Fall in Italy means chestnuts. Roasted chestnuts are sold on the street corners and eaten as a snack. Others are used in bread and desserts. This pudding is a classic fall Italian recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 2/3 cup unsweetened chestnut puree
• 1 Tbs Strega
• 2 tsp + 2 Tbs caster sugar*
• 1/2 cup Ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 4 Tbs candied fruit, chopped

Directions

1. Blend together the chestnut puree, Strega, 2 Tbs caster sugar, Ricotta cheese, and 4 Tbs candied fruit in a large bowl.
2. Refrigerate the chestnut pudding for at last 30 minutes.
3. Whip the cream in a cold bowl.
4. Just as the cream begins to get fluffy slowly add the 2 tsps of caster sugar.
5. Continue to whip the cream until it forms soft peaks. (Whipped cream will not be as thick as Cool-Whip.)
6. Serve in individual dessert dishes, with a scoop of chestnut pudding topped with the whipped cream.

*--Caster sugar is a super fine sugar with very small granules. It dissolves quickly in cold liquids, making for a smoother texture in whipped cream. You can make caster sugar by processing regular sugar in a food processor for a few minutes.

Note: The Alberti company that has been making Strega since 1860. They describe the process of making "liquid sunshine":

Born from the steam distillation in small pot stills of approximately 70 herbs and valuable spices from Europe, Central America and the Orient.

Perfectly natural product, it obtains its typical yellow colour from the saffron added to the alcoholic infusion; then a long fermentation in oak vats concurs to the perfect balance of the aromas and contributes to the characteristic fine, smooth and soft taste.

Excellent after a meal, it expresses its versatility in the most varied manners hence assuring an indisputable satisfaction whether sipping it dry, with ice or iced.

Both the taste and the warm solar colour become the inseparable companions of long-drinks and cocktails, but it is also added to ice cream, fruit salad and as ingredient in cake preparations.