Recipes of five popular Italian desserts

Italy is one of the oldest and most beautiful countries in the world. It gives numerous tourists a mild climate and magnificent landscapes, works of great masters and excellent Italian cuisine. After all, Italians became widely known outside their country as gourmets and big sweet tooth.

Italian desserts deservedly embody sophistication of taste and consistently high quality.

Since we decided to talk about desserts, let's decide what it is. The word "dessert" comes from the French word "dessert" and means the final meal, designed to get special taste sensations. Most often, desserts are sweets, but there are exceptions. For example, a dessert made from fruits, nuts or cheeses. There are also sweets containing instead of sugar ginger, pepper or other spices. The habit of eating sweet after eating the main food began to spread only in the 19th century. Prior to this, a pleasant privilege was available only to rich people. And since sugar production was very expensive, sweets did not always appear on dining tables of the lower strata of the population, even on holidays. Today it is not at all necessary to wait for the holiday to treat yourself and your loved ones with Italian desserts prepared at home. We present you recipes for five popular Italian desserts:

Chocolate sausage

We will need:

• dark chocolate (not less than 70% of cocoa) - 100 gr.;
• sugar - 100 gr.;
• butter - 100 gr.;
• dried biscuit or butter biscuits - 130 gr.;
• roasted hazelnuts - 60 gr.;
• egg - 1 pc.;
• egg yolk - 1 pc.

Cooking: beat the egg and extra yolk, gradually adding sugar. Melt butter and chocolate in a water bath. Grind the biscuit and hazelnuts, with the hazelnuts as small as possible, and the biscuit in large pieces. Constantly stirring, we introduce the egg mass into the butter-chocolate mixture, and then the hazelnuts and biscuit. Cool the resulting mass and form sausages. Wrap them in parchment paper or cling film and place in the refrigerator for 12 hours. If you are not too lazy and do all these operations in the evening, then you will have a delicious Italian dessert for breakfast by morning aromatic coffee.

Fruit Ice - Cold Sicilian Fruit Dessert

We will need:

• strawberries or strawberries - 400 gr.;
• pure still water - 150 ml .;
• tequila - 100 ml .;
• orange liquor - 50 gr.;
• icing sugar - 50 g .;
• lime - 4 pcs.

Cooking: heat the water in a saucepan over low heat. Stir constantly, add sugar and wait for it to completely dissolve. Remove the resulting syrup from the heat and cool. Meanwhile, beat strawberries with three lime juice in a blender and add the mixture to chilled syrup. Pour liquor and tequila there, while thoroughly mixing everything. The resulting homogeneous mixture is sent to the freezer for at least three hours. Cut the remaining lime into very thin slices. Wrap each slice in plastic wrap or polyethylene and freeze. After three hours, alternating, we distribute the frozen mixture and lime slices into glasses. Fruit ice can be decorated with mint on top.

Tiramisu

It is a true Italian dish, just like pasta and pizza. It is impossible to explain what a tiramisu is, comparing it with something else. After all, this is not a cake, nor a pudding, nor a souffle. Tiramisu is the most delicate Italian dessert. It can not be eaten on the run, as a snack. This airy and gentle "something" requires an absolutely special attitude. According to legend, the dish was first prepared in the 17th century. This happened, as often happens in cooking, by accident. Once, the Tuscan Archduke de Medici decided to stay with his neighbors in Siena. He was known as an avid sweet tooth, so local chefs have shown imagination in order to please the distinguished guest. For dessert, they prepared a new dish and called it "Duke's Soup." De Medici liked the dessert so much that he took his recipe to his place in Florence, from where it spread throughout Italy.

