I think mini cupcakes are among the prettiest sweets ever. There is nothing more beautiful and elegant than small, bite sized spongy cakes covered in a coloured swirl of fluffy icing. I only recently discovered these treats, but they quickly became a favourite of mine to bake and I often take them to parties and…
WHITE CHOCOLATE & RASPBERRY VERRINES WITH MASCARPONE & YOGURT CREAM
I often find that great recipes are born by chance (or by necessity?). Actually, some of the best recipes, like the one I am going to post about today, get to see the light of day because I have a few things in the fridge (or freezer) that have to be finished. I then take…
GÂTEAU BRETON
Bretagne is the area of France I love the most (together with Provence). I went there only once, as a child, but it was so breathtakingly beautiful that I remember it clearly. I have the memory of eating a fantastic fish soup in a restaurant in the walled city of Saint-Malo, while it was raining…
PASSION FRUIT & COCONUT CRÈME BRULÉE
Crème brulée is one my favourite desserts. I love to break the thick and bittersweet caramel crust to find the silky sweet cream underneath. I love contrasting flavours and textures in food as you find that they all melt together when you savour them giving you ONE distinctive taste. It is a bit like all…
RASPBERRY AND WHITE CHOCOLATE MACARONS
This recipe is long over due! I made these macarons with my mum when my parents came over for Christmas! They were to be given to my mother’s work colleagues on her return to Italy and they were a success! I have also been asked for the recipe… so ladies, here it goes! Apologies for…
ROSE LASSI
Today is Mother’s Day!!! I will be celebrating this special occasion with my family and we will have lunch at our favourite Indian restaurant, Abhi’s Indian Restaurant about which I wrote a review a few months ago. One thing that we will surely have is lassi. My girls LOVE mango lassi and that’s the thing they…
PAVLOVA
The last recipe from my “Come have some Aussie tucker, mate!” party is the Pavlova recipe. I kept the best for last… I have to warn you. It is not an easy dessert to make and mine did not come out perfect either, as it did crack a bit. Luckily the taste was not affected…
FAIRY BREAD
The first time I ever heard about “fairy bread” I was at a play-date with 2 other mums. When they explained to me what it was I found it hard to believe that someone could really go crazy for something like “that”. But let me tell you that I completely changed my mind the first…
LAMINGTONS
Lamingtons are squares or rectangles of sponge cake, dipped in chocolate icing and coated witn desiccated coconut. They are another iconic Australian food and I served them with tea for my “Come have some Aussie tucker, mate!” party. I had never made them before but was very happy I did as they were so much…
FOODBUZZ 24X24: COME HAVE SOME AUSSIE TUCKER, MATE!
Even though I am Italian, I have been living in Australia for the past 6 years. I love this country so much that I have formally become Australian a couple of years ago and I consider myself Australian as much as Italian. Australia is a wonderful country where people from different cultural backgrounds live together. …
COCONUT-CHOCOLATE CHIP SHORTBREAD COOKIES – THE SECRET RECIPE CLUB
It is time again for the “Secret recipe club” reveal! I am sure you all know what the club is about, but for the few of you who still don’t know about it, here goes a brief explanation. It is a great concept… each month you are assigned a participating food blogger to make a…
GAJAR KA HALWA – CARROT HALWA
Today I am going to share with you the recipe for a delicious Indian sweet: gajar ka halwa (or carrot halwa). It is one of my husband’s favourite sweets and he has been raving about his grandmother’s carrot halwa since I can remember. Unfortunately, he does not have his granny’s recipe, so I never made…
SALTED CARAMEL CHOCOLATES
Today is Easter and Easter calls for chocolate, lots of chocolate! We will be having Easter eggs at home, but today I want to share with you the recipe for something else: chocolates filled with salted caramel! I love salted caramel and I still had some of the Blue Persian salt caramel sauce that I had…
PASTIERA NAPOLETANA
Today I want to share with you the recipe for one of the most classic Italian Easter sweets: pastiera napoletana. As the name suggests, it is a typical cake from the city of Naples and it is a very ancient dish, as it appears to have originated before the Christian era, when it was eaten…
