Healthy Italian Dessert Recipes

In this take on tiramisù, the Italian Christmas bread pandoro is used instead of ladyfingers to make this praiseworthy dessert. If you prefer ladyfingers, use 8 ounces in place of the pandoro.

Dunk these fruitcake-inspired whole-grain biscotti in a cup of hot tea or coffee.

Light whipped topping is the secret to this delicious mousse dessert. Portions of the whipped topping are sweetened and flavored with cocoa powder and strawberries and then layered and frozen to resemble Neapolitan-style ice cream.

The neat rows of shiny strawberries bring to mind the local strawberry patch. When making this cake, keep in mind that the yogurt used in the filling needs to drain for 4 hours ahead of time.

Buttermilk and half-and-half replace cream in this lighter Italian panna cotta recipe. If you like, garnish with curls of candied orange peel.

Lemon zest enlivens the anise biscotti.

Crisp with nuts and whole wheat, these cookies are made to dunk in strong coffee.

These delicate almond cookies are said to be as light as a sigh.

Drizzle these twice-baked fig biscotti with white chocolate for added sweetness.

Who says vanilla has to be boring? This light and airy panna cotta dessert has luscious flavor in every spoonful.

These savory black-pepper-and-fig-flecked biscotti are perfect for cocktail parties--just spread with softened goat cheese and serve with glasses of Sauvignon Blanc.

Coffee lovers will love the addition of Kahlua; Frangelico adds a lovely hazelnut note.

This Italian-inspired dessert is velvety in texture. Milk powder added to the mix inhibits the formation of ice crystals.

Biscotti are always sweetly welcome dippers for coffee or tea, but you can see how well they accompany cold favorites when you serve them with sorbet.

Granita, a sweet Italian ice, is characterized by its grainy texture. Lemon Zinger tea, which gets its distinctive flavor from hibiscus flowers, gives this one an exquisite garnet hue and refreshing taste.

Nothing looks more handsome than a bowl of jewel-bright fruits: glistening red berries, burnished plums, blueberries with their dusky bloom. This combination is exceptionally tasty, particularly when the plums have an edge of tartness. Sweeter fruits can be substituted; chunks of nectarines, cherries and gooseberries go together delightfully, as do cantaloupe, blackberries and kiwis.

This no-bake take on a Sicilian classic will quickly become part of your dessert repertoire.

Angel food cake is layered with candied fruit and ricotta cheese in this traditional Sicilian Christmas cake.

This is a traditional Sicilian dessert for the hot weather. It starts with an icy espresso granita (“little grains” in Italian). The crystals are scraped up with a fork and served with a dollop of whipped cream.

Baked pears are a luscious dessert, particularly when they're baked with Marsala and Italian amaretti cookies.

Buttermilk gives this silky panna cotta, or “cooked cream,” a bright, fresh taste. A tart-sweet strawberry sauce is a nice contrast.

A bit of cinnamon, lemon and vanilla flavor these cannoli shells. To make pizzelle cookies, do not roll them after baking; simply transfer pizzelles to a wire rack to cool.

Figs and chocolate fill these little cookies.

Delightful with fruit, these crisp golden slices also make a charming partner for a morning caffe latte.