Until my recent trip to Sicily, I had never heard of Biancomangiare – super simple Sicilian almond milk pudding. This luxuriously creamy pudding was served in a few places but, to be honest, I had never heard of any kind of pudding in Italy!
Now, let me preface this by saying that heavier, creamy dishes are often found in the north. When I went to Piedmonte with the Italian Chamber of Commerce (you can see my final post here with all the links to the accompanying Torino posts), I noticed all of the creamy dishes that weren’t really prevalent as you move south through Italy. And my favourite dessert in Piedmonte was bonet – a creamy, dense pudding-like dessert made crunchy with the addition of crumbled amaretti (delicious!!). You can find the recipe on this post!
But then I noticed that, although there was a trend of foods becoming less heavy and more vegetable and fish based as you move south through Italy, there was a big influence of ricotta in all of their desserts (like cannoli with ricotta and cassata – which are both traditionally Sicilian desserts) as well as almonds.
As you can see in some of the photos below that I took on our trip, many of them have a cream base or filling!
granita with brioche
Here were some mini biancomangiare that were served every morning on our breakfast table. You could choose from vanilla, chocolate or lemon flavours (I had one every single day!)
This version below was served outside at an agrotourismo we stayed at…it was delicious!! It was light (because it was made with almond milk and not cows milk) and garnished simply with crushed pistachios!
What Will We Need?
- almond milk
- cornstarch
- sugar
- lemon peel
- toppings like crushed pistachios, grated chocolate or cinnamon (optional).
It really is that simple! You can whip this up and serve it after dinner or as an after-school snack!!
Now let’s get cooking!
- get all of your ingredients ready to go!
- Once your mixture is cooked, pour into ramekins and cool
- This is the thicker one (used the amount of cornstarch asked for in the recipe). If you’d like it thinner, reduce the amount of cornstarch to 1/2 cup) so it sets and can be unmolded!!
- Instead of the regular chopped pistachios, I topped it with stewed apples because it’s apple season here in Canada!
You can see what a super simple recipe this is! I should also make note that if you have an allergy to corn, you can substitute any thickener like arrowroot flour.
Biancomangiare – Super Simple Sicilian Almond Milk Pudding
Ingredients
- 4 cups almond milk unsweetened you can sub in any milk of choice
- ⅔ cup cornstarch (note: if you'd like this to set less like a panna cotta, reduce the amount of cornstarch to 1/2 cup)
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- dash cinnamon
- One strip of lemon peel
To garnish
- ¼ cup pistachios roughly chopped you could also use cooked fruit of your choice or shaved chocolate!
Instructions
- Whisk together cornstarch, sugar and almond milk (or cow's milk) in a medium sized sauce pan until smooth; add in a strip of lemon peel.
- Place the pan on the burner over medium high heat. Cook, whisking frequently, until the mixture comes to a gentle boil and begins to thicken (should resemble a pudding and coat the back of a wooden spoon). This will take about 5-7 minutes
- Remove the lemon peel and discard and add a dash of cinnamon. Stir again and spoon the mixture into individual cups or bowls.
- Place in the refrigerator to cool completely before serving, at least 3 hours.
- Serve garnished with chopped pistachios or other toppings of choice (see notes for other options)
