MERRY CHRISTMAS

Italy's Traditional Christmas Cakes

One of the most traditional Christmas Cake is the "Panettone", from Milan crossed Italy and all over the world, the best is the one that you can find only in some artisan bakeries like "Romeo" in Rome, the original version is with candied fruit and dried raisins, other versions are with dark or white chocolate. The "Pandoro" originally from Verona, is the big competitor of the Panettone, more butter, and fruit free. The "Torrone" the classic version is white with nuts, the modern version is the white covered with chocolate or all chocolate and nuts. "Ricciarelli" from Siena, made with almond paste and chocolate, "Struffoli" from Naples, made with tiny balls of sweet dought, deep-fried and covered with honey and little colored sprinkles of sugar. The "Panpepato" from abruzzi, a cake made with spices and covered with chocolate, the "Buccellato" from Sicily a sweet dought filled with nuts, almonds, pistachios, dried figs and spices, sounds very Arab, as you probably know Sicily has some Arabic influences. For Christmas Eve and the 25th lunch we eat a bit of every one... Bye - bye  diet till Jannuary 7th. we go back to the diet after Epiphany.