Southern Italian Desserts: Rediscovering the Sweet Traditions of Calabria, Campania, Basilicata, Puglia, and Sicily by Rosetta Costantino and Jennie Schacht

  • Soft almond cookies (Pasticcini di mandorla)

    Soft almond cookies (Pasticcini di mandorla)

    from Southern Italian Desserts: Rediscovering the Sweet Traditions of Calabria, Campania, Basilicata, Puglia, and Sicily Southern Italian Desserts by Rosetta Costantino and Jennie Schacht

    • Categories: Cookies, biscuits & crackers; Afternoon tea; Cooking ahead; Cooking for a crowd; Italian; Gluten-free
    • Ingredients: blanched almonds; granulated sugar; egg whites; clover honey; almond extract; pistachio nuts
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Notes about Recipes in this book

  • Watermelon pudding tart (Crostata al gelo di mellone)

    • lou_weez on December 27, 2020

      The crust was great. The watermelon gelo was weird. The consistency was not something any of us could get our head around. It tasted ok , just had an add mouth feel. A sad waste.

  • White chocolate gelato with pistachio cream swirl (Gelato bianco variegato al pistacchio)

    • lpiermarini on April 01, 2026

      This is amazing! A great gelato!

  • Semolina cake for Carnevale (Il migliaccio dolce di Carnevale)

    • Melanie on April 22, 2014

      This made a deliciously moist cake - I loved the flavour and texture of it. I think this would also be lovely without the candied orange peel. Made for Easter lunch.

    • TrishaCP on April 13, 2020

      This is a really interesting cake. I picked it to use up my remaining stash of candied orange rind, but I liked the parts of the cake without it better. (My orange rind all sunk to the bottom, so I guess I should have cut it finer.) It says you can serve this straight from the fridge, but it definitely tastes better warmer.

  • Ricotta and candied orange filling

    • okmosa on April 07, 2024

      Great recipe for candied orange peel. I’ve used what I need for my recipe and have been snacking on the leftovers. This recipe makes more than a cup of candied orange peel.

  • Orange-scented olive oil cake (Ciambella all'arancia)

    • TrishaCP on January 04, 2020

      I decided to bake this cake as I have a large amount of candied orange peel that needed to be used. This is a really light and moist cake, but it stuck very badly to part of the pan. It turned out that the candied orange peel sunk to the bottom of the pan (the batter was very light), and then stuck to the pan due to the sugar content. Le sigh. I did not have the optional orange extract on hand, and even with the large amount of orange zest and juice (and the peel)- it wasn’t a strongly orange-tasting cake.

  • Peach-shaped cakes filled with ricotta cream (Pesche con crema di ricotta)

    • lou_weez on July 19, 2019

      These were easy enough to make and assemble and I love that they brought back so many memories of eating at Nonna’s. I used a melon ball scoop to hollow out the biscuits which made quick work of that step. Lovely little after dinner treat.

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  • ISBN 10 1607744023
  • ISBN 13 9781607744023
  • Linked ISBNs
  • Published Nov 12 2013
  • Format Hardcover
  • Page Count 224
  • Language English
  • Countries United States
  • Publisher Ten Speed Press
  • Imprint Ten Speed Press

Publishers Text

An authentic guide to the festive, mouthwatering sweets of Southern Italy, including regional specialties that are virtually unknown in this country as well as variations on more popular desserts such as cannoli, biscotti, and gelato. 

In Southern Italian Desserts, author of the acclaimed My Calabria, Rosetta Costantino, collects seventy-five favorite recipes from the regions of Calabria, Campania, Basilicata, Puglia, and Sicily. These picturesque areas have a rich history of beautiful desserts, many of them tied to holidays and festivals. For example, Zeppole di San Giuseppe are doughnut-like pastries topped with cream and cherries, traditionally made in Campania for the celebration of Father’s Day. And the Sicilian chilled watermelon pudding Gelo di Mellone is a refreshing dish served in summer for the festival of Palermo’s patron saint, Rosalia. Other desserts such as persimmon gelato, chocolate-dipped figs stuffed with almonds and candied orange peel, and chocolate-hazelnut cake rolls celebrate Southern Italy’s local bounty and traditional foods. With recipes for more familiar Italian desserts such as cannoli and gelato, as well as deliciously obscure sweets such as rich cassatas, almond-flecked cookies, and flaky cream-filled sfogliatelle pastries, Southern Italian Desserts features a treat for every occasion.
     In addition to explaining the regional history, symbolism, and lore behind the desserts, Costantino teaches you how to stock your dessert pantry and provides all of the foundational recipes you need to embark on a sweet tour of the Italian south from your kitchen. This delightful confection of a cookbook will expand your dessert repertoire and leave you dreaming of Italy. Buon appetito!

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