The Times - UK (2021-11-25)

the times | Thursday November 25 2021 7

the table

hugely expensive, but is so

beautiful I’d replace my

Christmas tree with it.

Bauli pandoro

1kg for £8.99 at

delicatezza.co.uk

Of course, if you don’t want

to travel to London and

spend more than £30 on a

pandoro, then this is also

fantastic. My mum and I

have a huge slice of it (and

a glass of prosecco) for

Christmas Day breakfast

every year.

Antonio Mattei

cantuccini with

dark chocolate

250g for £6.50 at eataly.slerp.com

These oblong-shaped crunchy biscotti

studded with chunks of dark chocolate

are twice-baked and therefore the

perfect coffee-dipper as they suck

up the liquid but don’t fall apart. I

remember thinking how strange it was

that my great uncle in the south of

Italy would dip them in wine, but now,

aged 29, I think that’s a fantastic idea.

Mulino Bianco Pan di Stelle

350g for £6.99 at amazon.co.uk

Pan di Stelle are hands down the best

Italian biscuits ever and are a national

obsession there. They’re very

cocoa-y but not overly sweet, which

makes them very moreish. I recently

made the life-changing discovery that

you can also buy Pan di Stelle in

spreadable form in a jar — a must-try.

Masoni panforte fichi e noci

100g for £5.95 at shop.linastores.co.uk

I’m not really a fan of panforte — a

thick, sticky, stodgy, compacted

wedge of dried fruit and nuts —

but this one, enriched with figs

and nuts has changed my mind.

The best way to eat it is in a tiny

sliver combined with a salty

cheese of your choice such as

pecorino. It’s the Italian version

of Christmas cake and stilton.

Amaretti Virginia baba al rhum

550g for £21.95 at shop.linastores.co.uk

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again

— this is the best pudding in the

world. Originally from Napoli, baba is

a rum-soaked sponge that manages to

be light and soft but also incredibly

boozy. It’s sweet but well counter-

balanced by the alcohol and best

served with whipped cream and

maybe a tiny drizzle of Nutella.

Waitrose Gianduia torta da festa

500g for £8.50 at waitrose.com

If you just can’t decide between a

pandoro and a panettone then this

hybrid is for you. Torta da festa, or

“party cake”, is a typical Piedmontese

treat eaten in the run-up to Christmas

and is flavoured with chocolate and

hazelnut. Essentially, it’s a Nutella

cake, and who doesn’t like that?

Giulia Crouch

La dolce vita — the best store-bought

treats, from amaretti to panettone

Marchesi 1824 pandoro

1kg for £32 at pasticceriamarchesi.com

Another sweet bread eaten during the

festive period, this is lesser known

than its famous cousin, but in my

opinion much more tasty. More golden

in colour (the name pan d’oro means

“golden bread”) and not studded with

sweet fruit, the brioche-like bread

from Verona has a soft, comforting,

subtler flavour. And while it is more

simple on the inside, shaped like a

huge, towering star, it’s certainly more

spectacular from the outside. This

one, from the Prada-owned bakery,

Marchesi 1824, a branch of which

can be found in Mayfair, may be

I

was already intolerably

smug about my Italian

heritage, but with the

victory of Giuseppe in

The Great British Bake

Off I really have no choice

but to ramp it up even

more. Growing up with

Italian grandparents, I

remember being handed

big chunks of nutty

nougat, so sweet you’d

have a sugar high for days,

by my nonna, and being

presented with a wedge of

pandoro at Christmas by

an aunt along with strict

instructions to “Mangia,

mangia!” Luckily, it’s

possible to buy the Italian classics

here now. These are the best of them:

Di Forti Sicilian cannoli with

pistachio cream

150g for £3 at shop.diforti.com

These are the best cannoli I’ve found

in the UK and, trust me, I’ve tried a lot

of cannoli. A signature Sicilian bake,

these crunchy tubes of fried dough are

traditionally filled with fresh ricotta,

candied fruits and nuts, but personally

I think this version, filled with

pistachio cream, is better. It’s thought

that they were historically prepared

around carnival season and were a

symbol of fertility, but I just eat them

for breakfast with an espresso.

Lazzaroni soft amaretti

145g for £9.99 at shop.thelittlede.li

If you’ve never had these biscuits you

must because they are a complete joy.

Unlike the crunchy version, which I

don’t particularly like on account of

being, on occasion, teeth-breakingly

crunchy, these are heavenly pillows

of almond cookie with a crumbly,

melt-in-the-mouth texture. Plus, they

come individually wrapped, which

makes you feel like you’re opening a

present every time you eat one.

Flamigni Classic Milano panettone

1kg for £18.99 at souschef.co.uk

Panettone is one of the ultimate

symbols of Christmas in Italy. You can

get the fluffy treat, made from

slow-leavened dough, in a huge variety

of flavours these days, from tasty-

sounding pear and chocolate to

icky-sounding Aperol Spritz. But

there’s a reason the original, flavoured

with sultanas and candied citrus peel,

is the original. This one is about the

best you can buy: supersoft, superlight

and scented with dreamy vanilla.

Bonifanti panettone with

marrons glacés

1kg for £18.90 at eataly.slerp.com

If sultanas upset you, then this is my

second favourite panettone, studded

deliciously with very Christmassy

marrons glacés (candied chestnuts). If

you want to be very Italian then serve

it with a glass of passito, a sweet

Italian dessert wine. Or if you want to

be very British, then a cup of tea.

Torta di mele

This is one of those simple,

homely cakes that you imagine

everyone’s nonna knows how

to make and that you will

always find, reassuringly, in

bakeries, bars and pastry shops

all over Tuscany. It’s also

commonly on trattoria menus

for dessert, although many

Tuscans eat this for breakfast

or a mid-morning snack. It’s

not overly sweet, since Tuscans

don’t have much of a sweet

tooth, but you could brush

warmed apricot jam over the

top once you take it out of the

oven. Golden Delicious apples

are most commonly used in

Tuscany for baking, but if you

don’t have them, use another

cooking apple, such as Pink

Lady, Granny Smith or

Bramley (although the latter

two are more tart, so apricot

jam would be welcome).

Serves 8

Ingredients

2 large Golden Delicious apples

(or other good cooking apple),

peeled, cored and sliced

1cm thick

juice and zest of 1 lemon

180g sugar

125g unsalted butter, softened

3 eggs

150ml milk

300g plain (all-purpose) flour

1 tsp baking powder

Method

1 Preheat the oven to 180C/

gas 4. Grease and line a 23cm

round cake tin.

2 Place the apple in a bowl with

the lemon juice and 2

tablespoons of sugar.

3 Beat the remaining sugar

with the butter until pale and

creamy, add the eggs and beat

very well until you have a thick,

pale mixture. Add the milk and

the zest, then fold in the flour,

baking powder, salt and half of

the apple slices, along with the

lemon juice, to combine.

4 Pour into the tin and place

the remaining apple slices all

over the surface. Bake in the

oven for 1 hour, or until the top

is golden brown and springy to

the touch.

Torta della Nonna by Emiko

Davies (Hardie Grant, £16.99).

Photography: Emiko Davies

or where to shop if you can’t

Sophia Loren in her

kitchen in Geneva in

1999. Left: Giuseppe
      Dell’Anno

Marchesi 1824,

London

From top: Marchesi

1824 pandoro;

Lazzaroni soft

amaretti; Antonio

Mattei cantuccini

with dark chocolate;

Flamigni Classic

Milano panettone;

Amaretti Virginia

baba al rhum

COVER AND BELOW: CHANNEL 4; REX FEATURES; EMIKO DAVIES