• Read also: Italian classic tiramisu recipe at home

According to a more practical version, tiramisu appeared due to the fact that Italians were very fond of dipping dried cookies in coffee. And later they began to add liquor and cream cheese to the recipe. The very first written confirmation of tiramisu was found in 1971 in an article by Giuseppe Di Clementi. Later, the recipe could be found in the Italian book of 1983, where its authorship is attributed to the chef, who worked in the post-war period in Central Europe. The word "tira mi su" in Italian translates as "exalt me." Most versions agree that dessert got such a name because of the elevated emotional state that comes after eating this dish. Tiramisu really has an exciting effect due to the combination of coffee and chocolate. Today, on the shelves of pastry shops you can often find cakes with the name "Tiramisu". But do not fool yourself - this is not Tiramisu. If you are in an expensive restaurant and ordering dessert, you see a neatly cut portion on a plate - this is not Tiramisu.

After all, a true tiramisu is:

• Cold, very soft and moist dessert.
• Basis - Italian Savoyardi cookies very, very well soaked coffee.
• Impregnation coffee should ideally be strong espresso. And by no means insoluble. Indeed, real Italian coffee is an indispensable ingredient in many desserts.
• As a layer, it is used the Italian cream cheese mascarpone (mascarpone), which is made from cream with 40% fat content.
• Classic tiramisu is sprinkled with cocoa powder, and strawberry and lemon are sprinkled with powdered sugar.

Let's now take a closer look at the recipe for a classic tiramisu to cook it at home.

The recipe for a classic Tiramisu

We will need:

• freshly brewed espresso - 450 gr.;
• Savoyardi -300 gr.;
• icing sugar - 100 g .;
• 4 egg yolks;
• egg whites - 3 pcs.;
• cocoa powder - for powder.

Cooking: the first thing you need is to brew an espresso. If you don’t have a coffee machine at home, try replacing the espresso with coffee brewed in a drip coffee maker or, as a last resort, in a cezve. Then you need to beat the proteins into a thick foam, gradually adding powdered sugar. In a separate bowl, beat the yolks and introduce a mascarpone there, after which we very carefully combine the yolks with proteins to prevent foam from falling. The resulting cream grease the bottom of a large bowl. Carefully soaking savoyards in coffee on both sides, put them gently on the cream, making sure that they remain intact. The cream should be so thick that the cookies lay on it, and did not float. Then the procedure must be repeated. Spread a layer of cream and a layer of soaked cookies. Spread the last layer of cream on top and complete the procedure, sprinkling cocoa powder on top. Now hide the bowl with the contents in the refrigerator for at least five hours. And, in principle, after that it is worth leaving home for a walk so as not to experience unnecessary temptations. After all, the smell is breathtaking. And having returned, you can rightfully enjoy the magnificent taste of the Italian dessert, which you yourself have prepared. In principle, a classic tiramisu coffee is a completely independent dish. However, the confectioners noticed that fruits and berries, for example, juicy fragrant strawberries, combine very well with delicate mascarpone and airy savoyards. And Italians themselves often began to give preference to the fruit varieties of tiramisu - lemon or strawberry. Its main difference is the absence of cocoa and coffee in the recipe. They are replaced by fruits and brandy-fruit liquor.

Strawberry Tiramisu Recipe

We will need:

• Savoyardi - 260 gr.;
• Mascarpone -500 gr.;
• strawberries - 400 gr.;
• sugar or icing sugar - 90 g .;
• eggs - 4 pcs.;
• Gran Marnier - 30 gr.

Cooking: beat 350 gr with a blender berries and a half sugar in a homogeneous mass and add to the same Gran Marnier. Using eggs and mascarpone, separately prepare the cream in the same way as in the classic tiramisu recipe. Then we take a large bowl or shape and cover the bottom with a piece of cream. Savoyardi well dipped on both sides in a mixture of strawberries and liquor and quickly spread on the cream tightly to each other. The resulting layer is sprayed with a strawberry neck and repeat the procedure for laying out the cream, and then the soaked cookies. Top the biscuits once more with the remaining cream. But we cut the remaining whole strawberries into slices and decorate the dessert. Put the mold in the refrigerator for at least four hours. After that, before serving, we crush the icing sugar on top. Buying real Savoyards outside of Italy is, of course, possible, but very, very difficult. Therefore, since we still make dessert at home with some acceptable substitutions, then it is probably worth baking the savoyardi ourselves. The basic recipe looks something like this.

