Cooking with Patty, my personal collection of Italian recipes

This is an original way to prepare apple cake. It alternates dry ingredients with apples and no eggs are added. It’s a good dessert served at an afternoon tea.

Every region has its own traditions and sweets for the Carnival season. In my family we prepare sweets typical of the Veneto region. This is a typical dessert for the Carnival season.

This is a typical cookie from my region, Veneto. They’re hard cookies and as its name implies are best consumed dipped in sweet wine to complement their flavors.

This year I’ve made only one simple resolution and that is to not waste food, which also means saving money that, in this period of economic crises, isn’t a bad idea at all. I don’t know about you but I waste way too much food. I tend to buy more than I need and then [...]

This is a wonderful cake that I really enjoy. I like to buy a piece fresh at the bakery when I can, otherwise I just make the cake at home. In Verona you can only find it in October/November when the chestnuts are in season.

Fast and easy to make. These are really good for just about any occasion.

This recipe is the dream of every kid. It is really easy to prepare so teach your kids how to make it.

If you like coconut this is the cookie for you.

This is a fun recipe that really isn’t that difficult to make.

This is a good recipe to make when you have too much fruit on hand and don’t want it to spoil.

This dessert is a big part of Carnevale in Italy. It takes on different names in the different regions. Here we call them, Crostoli.

This famous Easter pie is called by many names from Easter pie to grain pie so to keep things simple let’s just call it, “Pastiera Napoletana.”

The name doesn’t translate well so I left it in Italian. In Italy we have the “Day of the Saints” on the First of November and the “Day of the Deceased” on the second. This cookie is traditionally made for the latter. In fact the translation of the name would be,”Fava (beans) of the Deceased.”

Favette are one of the sweets prepared exclusively during the Canival season. As most of the carnival sweets favette are also called differently depending on the region. A more common name is castagnole but I’m sure there are many more. They are little fried dough balls usually flavored with anise liquor but in my family we prefer dry Marsala wine.

Crema fritta is a carnival sweet typical from Verona and Venice. It’s a thick custard cream breaded and fried. When I was little I used to go to Piazza Erbe and press my nose against the glass of the stand selling crema fritta and dream of having a piece. My mother wasn’t that big on [...]

This dessert is so fulfilling that sometimes I eat it as a complete meal.

Not only a good dessert, it’s a great healthy snack for kids and adults alike.

Tarts are popular all over Italy and sometimes they are made with jam. At our house we prefer to use cream which is more delicate and we love to use fresh fruit.

This is a popular tart that is so easy to make. If you prefer a bit more of a challenge and one with fresh fruit try my fruit tart recipe.

A nice cream that you can eat in a dessert dish with dry biscuits or on top of a cake.

This is a recipe for apple cake that my mother makes often, thus I gave it this name. It is a healthy dessert because it gets it sweetness from the apples.

This delicate cream goes well on Panettone Christmas cake.

Panna cotta means cooked cream in Italian. It’s a spoon dessert from Piedmont of great effect and taste but very easy to prepare. It can be served simply with caramel sauce on top or with different berry or chocolate sauces. The strawberry sauce that I used in this recipe consists purely of berries lightly sweetened [...]

My husband eats this after every meal when the peaches are in season.

By definition Tiramisu should only refer to the traditional recipe, however reality is people are making a lot of varieties with fruit and other ingredients. So here is my variation with pineapple.

Carnival season just isn’t the same without these frittelle. I prepare them all the times. It takes a while to fry them all but it’s worth the effort.

There are many ricotta cake recipes, but when I’ve tried this one I fell in love with it so I’ve decided to publish it here. It’s a wonderful recipe that my friend Sara gave me.

Sabbiosa means sandy and you’ll understand when you taste it. It’s a classic cake from Veneto, so classic and old that it’s not well known by the younger generations anymore. I’ve always heard of it but I have no memories of me eating it. The first time I tasted it was only few years ago [...]

Santa Lucia is celebrated on the 13th of December every year. However, the fun for children starts days before as the stands selling seasonal sweets come to Piazza Bra in the center of Verona. The typical cookie during this period is, Pastafrolle di Santa Lucia.

Semifreddo means “semi-cold” in Italian and it refers to semi frozen desserts. They actually taste a little bit like ice cream but they don’t need any machine to be prepared. Most of them have whipped cream and egg whites.

When strawberries hit the market this is a great and refreshing dessert for adults.

By definition Tiramisu should only refer to the traditional recipe, however reality is people are making a lot of varieties with fruit and other ingredients. The fruit version is lighter and very refreshing especially during the summer. You should also try my Pineapple Tiramisu recipe.

In Italian Tiramisu means, “pick me up.” If you are feeling down maybe this famous Italian dessert will do the trick: layers of luscious mascarpone cream and savoiardi dipped in scented Marsala wine coffee can cheer up anyone.

If you like Amaretto cookies you love this dessert. In Italy you can find this cake in most every bakery or pastry shop.

Yogurt cake is one the most common Italian cakes, and I should add the one of the easiest to prepare. With this cake you can measure everything with the yogurt tub as a measuring cup and the cake is done in a blink of an eye. What I personally  like of this cake is its [...]

This dessert is very well known in Italy. This hot cream is very good alone with some dry biscuits or it can also be served cold with fresh fruit. In my family we like to serve it over a slice of Traditional Christmas cake called, “Pandoro.”

Zuppa inglese is a nice dessert that was very popular with English tourists. They love sweets with liquor. Thus its name, Zuppa Inglese (English Soup).