Semifreddo agli Amaretti con Salsa al Caffè e Cacao (Italian Amaretti Semifreddo with Espresso and Dark Cocoa Sauce) A semifreddo is a frozen cream that never meets an ice cream machine. Whipped yolks, whipped cream and a night in the freezer lock air inside sugar, so the slice eats soft instead of icy. Crushed amaretti add bitter almond and a faint sandy grain, and a dark espresso and cocoa sauce, built to stay fluid on frozen cream, runs across it. Yield: 8 portions. Prep:

Panettone al Caffè, Nocciole e Gianduia (Italian Coffee, Hazelnut and Gianduja Panettone) This is a Milanese cake speaking Piedmontese. The crumb carries a reduced espresso, veins of gianduia run through it in dark spirals, and caramelised Langhe hazelnuts break the softness. Everything else is orthodox panettone: long fermentation, a great deal of butter and yolk, a dome well above the paper. The hard part comes after the oven. Yield: 1 panettone of about 2 lb (900 g), 12 sl

Tiramisù agli Amaretti e Marsala (Italian Amaretti and Marsala Tiramisù) This tiramisù swaps the savoiardo for the amaretto and the coffee liqueur for Marsala, and those two changes rebuild the dessert from the inside. The almond biscuit brings bitterness and a dense crumb, the fortified wine brings caramel and salt, and the cream turns nuttier and firmer than any classic version. It is a Sicilian reading of a Veneto dessert, and it behaves differently in the dish. Understand