In antiquity, when wheat was too expensive to be used by commoners, honey-enriched sweet treats were offered as gifts to the gods. By the time the Renaissance took place, sugar could only be afforded by royalty. Many Florentine desserts made their way to Paris by way of Catherine de' Medici and were incorporated into the French pastry tradition.
In modern times, pasticcerie serving regional dessert specialties abound, and the average Italian can eat dessert whenever the desire calls. Luckily for us, Italian restaurants offer "spoon desserts" such as tiramisu, panna cotta, and bonet on a regular basis. 
Other more labor intensive desserts, such as struffoli and cannoli that are tied to holidays and religious festivals, however, are becoming increasingly difficult to come by, and only professional Italian pastry chefs, and some nonne know how to prepare them properly. 
Struffoli are a traditional Neapolitan dessert served at Christmastime and during other holidays. Many Southern Italian regions have their own version. We served these at Luigi's Al Tiramisu Restaurant for our Sacred Foods of Italy event.
Serves: 10
Ingredients
10 1/2 cups flour
18 eggs, plus 3 egg yolk
3 lemon, zested and juiced, plus 1 lemon, zested
3 orange, zested
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoon limoncello
cups canola or peanut oil, for frying
6 cups honey
Powdered sugar, for dusting
Sprinkles, for garnish
Directions
In a mixing bowl, place flour, eggs, yolk, zest of 1 lemon, orange zest, salt, and limoncello and mix well to form a firm dough, 8 to 10 minutes. Place in the refrigerator and allow to rest 30 minutes.
Remove from the refrigerator and cut golf ball-sized pieces of dough from the main batch. Roll each ball into a 1/2-inch thick dowel (rope) and cut each dowel into 1/2-inch pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and continue until finished with all dough.
In a 12 to 14-inch skillet with at least 3-inch sides, heat the oil to 375 degrees F. Drop enough balls in to cover about half of the surface of frying oil and cook until dark golden brown. Use a slotted spoon to turn them regularly, and expect them to puff up while cooking. As they finish, remove them to a tray covered with paper towels, and drain well. This should take at least 5 batches.
When all of the struffoli are cooked, heat the honey, lemon juice, and zest together in a wide 6 to 8 quart saucepan until quite warm, about 150 degrees F, and substantially thinner. Add struffoli to honey and stir carefully until well coated. Remove from heat and allow to cool 5 minutes in the pan, stirring regularly. Pour out into a large serving tray in the form of either a pyramid or a ring mold. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve.
Yogurt Panna Cotta with Strawberry Coulis/
Panna cotta allo yogurt con coulis di fragole
This creamy, delightful, easy to make panna cotta (Italian for “cooked cream”) is also quite impressive. The recipes is from Luigi's Al Tiramisu Restaurant Cookbook. The use of yogurt instead of the traditional cream makes this dessert as light as air and also adds a refreshing acidic punch that goes perfectly with fruit. Let the season guide your choice of fruit, from kiwi, to raspberries or blackberries. You can make the panna cotta in a large, family-style container or in elegant individual servings. You can also prepare it a day ahead of your dinner party and simply cover and place in the refrigerator until needed.
Serves 6
Ingredients:
½ cup whole milk
½ cup sugar, plus additional, if needed
1 ½ gelatin sheets (or 1 ½ teaspoons gelatin powder), dissolved in enough cold water to cover
1 ½ cups plain, full-fat yogurt, strained in a colander for an hour prior to using
½ pound fresh strawberries, cleaned and trimmed
Preparation:
Place the milk and sugar in a saucepan. Bring almost to a boil over medium heat. Remove from heat and stir in the gelatin. Whisk well to combine so that the mixture doesn’t curdle. Add in the yogurt. Mix well to incorporate. Pour the panna cotta into a glass or ceramic container.
Cover, place in the refrigerator and cool for at least two hours.
To make the strawberry coulis:
Slice the strawberries. Place into a food processor and pulse until a sauce is formed. Taste. If not sweet enough, add a little more of the sugar. Store in the refrigerator until serving.
To serve, drizzle the strawberry coulis on the panna cotta, or serve the coulis in a small container on the side.
