Our 17 Best Italian Desserts

Strawberry Gelato

To guarantee homemade gelato's luscious consistency and purity of flavor, il laboratorio del gelato owner Jon Snyder suggests thickening gelato with cornstarch rather than eggs. The result has less palate-coating fat than ice cream and lets the fruit shine.

Mixed-Nut-Milk Panna Cotta

These delicate custards are a great way to showcase the subtle, nutty flavor of homemade nut milk.

• Easy Dessert Recipes

Chocolate-and-Pistachio Biscotti

Chef Kevin Sbraga varies these wonderful nutty biscotti, sometimes dipping them in melted dark chocolate for an extra layer of flavor.

• More Chocolate Cookie Recipes

Pumpkin-Gingersnap Tiramisù

Pumpkin pie meets tiramisù, with layers of pumpkin-mascarpone custard and gingersnaps brushed with Calvados syrup. In the freezer, the flavors and textures meld to form a deliciously creamy dessert.

• Pumpkin Recipes

Zabaglione with Strawberries

We love this zabaglione (a sweet custard spiked with marsala wine) served warm right off the stovetop, but it's also a great make-ahead dessert: just add a bit of whipped cream and chill.

• Dessert Recipe Cooking Guide

Cherries Poached in Red Wine with Mascarpone Cream

Thick mascarpone cheese mixed with honey makes a luscious topping for poached cherries. You can serve the dessert either warm or cold. We love it both ways.

• More Ideas For Cooking with Red Wine

White Peach Tart

"This crust is not what you'd expect," chef Marco Canora says. "Instead of being crunchy, it's puffy and cakey." The dough is terrific for impromptu baking, because it doesn't need to be chilled before it's rolled out. For the filling, Canora recommends using peaches that are ripe but still firm, as drippy fruit will make the soft crust soggy.

• More Peaches Recipes

Raspberry Jam Bomboloni

Whenever chef Kate Neumann serves bomboloni (Italian doughnut holes), they disappear immediately. "They are easy to prepare in advance and then fry at the last moment," she explains, "and they are also quite easy to dress up." Neumann fills the doughnut holes with fruit jams or chocolate ganache, then rolls them in sugar and spices like anise and cardamom as soon as they come out of the frying pan.

• Doughnut Recipes

Torta Della Nonna

"Grandmother's cake" is a traditional Tuscan dessert, though everyone's nonna makes it slightly differently. In his version, chef Joe Sponzo combines a delicate pastry crust with a silky pastry cream, which he flavors with vanilla and lemon zest (other Tuscan cooks add ricotta cheese). He tops the tart with pine nuts, another regional staple.

• More Italian Food Ideas

Almond Semifreddo with Caramelized Apples

The Craft of Baking co-author Kare DeMasco is known for classically elegant yet approachable recipes, like this super creamy almond semifreddo topped with warm caramelized apples.

• More Easy Desserts

Concord Grape Granita

This icy dessert gets its sweet, tangy taste from Concord grape juice, which also gives the dessert its vibrant purple color.

Italian Almond Tart

This rustic dessert is from the Lombardy region of Northern Italy, where it's called sbrisolona. It's crumbly, buttery, and nutty; chef Suzanne Goin thinks of it as a cross between biscotti and shortbread. She recommends dipping chunks of it into the Champagne-spiked sabayon, an airy dessert sauce made with whipped egg yolks.

Chocolate Panna Cotta with Spiced Pepita Brittle

This light, silky panna cotta tastes a lot like hot cocoa in custard form. The brittle is easy to make; heat sugar and water on the stove, swirl in butter and spiced pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds), then let cool.

• More Chocolate Desserts

Frozen Chocolate-Chip Meringata

Meringata — Italian for "meringue cake" — is an elegant yet homey frozen dessert of whipped cream sandwiched between meringue rounds. Rolando Beramendi slices the meringata and serves it with a warm chocolate-espresso sauce.

• More Frozen Desserts

Brutti Ma Buoni

Antico Forno Molinari, a bakery in operation in the town of Frascati since the 1800s, makes this delicious and effortless four-ingredient version.

• F&W's Ultimate Guide to Italian Food, Wine, Travel and Style

Stone-Fruit Panzanella with Zabaglione

A classic Italian panzanella (bread salad) combines juicy tomatoes and bread cubes. Here, chef Chris Cosentino swaps in stone fruits like apricots and peaches for the tomatoes. Then he pushes the dessert over the top by dolloping the "salad" with an airy zabaglione, a frothy sauce of egg yolks whipped with sweet dessert wine.

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Tiramisu Icebox Pie

Pastry chef Mathew Rice of Pastaria in Nashville takes the familiar elements of a classic tiramisu — ladyfingers, coffee, and mascarpone — and reimagines them as an icebox pie. The dessert is full of playful textures and flavors, including a dense coffee mousse and salty-sweet coffee crunchies.