Il cerchio più dolce

The unmistakable flavor, the abundant variety of products and even the excess of dimensions have made Sicilian pastry famous all over the world. The production of the characteristic "Buccellato" is concentrated during the Christmas holidays and the bakers and pastry shops are forced to dispose of special shipments to distant destinations to satisfy the large number of requests. A crust of shortcrust pastry, glossy, indeed, brilliant, with a shape circular, it hides inside a filling of precious ingredients usually coming from the regional territory. Honey is added to the citrus preserves, enriched with chocolate, raisins, walnuts and almonds, and the aroma of cinnamon is added to give the enticing aroma. But that's not enough. The figs, which in the summer were stretched out in the sun to "dry out", have maintained a particular consistency and sugary power which find their "celebration" and the most suitable valorisation inside the buccellato. Roman origins have been attributed to the dessert . During the Middle Ages, perhaps, it was influenced by a Tuscan community arrived in Sicily; later, without doubt, it was the Arabs who perfected the preparation and made the final improvements to the recipe. The same delicacy is indicated by several similar dialectal terms (cucciddati, vucciddati or gucciddati), but there are no substantial differences in taste or Preparation. Many pieces of candied fruit, different in shape and color, are used to decorate the buccellato externally and make this typical dessert similar to a jewel of Baroque art.