Cannoli
Cannoli are by far the most widely appreciated of all Sicilian desserts.We served them at our Sure Fire Italian Desserts classes at Al Tiramisu. They are one of the many recipes that owe their survival to the convents. Many traditional Sicilian sweets were once prepared by the women of the harem in the town of Caltanissetta during Arab rule (827-1091CE). When the Normans forced the Arabs out of Sicily, many Muslim women took refuge in the convents, and introduced their pastry making techniques to the Nuns.
Over the years the recipe took many turns and incorporated local Sicilian ingredients like local sheep’s milk ricotta, lard, and Marsala – as well as imports from the new world – such as chocolate-and the fantastic pistachios of Bronte…which once grew only in Afghanistan. This recipe is my favorite – one that combines simple, good quality ingredients that are readily available.
While they seem intimidating to make at first, a few special techniques (that unfortunately get left out of many recipes) make them easy to execute. Keep in mind that you will need cannoli molds, a rolling pin, a pastry bag or a plastic bag with the tip cut-off, a thermometer, a 3 ½-inch round cookie cutter, and a fine mesh strainer for best results. You will also need a minimum of three hours to drain the ricotta filling, and if the ricotta you are using is watery, you will need to drain it overnight before beginning the recipe.
Makes approximately 25
Ingredients
For the filling:
2 pounds hand-dipped ricotta, drained overnight in a colander if watery
4 cups powdered sugar, plus additional for garnish
Zest of 1 orange
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon pure cinnamon
For the shells:
2 cups all purpose flour, plus extra for work surface
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cocoa
Pinch of salt
1/3 cup butter, at room temperature
2 large eggs
1 egg white
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons dry Marsala, or as needed
Peanut oil for frying
1 cup shelled, unsalted pistachios, finely ground
Preparation
Prepare the filling by combining the ricotta, powdered sugar, orange zest, vanilla, and cinnamon in a medium sized bowl.
Stir well to combine. Transfer mixture to a fine mesh colander and set over a bowl. Refrigerate, covered, for a minimum of 3 hours, or overnight, until mixture has thickened.
To make the shells:
In a large bowl, or the bowl of a standing mixer, combine the 2 cups of flour, sugar, cocoa, and salt. Add the butter, and mix well to combine. Stir in the eggs, and combine until you have a dough. Add the white wine vinegar, and just enough Marsala to form a smooth dough (you may need more or less than the 2 tablespoons depending upon the consistency of your butter, and humidity in the air).
Form the dough into a disk and wrap it in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for an hour.
Remove the dough from the refrigerator and place onto a lightly floured surface.
Add 3-inches of oil to a large, heavy bottom saucepan or an electric deep fryer. Heat oil to 380F degrees.
Lightly flour a rolling pin and roll out the dough as thinly as possible – approximately (1/16-inch). Keep in mind that this is the same thickness as most pastas – and a pasta machine can be used to roll out the dough.
Dip the ends of a 3 ½ inch cookie cutter in flour, and cut 3 ½-inch circles out of dough.
Place a cannoli form at the top end of a circle and roll the dough over the form.
Use the egg white to seal the edges, and holding the form in one hand, use the other to flair the ends of the dough slightly. Repeat with remaining dough circles and cannoli forms.
When oil has reached 380F degrees, use tongs to carefully lower 3 shells in at a time.
Allow the shells to fry for approximately 1 minute – or until puffed and golden. Do not allow shells to scorch.
Using tongs, or a metal strainer, carefully remove shells from oil (tubes will be full of oil, turn them slightly to release oil before lifting out of pan or fryer) and place onto a plate lined with paper towels.
Double check temperature, and increase heat if necessary, ensuring that oil is 380F degrees. Continue frying cannoli shells in the same fashion.
Cool the cannoli shells with forms still attached for a few minutes. When cool enough to handle, slide forms off of cannoli shells and re-use with remaining dough.
Once you have used all of the dough circles, gather the scraps of dough and re-roll to /16-inch thickness. Make additional circles and continue frying until you have used all of the dough. Allow shells to cool.
