- Food & Wine
Christmas sweets in Lombardy
Christmas is on its way. The confectionery tradition in Lombardy is rich and varied, and each province has its own typical dessert.
What could be better than that atmosphere during the Christmas season, when everything is lit up with the lights of decorations and the air in homes begins to smell of Christmas sweets? It's time for a tasty trip.
On this page a collection of recipes that make their appearance on Lombard tables at Christmas. Discover your favorite!
The symbol of Milan is panettone and it absolutely cannot be missed during the Christmas holidays. For the typical dessert of the Lombard capital you need eggs, sugar, spices and the addition of candied fruit and raisins.
In the Bergamo area, you taste a sponge cake, shaped like a polenta. But it is not a savory dish, but rather the typical Christmas dessert named Polenta e osei, precisely because it is covered with yellow almond paste decorated with marzipan birds.
Simple ingredients for Miascia cake, a recipe that comes from Lake Como. A cake made with stale bread, white and yellow flour, fresh and dried fruit.
Amaretti di Saronno are world famous, a dry cake with a soft heart inside to be enjoyed in the company of the cake's namesake liqueur.
It is crumbly to the point, soft or hard and covered with chocolate of all kinds, Nougat is not only famous in Cremona but also all over the world.
Crema, on the other hand, boasts Spongarda, a refined and refined dessert. It is a special, long-life sweet bread enriched with dried fruit bound by honey that also combines apples, hazelnuts, candied citron, raisins and spices.
In Valtellina, Bisciola replaces panettone, a soft loaf to which chestnuts, dried fruit, raisins figs and nuts can be added. Those with a sweet tooth enjoy it with zabaglione cream. The same dessert is also known in Lecco, with some differences in the topping.
The typical Lodi dessert is characterized by its round shape, the presence of almonds and the absence of leavening. Tortionata di Lodi is a crumbly and surprisingly soft dessert.
For the Pavia area there is a special cake, its success is surely due to its goodness and its rather simple preparation. Torta Paradiso is made with sugar, butter, eggs, flour, lemon fiber and natural flavorings.
Finally, in Brescia between doughs and leavening techniques of Milanese panettone, eggs and flour are enough for the traditional doughnut: Bossolà.
Christmas in Lombardy grants a break from the diet... the choice of dessert to enjoy is yours!
Happy holidays and bon appetit!
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