Accountants Who Cook

Our Cooking Challenge Overview

This is our first month of the 2023 Monthly Cooking Challenge and this week we bring you Italian Dessert recipes to experiment with and learn from. This month we have an appetizer, main course, desert, and cocktail. We are focusing on Italian desserts for this post. If you remember from our January Introduction post, this course is the Dolce. You can learn more about the 2023 Cooking Challenge on our introduction post and see other posts related the January theme of Italy here.

Dessert Course – Dolce background

Close your eyes and imagine the quintessential Italian dessert. I bet a lot of people thought about tiramisu, biscotti or gelato. These desserts seem to be popular around the world, especially where the Italian diaspora settled. There are also plenty of other desserts from simple to complex, and each holiday has its own dessert. And each region of Italy also has its own dessert traditions.

We’re sharing recipes for a couple of the popular desserts because they’re easy to master for homecooks and busy accountants. Once you master these, we encourage you to venture out into more diverse desserts. 

Cooking Challenge: Italian Dessert Recipes

We have included a few recipes for you to use in this challenge. However, feel free to use any recipe you want. Once you’ve made it, take a picture and share it on social media. Please make sure to tag #AccountantsWhoCook and @AccountantsCook so we can find it!

Italian Dessert Recipe: Biscotti

Biscotti originated in the Tuscan area of Italy and the current popular version is attributed to the city of Prato. The word comes from the Latin biscoctus, meaning twice baked or cooked. In Italy, the word biscotti can refer to a number of different types of cookies, but in English speaking countries it typically refers to singular long, crispy, twice-backed Italian cookie that comes from Tuscany. 

Similar types of cookies date back to the 14th century and some websites claim they go back to Roman times. The cookies were popular because they were durable and travelers could easily carry them on their journeys.  

Technically, biscotti is the plural form of biscotto but when traveling in Italy, ordering biscotti would imply you want more than one of them. But hey, more is always better!

In Tuscany, biscottis are served with Vin Santo, a type of desert wine.  The almond biscottis are dipped into the Vin Santo providing you with a digestive along with your sweet.

Most recipes take about an hour and there are many different varieties you can make.

Here is a recipe from Delish that takes about 30 minutes of preparation time and a total of 1 hour 20 minutes to make.

Katherine has made chocolate-walnut Biscotti several times and is her favorite biscotti to make.  https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/double-chocolate-walnut-biscotti-10994

Almonds have been an important ingredient in many italian dishes.  It is Scicily’s second largest crop.  One quick and easy recipe is Ameretti Fini – Almond Macaroon Crisps.  The result is a thin crispy cookie that can be served with espresso.

https://www.ciaoitalia.com/recipes/almond-crisps-amaretti-fini

Italian Dessert Recipes: Fresh Fruit

Strawberries with Balsamic Vinegar

Have you paired strawberries with balsamic vinegar for dessert?  Did you shake your head and question our sanity?  Well, balsamic vinegar has a sweet side and pairs well with strawberries.  The next time that you pick up a pint of strawberries, think about making this desert.

https://lidiasitaly.com/recipes/strawberries-balsamic-vinegar/

Italian Dessert Recipe: Zabaglione

Zabaglione is a simple Italian dessert that is made of egg yolk, sugar and Marsala wine. It is similar to a custard but a custard is made with milk or cream, while a zabaglione isn’t.

https://sugarandcharm.com/italian-zabaglione-recipe

Copper pot:  https://us.ruffoni.net/products/3-5-qt-zabaglione-bowl

This dessert is hard to pronounce – and has a dedicated copper pot, but you can make it as long as you can make a double boiler with a glass bowl.

Italian Dessert Recipe: Zeppole

Here is another option to try: https://italianchef.com/zeppole/

Italian Desserts made without sugar

I know some people don’t want to add any sugar to their diets. In addition to the fruit options above, you can try these sugarless desserts from Pasta Grammer.

MOSTACCIOLI CALABRESI RECIPE – https://www.pastagrammar.com/post/mos…
PANE TRAMVAI RECIPE – https://www.pastagrammar.com/post/pan…
In the spirit of Zia Maria, we are very intentionally not posting a recipe for Pane Schiavuniscu. It must be made by eye! Try it!