When people think of traditional Italian recipes, they think of hours of cooking with dozens of ingredients (not to mention generations worth of knowledge passed down and cultivated through years of hard work). But don’t worry! There are some delicious, classic, and easy Italian dessert recipes that even an amateur can make. Learn how to make Italian dessert with these seven easy Italian recipes.
Struffoli
Neapolitan Honey Balls are traditionally served during Christmas, but you are free to enjoy these sweet little balls of fried dough on any occasion! All you need is flour, baking powder, butter, orange zest, sugar, orange liqueur, honey and eggs. When the Struffoli have been fried to a golden color, coat them in warm honey and add sprinkles and sliced almonds on top! Get the full Struffoli recipe from AnItalianInMyKitchen.com.
Almond Biscotti
Almond biscotti is the most famous of all the Italian cookies. They take time to cook and cool, but the recipe itself is pretty simple. The great thing about biscotti is that, because the recipe is so simple, it is easy to make them in a wide range of flavors. Add lemon zest or other dried fruit and flavor extracts to give your biscotti cookies a unique taste. Take a look at this SheLovesBiscotti.com recipe for almond biscotti cookies.
Berry Panna Cotta
Panna Cotta is another classic Italian dessert that requires very few ingredients and only about 15 minutes to make. It does need to be cooled for several hours before it is ready to eat, but all you need to make Panna Cotta is gelatin, heavy cream, half and half, sugar, vanilla extract and water. Panna Cotta is ideally served with berries like strawberries, raspberries, or blackberries, as well as berry syrup. Get the step-by-step instructions for Panna Cotta from Epicurious.com.
Lemon Ricotta Cake
Ricotta cheese is a primary ingredient in many Italian dessert recipes. All you need to make a rich, bright lemon ricotta cake is ricotta cheese and lemons—it’s really that simple! Of course, you will need basic baking ingredients like flour, eggs, butter, etc. Read BakedNYC.com’s recipe for lemon ricotta cake.
Pistachio Amaretti Cookies
Amaretti are also extremely popular Italian cookies. Luckily, they are also an extremely easy dessert to make! Pistachios are a favorite ingredient in many Italian recipes, especially in Sicilian cuisine. So the best pistachios to get are Sicilian pistachios. Just ground and chop them up and throw them into the traditional Italian recipe for Amaretti cookies. Get the full recipe for pistachio cookies from MangiaBedda.com.
Pignoli Cookies
Like pistachios, pine nuts are essential to Italian cuisine. Bon Appetit’s recipe for Pignoli cookies is one of the easiest dessert recipes you’ll ever see. Pine nuts, almond paste, egg, honey, sugar and salt are all it takes to make this Italian dessert.
Zeppoles
Many people only get this heavenly fried dough at local festivals and street fairs, but Food Network’s zeppole recipe is an easy dessert recipe you can actually make at home. Just cut a pound of pizza dough into 1-inch pieces, roll them into balls, fry them in oil for a few minutes, and top with powdered sugar! Try making zeppole di San Giuseppe for Father's Day.