Authentic Italian Pastry: Grandfather Pastry Chef's Recipes

Learn to whip fresh cream with two and a half pulls, a pinch of vanilla, and ten grams of sugar in a few minutes, ready to pair with beautiful fruit.

Whisk egg yolks with sugar, then fold in flour and heated Marsala to form a silky zabaglione cream. Boil briefly, pour, and enjoy hot or cold for pastry creations.

Learn to make coffee pastry cream by boiling milk with sugar and vanilla, adding the hot milk to the eggs while stirring, then whisking in coffee powder for richness.

Prepare traditional cream puffs by cooking butter and water, adding flour to form dough, folding in eggs and yeast, piping, and baking at 200 degrees for about 20 minutes.

Mix egg whites, vanilla, powdered sugar, almond flour, honey, and pine nuts to form almond paste for snail pastries, bake at 200 degrees for five minutes until slightly golden.

Master brioche dough by mixing flour, butter, sugar, lemon zest, vanilla, salt, and yeast; knead, rest, roll, fold, chill, rise, and bake at 180 degrees celsius.

Roll and cut cannoli dough from flour, sugar, butter, egg yolk, salt and marsala; seal edges with egg white and fry the crisp shells, celebrating Sicilian culture.

Learn to mix and rise a fluffy krapfen dough using flour, yeast, sugar, butter, eggs, water, lemon zest, vanilla, and salt, then shape, proof, and fill with cream or jam.

Mix flour, sugar, butter, two egg yolks, egg white, vanilla, baking soda, salt, and grappa; fry in peanut oil until golden, then dust with sugar or semolina.

Whisk and fry apple fritters, or frittelle di mela, to craft a beloved Italian dessert with Renata apples, butter, water, flour, lemon zest, vanilla, sugar, and eggs.

Whip egg whites with lemon juice to stabilize, fold in sugar, pipe precise shapes with a piping bag, then bake meringues at a gentle 100 degrees and assemble with cream.

Master pizza dough with flour, sugar, yeast, salt, water, and olive oil, kneaded, risen, and rested; top with tomato, oregano, basil, mozzarella, and stracchino, then bake.

Prepare carnival tortelli by creating a buttered dough with flour, water, eggs, salt, powdered sugar, vanilla, lemon, and yeast, then fry in peanut oil until golden and fill with cream.

Learn to craft chocolate baci di dama, grinding sugar, almonds, and cedar, adding cocoa, flour, butter, and vanilla, shaping strips, baking at 180°C for 13 minutes, and joining with chocolate.

Combine sugar, eggs, salt, flour, and coconut to make coconut pastries and coconut shortcrust cookies (with jam), rest the dough, then bake at 100°C and 200°C until golden.

Craft classic savoiardi by mixing sugar, flour, potato starch, vanilla, and eggs, pipe onto parchment, bake at 200 degrees for 20 minutes, then store and use for tiramisu.

Master brutti ma buoni cookies by whisking egg whites with toasted hazelnuts, powdered sugar, and vanilla into a dry dough, shaping with a spoon, then baking until dry.

Craft biscotti San Pellegrino, a twist on traditional Italian cookies, by mixing butter, milk, sugar, vanilla, egg yolks, flour and honey; chill, then bake at 200 degrees for 20 minutes.