get one sheet of puff pastry (easily available in the grocery stores), unroll it, place it on a baking sheet, preferably using parchment paper, put it in the preheated oven (350°F) for about 10 minutes or until it has risen and it has a nice, golden color. At that point take it out, immediately cut it in half horizontally, lift the top, spread the custard cream on the bottom, put the top back on, sprinkle it with some powdered sugar, and you get a simplified version of the Italian sfogliatina alla crema.