Another timeless classic among southern Italian desserts, buccellato is a delectable, ring-shaped cake that is typically prepared during the holiday season. This fruitcake was once also associated with the celebration of family milestones, and was traditionally exchanged as a gift among family members as a representation of good fortune and prosperity.

In the Sicilian dialect, buccellato is known as cucciddatu, and even though its origins are vague, this rich fruit and nut cake is yet another dish showing the Arab influence in Sicilian cuisine. Buccellato is made with shortbread pastry, which is often sweetened with honey and filled with dried figs, dates, raisins, candied fruits, chocolate, and all kinds of nuts — almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, or even pine nuts. 

Frutta martorana are traditional marzipan sweets shaped to resemble fruits or vegetables. These treats can be found throughout Palermo and Messina in Sicily. It is said that frutta martorana originated in Palermo, in the Martorana monastery, where the nuns made them with a combination of almonds and sugar, shaped them like fruits, and decorated the empty, barren trees in their courtyard in order to impress a visiting archbishop.

Eventually, the treats were sold to parishioners and became a great source of income for the church. The tradition is still alive in Palermo, especially on All Saints' Day, when frutta martorana can be found at most pastry shops in the city, with new varieties of the sweets, some of them even shaped like pane ca' meusa sandwich, a traditional street food item from Palermo.

This classic Italian dessert whose name translates to Easter lamb was supposedly first prepared in the early 1900s by Dominican nuns of the Collegio di Maria convent in Favara, Sicily. Agnello Pasquale is traditionally made with a mixture of almond and pistachio meal, which is flavored with either lemon zest or vanilla and often studded with candied fruit, raisins, and almonds.

The dish is baked in a lamb-shaped cake mold and then covered with butter frosting. During Eastertime, you can find this traditional delicacy in numerous pastry shops throughout the country.

Biscotti regina or the queen's cookies are crunchy, sesame seed coated biscuits that originated in Palermo, but nowadays can be found all over Sicily. Allegedly named after Queen Margherita of Savoia, these tasty treats are both sweet and savory in flavor due to the lightly toasted sesame crust which envelops the tender interior.

Traditionally, reginelle are enjoyed dipped in sweet dessert wines such as Marsala or Vin Santo, but they are also wonderful when dunked in coffee, hot chocolate, or tea.

Minne di Sant’Agata, meaning the breasts of St. Agatha, is a dessert that hails from the city of Catania, where it has traditionally been prepared during the ancient annual festival held in honor of the city’s virgin saint patron, St. Agatha.

Considered a smaller version of Sicilian cassata cake, minne di Sant’Agata consists of a semispherical shortcrust pastry filled with a combination of fresh sheep’s ricotta, dark chocolate, powdered sugar, and candied fruit. With a perfectly smooth, thick, pure white icing, and a bright red candied cherry placed in the middle, the dessert takes on a distinctive shape of female breasts that is supposed to evoke young St. Agatha’s breasts which, according to legend, were cruelly cut off as a punishment for her unwillingness to abandon faith. 

Cassatelle or casateddi are deep-fried Italian pastries that consist of a sugary filling enclosed within two thin layers of dough, which is enriched with white wine or Marsala. Often considered to be the sweet version of ravioli pasta, cassatelle originated in the Sicilian province of Trapani, where they are still traditionally prepared with a lemon-flavored filling that combines ricotta cheese and chocolate drops.

Apart from the traditional version, different varieties of this classic treat are widespread across Sicily. The most popular ones include cassatelle Agira, prepared with a cocoa-and-almond filling, and different varieties are made with pumpkin, figs, or chickpeas. 

Mulberry granita is a frozen Sicilian specialty that is prepared with puréed black mulberries, sugar, water, and lemon juice. The combination is then frozen and should be occasionally mixed with a fork to achieve its typical grainy texture.

Like other types of granita, this mulberry version is also sometimes topped with whipped cream, and typically comes served with Sicilian brioche (brioscia). It is a standard breakfast option, but it is also enjoyed as a refreshing dessert.

Biscotti di mandorla are soft almond biscuits or cookies that are prepared with a combination of finely crushed almonds, beaten egg whites, icing sugar, lemon zest, and almond flakes. The ingredients are combined into a thick almond paste which is then shaped into a desired form and baked until nicely colored.

The cookies are typically sprinkled with powdered or granulated sugar, and they are often garnished with ingredients such as candied maraschino cherries, whole almonds, pine nuts, pistachios, or hazelnuts. They may take on different shapes including small round balls, disks, or S-shapes, and they're also often flavored with almond and vanilla extracts. 

Although granita—frozen Sicilian dessert similar to sorbetto—is enjoyed throughout Sicily, the city of Messina is often dubbed as its spiritual home, and apart from typical flavors such as lemon, strawberry, chocolate, peach, mulberry, and pistachio, the most common specialty associated with the city is the coffee-flavored granita.

In Messina, granita has a coarser structure, and the coffee-flavored combination is often called mezza con panna, which translates as half with cream. This name stems from the ancient practice of serving granita in larger glasses and those who would prefer smaller portions would often order only half (mezza).