There are so many typical Sicilian desserts that they deserve an article just for them. They are complex sweets and some are not easy to make, but all very beautiful to look at, tastefully garnished and very good to eat.
So here is a roundup of typical Sicilian sweets starting with the famous Sicilian cannoli, Sicilian cassata, almond paste or marzipan and many others. Let's start with the Sicilian cannoli, a dessert that is truly known all over the world.
Sicilian-style cannoli
Needed for the Sicilian cannoli
grams 270 of flour
grams 40 of lard (or alternatively butter)
grams 40 of sugar
1 whole egg
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons of white wine vinegar
grams 50 of Marsala (liqueur wine produced in Sicily)
the zest of an orange
cinnamon powder, salt and peanut oil to taste
grams 700 of ricotta
grams 200 of sugar to be used with the ricotta for the filling
candied cherries, pistachios or chocolate drops for garnish
Preparing the Sicilian cannoli
Let's start by preparing the actual cannoli, which will then be filled with ricotta cheese. The dough for the cannoli should be prepared several hours in advance and left to rest in the fridge. We recommend at least 6 hours.
In a bowl, mix the flour with the sugar, lard, the whole beaten egg, the two spoons of white wine vinegar, the Marsala wine, the grated orange peel and the cinnamon powder, mixing everything together and working with your hands to form a rather firm and elastic dough. Wrap the dough in cling film and refrigerate for a few hours.
Remove from the fridge, knead the dough with your hands and cut it into many smaller pieces, which you roll out with a rolling pin to form a rather fine sheet. Using a breakfast cup, form many circles which should be stretched a little to form an oval.
At this point, in order to fry the cannoli, we need metal cylinders, which can be found precisely for this use, and we will need as many as we want to make, because before removing the already fried cannoli from the cylinder, it must be completely cold.
The puff pastry ovals that we have prepared should be wrapped around these cylinders and when they are all ready, use the beaten egg yolk to brush the surface. Allow the cannoli to rest for a few minutes before frying, then dip them in plenty of peanut oil for about half a minute, turning them continuously, then pass them in blotting paper to remove excess oil.
While they are cooling, prepare the filling.
Sift the ricotta and work it in with an electric whisk and incorporate the sugar.
Fill the cannoli, which you have removed from the metal cylinders, with the ricotta and garnish both sides with chocolate chips or chopped pistachios or candied orange slices and bring to the table.
Sicilian Cassata
This is the queen of Sicilian pastries, it is very well known internationally and has an unmistakable taste, the only flaw being that it is a not inconsiderable concentration of sugar.
Its preparation is not easy and is rather long.
Needed for the Sicilian cassata
4 eggs at room temperature
grams 120 of sugar
grams 60 of 00-type flour
grams 60 of potato starch
1 vanilla pod (this for the sponge cake)
800 grams of fresh sheep's milk ricotta
grams 300 of sugar
chocolate chips (this for the ricotta cream)
grams 150 of almond flour
grams 150 of sugar
grams 50 of water
green food colour (as far as marzipan or royal pastry is concerned)
grams 100 of water
grams 50 of sugar
3 tablespoons of rum (as far as the syrup is concerned)
grams 200 of icing sugar
4 tablespoons of water (for the sugar icing)
assorted candied fruit for garnish
Preparing the Sicilian cassata
You have to start preparing both the sponge cake and the ricotta the day before. The sponge cake because it will be easier to cut without crumbling, the ricotta initially needs to be drained well to remove most of the whey, then mixed with sugar and covered with cling film and refrigerated for at least 12 hours.
We then prepare the sponge cake.
To make this recipe we will need a planetary mixer or electric whisk as the dough has to be worked for a long time.
Then in a bowl break the eggs, remove the seeds from the inside of the vanilla pod and add them to the eggs, add a pinch of salt and start beating the eggs, slowly adding the sugar. The mixture obtained should be frothy and increase in volume, it will take about 15 minutes.
