Carnival is one of those moments of the year in which the exquisite delicacies of the regional tradition are tasted.
Every region, every city and every small town handed down from generation to generation a typical dessert with ancient origins. In Castelbuono, a medieval town in the province of Palermo and the place where the production of Tumminello biscuits was born, a particularly delicious dessert is eaten which takes the curious name of Testa di Turco. It is a spoon dessert consisting of thin layers of fried puff pastry, accompanied by a cream of milk flavored with cinnamon and lemon.
Traditionally this dessert was already prepared during the Christmas holidays and was consumed until Carnival.
Its curious name already gives us some clues about its origins that would seem Arab, even if the story that circulates around its birth traces it back to a particular episode.
Popular legend has it that the Turk’s Head was elaborated precisely on the occasion of the defeat of the Arabs by the Normans. The dessert was therefore created to celebrate the liberation from Arab domination.
We want to offer you our particular variant of this magnificent spoon dessert by preparing it, rather than with the pastry, with our ” Rustici ” biscuits.
Ingrediants:
Rustic biscuits q. b.
For the cream:
• 500 ml of milk
• 100 g of sugar
• 50 g of starch for sweets
• Zest of one lemon
To garnish:
• Cinnamon powder
• Chocolate chips / sugared sprinkles / sugar tails
Preparation of the cream
Pour almost all the milk into a saucepan (keep a glass aside) together with the lemon zest, sugar and ground cinnamon and cook over low heat.
While the milk is heating, pour the starch into a bowl and dissolve it with the remaining cold milk, to be poured slowly. Then add the starch to the milk in the saucepan and mix continuously with a whisk. Once the mixture begins to thicken, remove it from the heat.
Packaging of the dessert
Spread a layer of coarsely crumbled biscuits on the bottom of a baking dish, pour part of the cream evenly, then repeat the operation alternating layers of biscuits and cream until garnished with powdered cinnamon, chocolate flakes and colored sugar tails at your leisure.