Place filling in a pastry bag with a 1-inch nozzle attachment or in a large plastic bag with the edge snipped off.
Place the nozzle or edge of pastry bag in the cannoli shell and squeeze to fill.
Place the pistachio shells on a plate and dip the cannoli ends in them.
Place on a platter. Place ½ cup of powdered sugar in a fine mesh sieve and tap over the cannoli to garnish.
Refrigerate until serving. If you like crispy cannoli, be sure to fill them just before serving.
Bonet
This is one of our favorite recipes which was featured in the Italian Sentimento blog in an article called "Party in Piemonte."
In Piemontese dialect, the word bonet means hat and there are two theories explaining why: some linguists believe that bonèt ëd cusin-a (chef’s hat) was the name of the hat-shaped copper mold used to make the dish. Many people in Piedmont, however, will tell you that the name comes from the fact it “caps off” a meal……
INGREDIENTS:
Serves 2
FOR CARAMEL
1 tablespoon water
1/3 cup sugar
FOR CREAM:
1 egg
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 ounces (1/3 cup) crushed amaretti cookies or macaroons
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup whole milk
PREPARATION:
Preheat oven to 325F degrees. Place the sugar into a small sauce pan and add the water, then put it onto the heat, and stir.
Once it melts, increase the heat to medium high, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon until the sugar turns amber colored and begins to foam and raise up in pan, approximately 5-10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir well as caramel continues to darken in color. (Be very careful not to touch or splatter caramel at this point, as it can cause serious burns. Pour the caramel into the appropriate moulds for Bônet and leave to cool.
Put the whole egg into a bowl and beat them together with the sugar. Blend in the cocoa powder and mix thoroughly, and then add the crushed Amaretti biscuits and the vanilla. Heat the milk separately and then add it to the mixture, mixing continuously with a whisk. Pour the mixture into the caramel-coated molds or ramekins.
Put the molds into a baking tray containing hot water and cook bain-marie style in the oven for 40’-50’, until the dessert has completely coagulated. Allow to cool. Transfer to the refrigerator and cool completely. Serve cold.
Tiramisu classico/Classic Tiramisu
This is the classic tiramisu recipe which, as noted below, you can present in many ways. Tiramisu needs time to set, so for best results prepare it a few hours in advance, or preferably the night before you plan on serving it.
Serves: 8
Ingredients
8 ounces mascarpone cheese
4 eggs, divided
6 ounces sugar, divided
1 ½ cups sugar, divided
1 ounce dry rum
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 ½ cups espresso
40 lady fingers
Preparation
In a large bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, or in an ordinary large bowl, combine the egg yolks and sugar and beat for approximately 5 minutes, or until the mixture is very creamy and light yellow. Add the mascarpone and vanilla and mix thoroughly.
Place the egg whites in another bowl and whip until stiff peaks form. (This can be done with the standing mixer, electric beaters, or a wire whisk).
Place espresso in a shallow dish. Dip 1/2 of the lady fingers in espresso and use them to line the bottom of a 9x13-inch glass or porcelain baking dish.
Make 2 parallel lines of lady fingers on the bottom of the pan.
Stir 2 tablespoons sugar into the rum and drizzle mixture evenly over the lady fingers.
Spread half of the mascarpone mixture over the top of the lady fingers.
Dip the other 1/2 of the lady fingers in the espresso and make two parallel lines to cover the top of the mascarpone mixture.
Spread the remaining half of mascarpone mixture over the top of the lady fingers.
Store in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight.
Dust with cocoa powder to cover the top and serve.
Italian Cooking Primer
Today’s version of tiramisu is said to have originated in the early 1970s in Treviso, a town northwest of Venice. A similar dessert called Zuppa del Duca or Duke’s Pudding, was reputedly made in Sienna in the late 1600s for the visit of the Grand Duke Cosimo III de Medici. You can prepare this recipe in a baking dish and serve individual portions using a pastry server. You can make Tiramisu in martini glasses for a chic individual presentation, cutting lady fingers to make them fit, or in round glasses that measure about 3 inches in diameter and 2-inches deep.
Buon appetito e buona domenica a tutti!
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