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:

Semifreddo al Caffè e Mascarpone (Italian Coffee and Mascarpone Semifreddo) Mascarpone and coffee want opposite things from a frozen dessert. One is close to a quarter butterfat and pulls the base towards a firm block that cuts cleanly. The other is water with flavour in it, and it pulls the same base towards softness. This semifreddo lives where the two settle against each other, and that point is found by weighing them. Get it right and the slice stands upright on the plate

Semifreddo all'Arancia (Italian Orange Semifreddo) Semifreddo all'Arancia is the dessert that closes a Sicilian winter lunch while the citrus crates are still stacked by the kitchen door. It is built on a cooked yolk foam, mascarpone and cream, carrying the zest and the reduced juice of winter oranges, and finished with candied peel. The work is not difficult. What it asks is that the sweetness be judged at freezer temperature instead of at room temperature, which is where al