When the mixture is ready, add the flour and potato starch, working the mixture with a wooden spoon very gently from the bottom up to prevent the eggs from falling apart. Once everything is blended, place it in a buttered and floured cake tin and bake in a preheated oven at 160 degrees for about 50 minutes. Once cooled, keep it at room temperature covered with cling film for at least 12 hours.
Now prepare the royal pastry or marzipan. Melt the sugar with the water in a small pan, cooking over a low flame until the sugar has dissolved. Add the almond paste and green food colouring. Remove from the heat as soon as the ingredients are mixed and place the dough on a work surface where it will be kneaded with your hands as soon as it is cold until it is soft and smooth.
To mix well, use a little icing sugar instead of flour if necessary. With a rolling pin, roll out the dough until it is 7 to 8 millimetres thick. Now prepare the rum bath, which will be used to moisten both the marzipan and the sponge cake. Mix the water and rum with the sugar and it is ready to use. We now begin the actual construction of the Sicilian cassata.
Cut the sponge cake into 3 disks of equal thickness. One of the three disks should be cut into both vertical and horizontal strips to form small trapeziums. The same should be done with the sheet of royal or marzipan pastry. These alternating pieces will be used to cover the edge of the cake tin, which in this case is unusual in that the edge of the cake tin is flared.
Once the whole edge is covered, place another of the whole sponge cake disks on the bottom of the cake tin. Both the edge and the bottom at this point are moistened with the rum bath, taking care to distribute it evenly over the entire surface.
With a sharp knife, remove the excess of the pieces sticking out from the edge of the cake tin. Now take the ricotta cheese that had been placed in the refrigerator and pass it a couple of times through a sieve to make it a soft and smooth mixture and while stirring add the chocolate chips. With a spoon put the ricotta mixture to fill the cake, levelling it with a spatula.
Crumble the leftover sponge cake and the one cut from the edges and put it on top of the ricotta, levelling it well. Cover everything with cling film and leave to rest for at least two to three hours in the refrigerator. Now the cassata is turned out onto a tray and the finishing touches are applied. We prepare the icing with which to cover the entire cake.
Put the sugar and water in a small saucepan on the stove and let it cook, stirring until a white, creamy mixture is obtained, which should be applied over the entire surface of the cassata while it is still hot so that it just sets. As soon as it has cooled, garnish the cassata with assorted candied fruit and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Sicilian orange bread
Needed for the Sicilian orange bread
grams 200 flour
grams 200 sugar
grams 100 of butter
3 medium eggs at room temperature
1 sachet of baking powder
1 whole orange, both juice and grated peel
for the icing
grams 120 of icing sugar
juice of 1 orange
grams 40 of candied oranges
Preparation of the Sicilian orange bread
Mix together the eggs and sugar with an electric whisk until frothy. Slowly add the softened butter, flour and sachet of baking powder.
With a mixer, finely chop the orange, which we have first washed and cut into pieces. Add the chopped orange to the mixture and mix well to combine everything. Place the mixture in a cake tin or a plumcake mould and bake in a preheated oven at 160 degrees for about 50 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare the icing. Dissolve the icing sugar in the juice of an orange to obtain a kind of syrup with which to brush the surface of the cake after removing it from the oven. Garnish with pieces of candied oranges.
Sicilian almond paste biscuits
Ingredients for Sicilian almond paste biscuits
grams 230 already peeled almonds
grams 180 sugar
2 eggs, just the white
1 teaspoon of almond flavouring
grated peel of half a lemon
candied cherries for garnish
Preparation of Sicilian almond paste biscuits
Chop the peeled almonds very finely with a mixer, add the sugar, the whites of 2 eggs, the grated peel of half a lemon and the almond flavouring and chop again to mix the mixture well.
The end result is a fairly firm mixture with which to make small balls of dough, which you crush with your hands, placing a candied cherry in the centre. Once the biscuits are ready, they should be placed in a baking tin quite far apart and covered with cling film and refrigerated for at least 7 hours.
After this time, place the baking tin in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for about ten minutes. Remove from the oven when they are lightly browned and serve once they have cooled.
