Candida Martinelli's Italophile Site
Main
Page This family-friendly site celebrates Italian culture for the enjoyment of children and
adults. Site-Overview
Some Points
Several basic creme (see recipes below) are used alone or as an
ingredient in other Italian desserts (see my Spoonbread
page). Each crema has many ingredient/flavor
variations including coffee, adding or varying the liquor, candied
fruit, chocolate, ground nuts, lemon or orange juice and rind.
Use your imagination! They are quick to prepare and delicious served warm
or cold. When served up in wine glasses, they can make a very
classy impression, and a light end to a meal. Try dividing the cream into two portions and
flavoring each separately, then serving them spooned together in
wine glasses. Chocolate and orange creams go well together,
for example, as do plain vanilla cream and chocolate cream, and
coffee and whiskey creams. You can always just serve the cream over sliced
fresh fruit. When cooking the creams (recipes 1,2 & 4 below), whisk the ingredients
continually in a saucepan over a low flame preventing a rolling boil
which can curdle the eggs. It's handy to use a double-boiler
(bain-marie, bagno-maria) if you have one. A Very Simple Cream That Works
Every Time 1 cup milk 1 teaspoon vanilla (you can add more to taste after
it is cooked, or use almond flavoring for example) 2 egg yolks 1/4 cup sugar (if you replace the sugar with a diet
sweetener, double the flour to compensate for the lost thickening
agent) 2 tablespoons flour The Five Basic Italian Creams
La crema (Cream): 1/4 liter whole milk,
1/4 liter cream, 150 grams sugar, 5 egg yolks, vanilla to taste La crema di ricotta o mascarpone
(Ricotta/Mascarpone Cream): 300 grams ricotta or mascarpone
cheese, 3 egg yolks, 150 grams sugar, brandy to taste (This recipe
is not cooked but refrigerated, but beware of the bacterial dangers
of uncooked eggs. You can use 3-4 tablespoons of cream instead
of the egg yolks if you wish.) Lo zabaione (Sabayon, Zabaglione): 6
eggs yolks, 3/4 cups sugar, 1 cup Marsala wine (add the wine a
little at a time). Note that some recipes call for no cooking
and the eggs whites to be whipped and folded in. But again,
beware of eating uncooked eggs. The above recipe is the
traditional one (minus some water that replaced some of the
at-the-time expensive Marsala wine). La panna montata (Whipped Cream): 1/2 liter
cream, 100 grams sugar, 80 grams powdered sugar Some Flavor Variations for the Basic and
Pastry Creams Chocolate: add two teaspoons cocoa powder or
shavings of chocolate or chocolate chips Malaga: add raisons and Malaga wine or Rum to
taste Zabaione: add Marsala wine to taste Almond: add 100 grams of ground almonds and
some Amaretto liquor to taste Lemon: add 1/4 cup lemon juice and a teaspoon
of grated lemon rind, or to taste Orange: add 1/4 cup orange juice and a
teaspoon of grated orange rind, or to taste Whiskey: add whiskey to taste, this resembles
the Irish whiskey cream liquors in flavor My Other Summer Sweets Pages
Visit my Italian Liqueur Page for Info and Recipes
Creams,
Puddings or Custards
Creams
Creams, or creme in Italian, are sweet, creamy,
dairy desserts, often called puddings or custards in
English.
This is my fool-proof recipe for pastry cream that
I use all the time. Whisk all the ingredients together while they are still
cold, then whisk continually over a medium flame (reduced to a low flame
for the last few minutes of cooking) until the cream thickens
(roughly 5 minutes in total).
La crema pasticcera (Pastry Cream): 1/2
liter milk, vanilla to taste, 4 eggs, 2 tablespoons flour, 1
teaspoon corn starch (corn flour), 50 grams butter, 150 grams sugar
Coffee: add 1/4 cup espresso or two teaspoons
of instant coffee powder, adjust it to your tastes by adding more or
less coffee or adding some more vanilla for example
