Italian dessert?

Question

I am going to my husand's godmother's house for X-mas this year and they're a very traditional Sicilian family who know how to cook just about anything! I wanted to bring a dessert over to their house but I am really unsure of what to make. I am beginning cook so I don't have much experience or knowledge. Can anyone give me ideas or recipes that are tasty yet easy to prepare?

Answer 1

Zeppole

Ingredients
1/3 cup white wine,
2 cups water
Pinch salt
2 cups flour, sifted
Olive oil, for frying
2 teaspoons powdered cinnamon mixed with 1 cup sugar

1• Put wine and water in a pot. Bring to almost a boil. (It shouldn't come to a full boil.)
2• Add the flour all at once and stir constantly with a wooden spoon. When the dough comes out of the pot in a single piece remove it from the heat.
3• Place on kitchen counter surface. Knead by pounding with a rolling pin. Do this for 10 minutes so as to make it smooth and homogeneous.
4• Roll the dough into snakes about as thick as your finger. Pull off small pieces of dough, rub the dough between your hands and pinch ends together to make small rings.
5• Heat the oil and fry the zeppole a few at a time. Prick balls with a skewer as they fry, so the dough will bubble out and they become crunchier and more golden. Drain them on paper towels. Dredge them in the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Serve hot or cold.
Print info


Delicious. kinda like donuts.

Answer 2

I wouldn't try to beat them at their own game, meaning I would avoid Italian dishes like the plague. Try something with another ethnic twist, or something from YOUR family. This way, you might stand out, BUT no one will get the impression that you are trying to one-up the hostess, and your food will not be compared to the other dishes on the table.

As far as different cultures, there are many Mexican desserts that are really easy, fried ice cream, bunuelos, sopapillas, etc.

For best results, esp if you are not a seasoned cook...follow recipe instructions precisely...and use only top quality fresh ingredients.

Come to think of it there may be something you could do...gelato. It is Italian ice cream, very velvety, very good, with the same variety, so maybe you could do a gelato twist on something your family loved over the years...

What I would do to ease into the family's culinary heritae is make some time with one of the best cooks in your husband's family, and learn how to cook traditional Italian food...then next holiday you can show them what you learned.

Answer 3

everyone loves gelato and it's pretty easy to make

chocolate gelato
3/4 cup whole milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
8 ounces granulated sugar
10 egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 ounces sweet dark chocolate, chopped



Place whole milk, heavy cream, and vanilla bean and seeds in a sauce pot and scald. Remove vanilla bean. Whip the granulated sugar and egg yolks to a pale yellow ribbon state. Your sugar and egg yolks should be nice and fluffy. Add about a 1/2 cup of your scalded cream to your chopped chocolate in a bowl. Stir until melted. Place the bowl over a double boiler of barely simmering water. Set up a second double boiler. Constantly stirring with a wooden spoon, add scalded cream to your whipped egg and sugar mixture. Place egg and cream mixture over the double boiler and cook custard until it becomes thick and creamy. See Cook's Note.
Once custard is cooked, place the bowl over a cold water bath to cool. Gradually add your melted chocolate. Once custard is cool place in an ice cream machine and run as per manufacturer's instructions. Enjoy the love.

Cook's Note: It is recommended that the custard not be heated over 140 degrees F.

Answer 4

These are very simple cookie to make and all italians recognize them and their flavor. A good first dessert to take them.

Pastafrolle di Santa Lucia
Santa Lucia Cookies
Santa Lucia is celebrated on the 13th of December every year. However, the fun for children starts days before as the stands selling seasonal sweets come to Piazza Bra in the center of Verona. The typical cookie during this period is, Pastafrolle di Santa Lucia.

During this period the children write letters to Santa Lucia to tell her what presents they want. Then on the evening of the 12th they have to prepare milk for Santa Lucia's donkey and bread for Santa Lucia. The children have to be careful on the night of the 12th because when Santa Lucia comes to their house they don't have to see her! If they have been bad during the year she'll throw coal in their eyes. If they've been good they can expect a plate full of cookies and presents too.

It's a period of goodies and gifts for children for which I have fond memories.

Ingredients:

4 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1-1/2 cups sugar
1-1/4 cups unsalted butter
2 egg yolks
1 egg
1/2 tsp. double acting baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
powdered sugar
Instructions:


1. In a large bowl mix the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder.
2. Cut the butter into pieces and add it to the flour and mix it into the flour. It is better if the butter is at room temperature. I just use a big fork to mix it.
3. Once the butter is been reduced to small pieces in the flour add the egg, two egg yolks and the vanilla. Mix it together until it the dough holds together.
4. Wrap it in plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerate for one hour.
5. Roll out the dough on a well floured work area to a thickness of about 1/4 inch.
6. Cut the the dough with your favorite cookie cutters and lay them on cookie sheets greased with butter or use oven paper to avoid the butter. Of course you can cut them in rectangular shapes if you prefer.
7. Bake in a preheated oven at 325° for 20 minutes or until they start to turn slightly golden in color.
8. Once they've cooled dust them with powdered sugar and serve.

Answer 5

Get a tin of Amaretto cookies, the ones with the tissue wrapper. Eat the cookie, roll the paper in a loose roll and light the lower end of it with a match. The paper will rise to the ceiling like a little space ship. Saw this trick in Sicily, the kids love it.

Answer 6

Sicilians and southern Italians often have espresso and pastries after dinner. You could find a real Italian bakery and buy a box of assorted pastries, like cannoli.

If you're feeling ambitious, you could buy cannoli shells and fill them with homemade custard cream. Or you could make a tiramisu, not really Sicilian though.

Answer 7

Go to foodnetwork.com and look up Giada Di Laurenti's recipes. Her deserts are killer and really simple. She's Northern Italian (I think), but it's closer than making an Olive Garden Tiramisu.

Please practice your recipe and don't go over the top. You don't want to seem unsure of yourself and you don't want to overdo it and look like you're trying too hard.

A simple, elegant and fresh recipe will serve you best.
Good luck!

Answer 8

Tiramisu, a creamy chocolate, coffee lady finger desert. Easy and delicious. Foodnetwork/tiramisu.