Savoyardi Recipe

We will need:

• sugar - 100 gr.;
• flour - 90 gr.;
• chicken eggs - 3 pcs.;
• icing sugar and a pinch of salt.

Cooking: pre-cool the eggs and separate the protein from the yolk. Beat the yolks with 2/3 of the sugar. Add salt and gradually add flour. Separately, whip the proteins into a thick foam and mix very carefully with the proteins, without letting the foam fall. The resulting mass must be placed in a pastry bag and squeeze strips of 10 centimeters onto a greased baking sheet. Sprinkle the cookies prepared for baking with powdered sugar and let stand for 10 minutes. At this time, set the oven to warm up to 180 degrees. Then again sprinkle the cookies with powder and put in the oven. The fact that the cookie is ready, says color change to a beige shade. We do not take out the finished cookies, but let them cool in an open oven. A little tip: in case you got low-quality flour, and the dough began to spread, add one and a half tablespoons of starch.

Sabayon

This famous dish is not only the most popular Italian dessert, but also a sauce, as well as a drink and impregnation for cakes. It all depends on the density. This universal dish appeared in the 16th century in Piedmont due to the mistake of cooks in one of the monasteries. Preparing the next dish for dinner, they could not achieve the desired consistency from eggs beaten with sugar. And since it was a pity to throw away the product, they added sweet wine to it. So for the first time a new dish with an amazing taste was released. Sabayon is based on egg yolks, sugar and alcohol. The consistency of it can be very different. Starting from a slightly thickened mixture, which is used as a sauce or impregnation, and ending with a thick mass that can be served as mousse, combined with cookies, fruits, berries or whipped cream. There is a multitude of cooking and serving options. In one case, beat the whole eggs, and in the other, only the yolks. Some use strong alcohol for the final flavor, while others do not. The honey version of sabayon is perfect for savory desserts. Marsala, champagne, Madeira, sherry, red wine or ginger beer can be used as base alcohol. Whatever cooking recipe you choose, there are golden principles for preparing sabayon:

• Beat the eggs very carefully and not earlier than 15 minutes before serving. Indeed, during storage, the sauce falls off, and it is no longer possible to beat it again.
• Beat alcohol with egg should not be too strong so that the sauce does not curl. And it should be introduced into the egg mass very carefully and gradually.
• The fire for cooking should be very small so that neither the water bath, nor the sauce itself, in any case boil.
• Strong alcohol (rum, gin) is used as the final flavoring. It gives Sabayon a shade and aroma.

Ready sabayon can be used as an independent dish, or combined with any other desserts. For example, with sabayon sauce, you can season fruit salad or just berries that are beautifully laid out on a plate. You will undoubtedly enjoy peach wedges slightly pickled in red wine with brown sugar and dipped in sabayon cream. A sabayon mixed with coffee liqueur is an excellent addition to the balls of vanilla and chocolate ice cream. In addition to the widespread sweet sabayon, there is also an unsweetened version of this sauce. In this case, eggs and alcohol are beaten not with sugar, but with vegetable or fruit juices. This sauce is served with fish or vegetable dishes, as well as seafood. In addition, it goes well with young asparagus boiled in salt water. In this case, butter is added to the sauce for satiety and lemon juice to give freshness. An unsweetened version of sabayon for crispy vegetables such as cauliflower and artichoke is perfect.

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Recipe Sabayon

We will need:

• Marsala (dessert Sicilian wine) - 100 ml .;
• 4 egg yolks;
• sugar - 100 gr.

