dessert Archives - Very EATalian

Crostoli: a perfectly crisp Carnevale treat

January 23, 2020 By very EATalian Leave a Comment

Carnevale is the period falling right before Lent when Italians indulge in rich foods, silly costumes, and pranks. Kids (and sometimes adults) dress up for Carnevale and even go to school and local parades, all dressed up. I was an adorable Pierrot at age 3 and a cute gypsy at 4. Then there’s no other photographic evidence of my Carnevale outfits…until I was about 10. That’s when I wore my unforgettable (cringe!) 1800s-style Principessa Primavera dress. I looked like a pink cloud, covered in tulle and frills, with a silly hoop at the bottom of the skirt, bouncing back and forth as I moved anywhere. The best part of the costume? The wide-brim hat covered in pink tulle, leaving my poofy bangs intact. In the picture I looked all cheerful, right next to my cousin wearing the same exact dress (yikes!).

As I grew older, my interest shifted from wearing costumes and throwing confetti in the air, to savoring delicious Carnevale treats, i.e., frittelle, castagnole, and crostoli. My mom usually makes one batch of each and they all disappear pretty quickly. Crostoli are the treat that goes the quickest, as they are utterly and sneakingly addictive!

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Torrone dei Morti: Chocolate Hazelnut Torrone

November 2, 2016 By very EATalian 2 Comments

The Day of the Dead (commonly known in Italy as “i Morti“) is a Catholic festivity occurring on November 2nd, right after All Saints’ Day. This is when most Italians visit the cemeteries and bring fresh flowers — often mums, a flower representing mourning and death — to the tombs of their loved ones. Back home, my dad usually lights a few red candles (lumini) and puts them on the window sill as a way to remember those of our family who aren’t with us anymore.

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Traditional Italian Apple Cake

October 17, 2016 By very EATalian 8 Comments

Have I ever told you my mom is a serial baker? She bakes bread, pizza, focaccia, and cakes of all kinds in such an effortless way it makes me doubt we share the same genes. Not long ago, her oven door broke and she had to send it out for repair. Needless to say, she was desperate. Like what-am-I-going-to-do-with-my-life kind of desperate. Baking for her comes so naturally that even during that time when she was “oven-less”, she put her usual auto-pilot baking mode on and made pizza dough, only realizing a little late she couldn’t bake it. Oh, how much I love her!

When it comes to cakes, she’s sneaky: as soon as one cake has been eaten up by whomever comes through her kitchen (cousins, aunts, uncles, nephews, me), another freshly baked one reappears in the morning at breakfast time. I don’t know how it is in your family, but it’s impossible to say no to my mom’s cakes….

Chocolate Chip Ricotta Cake

September 5, 2016 By very EATalian 1 Comment

I made this Chocolate Chip Ricotta Cake at least 5 times this past year. Yes, it’s THAT good.

To be completely honest though, there’s also another reason why I made it so often. I was never happy with the photos I took of it (bad lighting, low-performance camera or operator error??). At some point I just stopped trying, forgot about it, and moved on to other recipes.

A couple of days ago, I opened my infamous “discarded photo folder”. When I saw these shots again, I couldn’t believe I held back so long on sharing this delicious recipe because I was nit picky about ISO or lighting! I believe the quality of my work is of paramount importance, but sometimes I set the bar too high, my perfectionism kicks in and, alas, I end up stalling.

I’m SO happy to FINALLY share the photos and recipe for this yummy Chocolate Chip Ricotta Cake with you guys!…

Pesche all’Alchermes: an old-fashioned Italian pastry

July 23, 2016 By very EATalian 4 Comments

HELLO AGAIN, friends! I’m back. Long time no see…right? I’ve got some news.

After a year-long deployment in the Middle East, my husband has finally come back to me. YAY! About a month ago, we finally reunited. He came to Italy to spend some time with my family; then we took a plane to Florida where we retrieved our car to drive all the way up to Northern Virginia. That’s where we live now! The whole thing sounds much easier that it actually was. There was a lot of sorting, packing, sending, cleaning, reorganizing, flying, driving, changing hotels, unpacking, more cleaning, more reorganizing. It wasn’t easy, especially on the emotional end…there were also many goodbye dinners, hugs, and tears.

I spent a beautiful year in Italy, with my family, and I love the fact that all the recipes I posted from there are a tied to a story or a funny anecdote involving my unwavering little helpers (my mom and my cousin). I miss pretty much everything and everybody but I’m also excited for this new beginning. Tom and I are finally together again, in a place we can call our new HOME. We live in a colonial house with a lovely kitchen with lots of storage and plenty of light pouring in — totally perfect for my photography needs! Another great feature of our new place: a beautiful backyard plunging directly into the woods! Did I mention D.C. isn’t too far away? This is pretty much the best I could hope for and I’m excited to start this new chapter of my life, with Tom, in this house.

I’m thrilled to be back at blogging! I missed cooking, having my stuff with me, and sharing my recipes and photos. I’ll celebrate my return to blogging showing you how to make some delicious and colorful treats.…

Acacia Flower Fritters

May 11, 2016 By very EATalian 1 Comment

It’s almost time to go back Stateside…and finally be with my husband again! I can’t believe I’ve been in Italy for almost a year.

As I’m trying to wrap things up at work and I’m starting to get ready to move across the ocean again, I find myself dragging at the idea of doing things that keep me away from the people and the places I love and I’ll dearly miss one month from now.

One of the things I am trying to avoid these days is spending time in front of my computer. Up until not too long ago, the thought of not posting regularly on this blog would make me feel restless and inadequate. These days I’m “more” okay with leaving the blog hanging to give priority to other things that may seem trivial to most people, but that are SO important to me. I’m talking about simple things such as building train tracks with my almost-3-year-old nephew, paying a visit to a friend I haven’t seen in forever, having a cup of tea with my aunt, helping my mom plant flowers in her beautiful garden, or simply going for a long walk with my cousin in the country roads near my house.

Speaking of which, mid-spring is one of the times I enjoy the most here in Italy. It’s not too cold and not too hot, and walking in the countryside is so beautiful. The flowers of Acacia trees are in bloom now and their sweet scent attracts gazillions of bees. I love the fact that this plant not only gives us, through the precious work of bees, a delicate, clear, and floral honey, but also gives us flowers that can easily be fried and turned into delicious savory appetizers or sweet treats….

Pinza Veneta – Holiday Cornmeal Cake from Veneto

January 6, 2016 By very EATalian 2 Comments

Here in Italy the holiday season is officially closing with today’s Epiphany festivities and tomorrow people will start taking down their Christmas decorations (if it was up to me, I’d keep’em up all year long!). Today, my family and I will enjoy the pinza leftovers from last night’s Panevin and get together to play boardgames.

As I mentioned in my previous post, pinza is a rustic cake made with polenta flour (which is a bit coarser than cornmeal) and wheat flour and it’s filled with dried fruit such as raisins, figs, dates and flavored with grappa, fennel seeds and orange zest. My mom and my aunt always get together to make it and they take turns mixing the ingredients in the pot, as the dough is quite thick and dense (like polenta!). Since both of them have bad shoulders, I normally step in and help them with the mixing. This time I carefully observed how they make it and …