Italian desserts are wholly scrumptious and one-of-a-kind! The best thing about Italian desserts is that they focus on natural flavors and ingredients. You won’t find any heavy frosting or filling inside Italian desserts, only fresh flavors that are just sweet enough to satisfy your cravings.
Even if you try Italian desserts with dairy components, you will only find light options like ricotta and mascarpone in them. These elements are not cloying and can add a lovely tang to a dessert. Even though you might be familiar with classic Italian desserts like tiramisu and biscotti, several other sweet choices will remind you of traditional Italian flavors.
The Best Italian Desserts That Will Wow You
Italian Butter Cookies
You will instantly recognize Italian butter cookies if you have seen them or tried these cookies during the holidays. They are a cross between sugar and shortbread cookies and are the perfect accompaniment for tea or coffee on cold days.
As per their name, these cookies are incredibly buttery and rich. They taste perfectly delicious without added glaze or frosting, and the buttery goodness can win you over instantly. The dough of these Italian butter cookies is mixed with eggs and, therefore, has a lovely color.
If you want to make Italian butter cookies at home, you can follow several recipes to make the perfect ones for you and your family. They are a great holiday treat, and you can try making the perfect swirl of cookies on your baking sheet with your children during Christmas.
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Tiramisu
When you try tiramisu for the first time, you will become convinced that it is the best dessert ever made. It has a moist sponge cake, rich, delicious coffee, a creamy sweet filling, and a lot of chocolate.
You can also add some alcohol for extra flavor. Aside from the fantastic taste, tiramisu is quite easy to make, even if you are on your own. You need to make or buy ladyfingers that are either hard and crunchy or soft and spongy.
To make it even more intense, you can also brew your own coffee for this dessert or pick up a quality espresso from your local coffee shop. The mascarpone mixture is a little tricky to make, but you will only need to layer the finished items once you are done.
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Chocolate and Pistachio Biscotti
Biscotti is an Italian twice-baked, hard, and crunchy cookie that tastes delicious when paired with a hot cup of coffee or tea. Biscotti is also the Italian word for a biscuit. Chocolate and pistachio biscotti is made with real chocolate and cocoa, making it a double-chocolate treat.
This type of biscotti is dry, sweet, and warm when fresh out of the oven, and it tastes delicious with a sprinkling of pistachios and melted chocolate.
What makes it so crunchy and hard is the twice-baking process. Biscotti is baked first as a log and then as individual fingers. You can keep the biscotti in a dry, airtight container to keep it cool and ensure it lasts long. It has a chocolaty and nutty taste, making it perfect for sharing with friends over a cup of tea. You can even share biscotti as a small gift to others, no matter the occasion.
Panna Cotta
Panna cotta is a silky and smooth Italian dessert made from gelatin and sweetened cream. It tastes wonderfully creamy and has simple and elegant flavors.
You can even enjoy panna cotta in a tart and enjoy its sweet, rich, and dreamy flavor with a crunchy crust. It has a slightly milky and sweet flavor and a toasty taste that comes from the golden sugar. The cream of the panna cotta is flavored with vanilla or coffee, which gives it a subtle fragrance.
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Strawberry Gelato
Have you wondered what the difference is between ice cream and gelato? Gelato and ice cream may seem similar but are quite distinct in taste.
Both ice cream and gelato are made of sugar, milk, cream, and eggs. Nevertheless, gelato contains more milk than cream in it. Moreover, gelato is churned and made at a much slower rate than ice cream, which makes it much more delicious and allows it to incorporate less air.
Strawberry gelato is a delicious flavor of gelato that incorporates the natural flavor of the fruit. To make good strawberry gelato, you don’t even need to incorporate eggs; you can make dreamy gelato with just a cornstarch solution instead of eggs. We recommend trying strawberry gelato for the first time on a hot summer day to refresh yourself.
Panettone
Panettone is a Christmas favorite dessert that is most commonly found around Christmas time. It is dome-shaped and large and can be in different flavors and sizes.
The most common types of panettones you can find in stores are plain, chocolate, or loaded with candied fruits. It takes a long time to make panettone at home, and it is quite an exhaustive process allowing the yeast to rise.
Panettone is also hung upside down to cool, so it is best to buy a store-bought version of panettone.
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Cannolis
Cannolis are everything you would want in a dessert. They are crispy, creamy, and delightfully sweet. Cannolis have a crispy shell and a sweet, creamy filling that is almost like a cheesecake.
Although you might devour cannolis easily on your own, it isn’t easy to make them at home. If you have never tried making the cannoli shell, you will find that making and frying those can be a real challenge.
The filling can be simple as per your liking. You can make the filling by adding ricotta cheese, confectioner’s sugar, mini chocolate chips, and vanilla extract. For an extra sweet touch, you can sprinkle these cannolis with icing sugar.
Zeppole
Zeppole are Italian donut holes that are fluffy, sweet, light, and melt-in-your-mouth delicious. After you fry these delicious donuts, you need to cover them with some powdered sugar to make the perfect bite-sized treat.
It is not a fancy treat, but its simplicity and elegant flavors are what make it so yummy. You can also coat the zeppole with cinnamon sugar instead of powdered sugar for added flavor.
The best part about this recipe is that you can complete making it in just half an hour. You can prepare them for your kids, and they will love these quick, sweet snacks.
Torta Barozzi
Torta Barozzi is an absolutely delightful Italian dessert that was first created in 1886. Its original recipe has been kept secret for years, and many chefs have tried to recreate it ever since.
It is a hard-to-resist dessert that is made from coffee, peanuts, almonds, and dark chocolate. Together these nutty and bitter ingredients combine to make the most decadent and divine chocolate-based dessert ever.
Lemon Ricotta Cake
Ricotta and lemon are fantastic ingredients for a cake, like a match made in heaven. The zesty and sour flavor of the lemon mixed with the tanginess and creaminess of the ricotta can make for a fantastic Italian-flavor-inspired cake.
You can also toast some almonds for the tangy cake and place them on top to provide some fantastic flavor and crunch to the cake. Adding ricotta allows you to add the same fantastic moisture to this cake as that can be expected from sour cream.
Always ensure to use full-fat products since they give your dish an extra bit of sweetness. The lemon flavor of the cake is not too overpowering and is well-balanced by the ricotta added to the cake.
8 of the Most Popular Italian Desserts You Have to Try
If you’re visiting Italy, you will surely want to try some of its decadent desserts. You will find out that many Italian regions have developed their own favorite desserts, and it is worth trying a couple of them.
Best Italian Desserts – Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What are the five most popular Italian desserts?
The five most popular Italian desserts are panna cotta, Babà, Tartufo di Pizzo, Tiramisù, and Cassata Siciliana.
What is the most famous dessert in Italy?
The most famous dessert in Italy is the Tiramisù.
What dessert is Milan known for?
Milan is known for a sweet bread with candied fruits and raisins called panettone.
Summary
From tiramisu to panna cotta, Italian desserts can help you finish your meal with the perfect touch of sweetness without making you feel heavy. The desserts mentioned above are some of the most famous Italian desserts you can find in the USA at Italian Delis and restaurants and, more commonly, in Italy.
Some of the dishes are more common than others, such as the luscious strawberry gelato and creamy tiramisu. However, some have the potential to become your regular favorites, such as the chocolate and pistachio biscotti.
My name is Jay and I started this website to share my love of Deli Food. I am Jewish with Italian ancestry and grandparents who emigrated to the US from Poland, Russia and Turkey. This website is my celebration of the delicious flavors of international deli culture. Please feel free to send me your suggestions and feedback through the contact form.
