Italian deep-fried doughnuts known as bomboloni are one of the traditional sweets of the Carnival season, but nowadays they can be prepared throughout the year. Even though bomboloni are said to be of Tuscan origin, they are commonly sold as a snack in numerous pasticcerias, bakeries, and coffee shops throughout the country.
However, in Tuscany and further to the north of Italy, bomboloni are simply sugar-coated, while in Lazio these delectable treats take on a more decadent appearance, as biting into their sugary crust reveals a silky cream on the inside. The so-called bombolone Laziale is typically filled with either classic custard cream called crema pasticcera, or sometimes even chocolate cream.
MOST ICONIC Bomboloni
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Grandma's cake—as translated in English—is actually a soft pastry pie filled with a rich, delicate custard cream, topped with toasted pine nuts, and lastly dusted with powdered sugar. This delicious cream pie is considered to be a traditional Tuscan dessert, although it is equally popular across the country and supposedly everyone's nonna makes a slightly different version: while some flavor the cream with vanilla and lemon zest, others use ricotta cheese for the filling.
MOST ICONIC Torta della nonna
These hard almond biscuits visually resemble tiny slices of bread, or cantellus in Latin, which is how they gained the name cantuccini, though they are also known as biscotti, meaning twice-baked. Cantuccini supposedly originated in the Tuscan city of Prato in the 16th century, and they were even served at the Medici court.
However, according to some historical records, they did not contain any almonds, being similar to the already famed biscuits from Pisa and Genova. Almonds were added to the recipe towards the end of the 19th century, after which Tuscan bakers started using butter and leavening agents to give the cantuccini a longer shelf life and make them suitable for export.
MOST ICONIC Cantuccini Toscani
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A typical dessert of Sienese cuisine, ricciarelli di Siena are soft almond biscuits whose origins date back to the 14th century. According to a popular legend, they were named after a Sienese nobleman Ricciardetto Della Gherardesca, who brought similar lozenge-shaped Arab sweets to Siena upon his return from the Crusades.
Back then, these cookies were also known as marzapanetti alla Senese or morzelletti, and they were reserved for the lavish banquets and feasts of Tuscan royalty, since almond paste or marzipan was a precious and expensive ingredient sold only in Renaissance apothecaries along with the most exotic spices of the time.
MOST ICONIC Ricciarelli di Siena
View morePanforte di Siena is a traditional dessert also known as Siena cake. The modern panforte variety is made with nuts, dried fruit, and a generous amount of spices such as cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. All of the ingredients are combined with a sugary syrup, usually made with butter, sugar, and honey, and the cake is generously dusted with powdered sugar.
This mixture of ingredients forms an unusual and dense cake with a firm structure and an interesting flavor combination. Believed to have originated in the 13th century in Siena, a city in central Tuscany, it has become an indispensable part of traditional Italian confectionery production.
MOST ICONIC Panforte di Siena
View moreThis traditional Italian chestnut cake is prepared with chestnut flour, olive oil, rosemary, raisins, and (occasionally) pine nuts. The recipe does not call for any other type of flour or sugar, making this cake a gluten-free and sugar-free delicacy.
Some varieties may use other dried fruits, but the traditional version only includes raisins. All the ingredients used in castagnaccio create a dense, not overly sweet cake with a crunchy exterior and chewy interior. Originally, the cake was created as a poor man's dessert and was prepared seasonally, most commonly in winter months, when chestnuts are at their peak.
MOST ICONIC Castagnaccio
View moreZuccotto is a famous Italian dessert believed to have originated in Florence. It is assembled by lining up softened ladyfingers or a sponge cake around the mold to create the frame of the cake, while the center is filled with a delicious, creamy filling.
Finally, the cake is turned upside down before serving. It is believed that the unusual appearance of this dessert was designed to resemble the famous dome of the Florence Cathedral. The recipe is an ancient Italian creation, dating back to the 16th century, and it is believed that the famous Bernardo Buountalenti, the man who invented gelato, actually created the first zuccotto.
MOST ICONIC Zuccotto
These traditional Italian Christmas cookies were originally invented in Siena. They have a soft texture and consist of flour, nuts, candied fruit, and various spices. Originally, cavallucci were prepared without nuts or candied fruit – only flour, sugar, honey, and anise seeds were used.
The name is believed to be a derivation of the word cavallo, meaning horse – this is either a reference to their shape, which is reminiscent to a horse hoof, or because they were imprinted with a tiny horse on top in the past.
MOST ICONIC Cavallucci
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Traditionally prepared in fall to celebrate the Tuscan grape harvest, schiacciata con l'uva is considered a typical Florentine dessert or snack, even though it is often said to be of ancient Etruscan origin. It is a type of sweet, double-layered, focaccia-style flatbread studded with fresh grapes, typically of the fragrant Isabella variety.
Known in Italy as uva fragola (lit. strawberry grapes), these aromatic red grapes are prized especially for their sweetness, which wonderfully complements the olive oil scented bread. This Tuscan treat can only be found in September and October, and once the harvest is over, it takes a whole year for the flavorful schiacciata con l'uva to appear again in local bakeries, when it can be enjoyed freshly baked not only for breakfast but at any other time of the day.
MAIN INGREDIENTS
Dolce di castagne is a traditional chestnut cake originating from Tuscany. The cake is usually made with a combination of chestnut flour, yeast, sugar, salt, butter, eggs, breadcrumbs, milk, and lemon juice. The eggs are mixed with sugar, lemon juice, milk, chestnut flour, salt, and dissolved yeast.
The dough is placed into a buttered baking pan that’s been dusted with breadcrumbs, and it’s left to rise for about two hours. Once risen, the cake is baked in the oven for more than half an hour or until it becomes browned. After it cools down slightly, dolce di castagne is cut into slices and served on individual plates.
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