PEAR ICE CREAM IN PEAR WAFER BASKETS WITH SALTED CARAMEL SAUCE
Pear is one of my favourite fruits. I love the fact that it comes in many different varieties and that every season has its own special pear. I love that they are naturally sweet and refreshing. Even though I like them so much, I had never made ice cream with them. The other day I…
BLUE PERSIAN SALT CARAMEL SAUCE
My parents gave me a little bottle of Blue Persian salt when they came over on holiday and I love it. I think it looks so beautiful, with those intense blue reflexes. I am almost sorry to eat it! Hehe But I am trying to put it to its best use! This is one recipe…
FRUIT TARTELETTES
The other day, I made Genovesi Ericine and had some pastry left! I looked in the fridge and also found some crème patissière… and decided to whip up a quick dessert, one that I used to love as a child. Whenever we had people over for lunch, they would never come empty handed and they…
SFINCIUNI DI SAN GIUSEPPE
March 19th is St. Joseph’s Day. It is also Father’s Day in many Catholic countries (Italy included) as St. Jospeh was Jesus’ father and it is considered a symbol of fatherhood. It is also a very important day in Sicily and it is widely celebrated as St. Jospeh is one of the island’s patron saints. …
TORTA MIMOSA – MIMOSA CAKE
Tomorrow, March 8th, we celebrate International Woman’s Day, a day to honour women around the world for their accomplishments and to remember those who still need empowerment! What celebration would it be without a cake?? In Italy, men usually gift the women in their lives mimosa flowers for this special occasion. Mimosa has become the…
CANTUCCI
For today’s Regional Italian recipe, I want to take you back to Tuscany. After sharing two savoury dishes (Pollo alla Cacciatora and Tuscan Cabbage Soup) from this beautiful region, today I want to show you how to make Cantucci, also known as Biscotti di Prato (cookies from the town of Prato). The term biscotto (biscotti is the…
NUTELLA PIZZA
Sara from Ms. Adventures in Italy and Michelle from Bleeding Espresso have declared February 5th “World Nutella Day 2012″ – “a day to celebrate, to get creative with, and most importantly, to EAT Nutella”. Yay! What a FANTASTIC day! I know… nowadays Nutella is famous all over the world. And that is awesome as so many people…
AUNT MARIA’S ALMOND PARFAIT
Almond parfait is my favourite semifreddo. I love the crunch of the almond that contrasts with the otherwise soft ice cream like texture! It is a traditional Sicilian dessert, very popular in the area of Trapani, the city where my mum was born. I have already shared a recipe for almond parfait when I first…
BUCCELLATO – CUCCIDDATU
Buccellato is a Sicilian cake traditionally eaten during the holiday season, especially on Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve… so it had to be featured on the Sicilian Street Food New Year’s Eve Party I organised for this month’s Foodbuzz 24×24 event! It is a ring shaped shortbread cake filled with dried figs, raisins, candied fruits,…
CARBONE DELLA BEFANA – SWEET COAL
I thought of taking a little break from my Sicilian Street Food Party series of posts, to share this recipe with you. In Italy, Christmas holidays always end after January 6th as we celebrate the day of the Epiphany and the visitation of the Biblical Magi to the baby Jesus. That is also the last occasion…
CASSATINE SICILIANE
These cassatine are the snack version of the bigger and more famous Cassata Siciliana. They are pretty much the same thing (apart from the lack of candied fruits on the top), only smaller and more “street friendly” as they are often consumed on the go on the busy streets of Palermo. They are delicious little…
PISTACHIO GELATO
Sicily is very famous for its nut production, especially almonds and pistachios. There is a town in the Eastern part of Sicily called Bronte which is reknowed for the quality of the pistachios that grow in the area. I wanted to make ice cream and serve it in a brioche (as it is typically served on…
PROFITEROLES
Maybe not everyone knows that profiteroles, also known as choux pastries, are originally from Italy. In fact, they were introduced in France by Caterina de’ Medici, wife of Henry II of France, together with many other dishes. I love choux pastries or bignè, as we usually call them. They are so light and fluffy and…