Cooking: we collect water in a large pot and put on fire. This will be our steam bath. While the water is heating, combine the yolks with sugar and beat in foam. Without ceasing to beat, pour Marsala into a very thin stream and in small portions. We put the container with the resulting mixture in a water bath, continuing to whisk. We warm the Sabayon, making sure that no water and yolk mixture boil. As soon as the Sabayon reaches the required consistency, remove it from the water bath, stirring continuously to obtain a homogeneous consistency. We lay out the finished sabion in a bowl and decorate with berries. Sabyon can be served to the table both hot and chilled. In summer, Sabayon goes well with apples. To do this, combine the sauce with whipped cream and pour the apple slices in the resulting mass, and sprinkle with chopped almonds on top. Or, as an option, put the previously fried apple slices into a mold, fill with sauce and bake until golden brown (about 7 minutes), and ideally, keep it under the grill (about 3 minutes). And now just imagine the assortment of pastry masterpieces that can be born on the basis of this unique cream sauce. Only your imagination can limit you in this. In any case, it will be deliciously delicious. Go ahead. Experiment. Enjoy the result.

Panna cotta

The name of another famous Italian dessert is consonant with an appeal to a young girl. However, translated from Italian, "panna cat" means "boiled cream." Homeland panna cotta - Italian Piedmont. This dessert, as well as tiramisu, refers to desserts without baking. It is based on cream, milk and sugar. And here, both fat content and freshness of products are very important. The amount of gelatin in the recipe greatly affects the consistency of the final product and, accordingly, the form of its presentation to the table. If there is a lot of gelatin, then the milk mass keeps its shape perfectly and it can be served on a plate. If you prefer a less dense consistency, then reduce the amount of gelatin in the recipe and serve the panna to the cat in a bowl. The classic milk panna cotta is delicious. But very often it is served with various berries or sauces, for example, caramel or chocolate.

Pan Cotta with Berries Recipe

We need (for 5 servings):

• fresh cream 30-40% fat - 400 gr.;
• sugar or icing sugar -150 gr.;
• sheet gelatin - 6 g .;
• milk - 125 gr.;
• berries (raspberries, strawberries) - to taste.

Cooking: soak gelatin in water, and when it swells, wring out. At this time, mix the cream and milk and bring to a boil over low heat, gradually adding sugar. When the sugar has dissolved, add the squeezed gelatin and mix thoroughly. The resulting mixture is poured into molds and refrigerated for 12 hours. In a blender, beat the berries with sugar. Pour the cooled mixture with the resulting neck before serving. If you have prepared a thick dessert and plan to serve it on a plate, then immerse the bottom of the tins for several seconds in boiling water. After that, turn the tin on a plate. Experience shows that the cat’s panna is eaten very, very quickly, so it’s worth preparing it immediately in large quantities. In addition to the panna cotta recipe with berries, we offer you a simple caramel sauce recipe that can be used in combination with the classic panna cotta recipe.

Caramel Sauce Recipe

We will need:

• pure water - 3 tbsp. spoons;
• sugar - 5g.

Cooking: mix sugar with water and, stirring constantly, bring to a boil. When the sugar has completely dissolved, pour the sauce to the bottom of the molds in front of the panna cat. When the mixture cools and you turn the forms on a plate, the sauce will be on top. If you prepare a more liquid sauce, then you can pour panna-cat directly on top in a bowl. Among Italian desserts, a special place is given to natural homemade ice cream. They produce it in small family enterprises. To obtain a high-quality product, only fresh, daily-obtained products are used. Such Italian ice cream contains about 60% milk, 15% cream and 20% sugar. The resulting product is sold directly in the shop during production. The term for the sale of such a product is no more than three days, although many manufacturers of natural Italian ice cream write off unsold goods on the same day after the end of the working day. And the next morning, customers can treat themselves to the freshest cold dessert. To enjoy the delicate taste of real Italian desserts, you just need to go where they were born. Indeed, the true taste of Italian cuisine, including desserts, can be felt only in combination with the warm sun and the salty aroma of the gentle sea of ​​Italy.

Watch the video: Top 10 Tasty Desserts (December 2024).