L’Aquila developed one of Italy’s most recognizable departures from classic white torrone: a tender chocolate-and-hazelnut style closely associated with the city’s twentieth-century confectionery tradition and especially with the Nurzia name. Tradition does not have to be medieval to be authentic. A product becomes part of a place when generations make it, eat it and identify with it. Chocolate changes both the flavor and structure of nougat, adding cocoa butter, bitterness a

San Marco dei Cavoti, in the province of Benevento, is famous for croccantino, a confection closely associated with the late nineteenth-century work of local pastry makers and particularly with the Borrillo tradition. Croccantino belongs to the broad Italian world of torrone and nut sweets, but it is structurally different from white nougat. There is no whipped egg-white matrix. Instead, roasted hazelnuts are bound with caramelized sugar and then protected by chocolate. The d

A contemporary Italian coconut and white chocolate soufflé with restrained sweetness, toasted coconut, and a tender center.