The sighs of nun are a typical Sicilian dessert, and precisely Messina: bianchi, Creamy, soft, delicious and simple to prepare. I'm sure you'll fall in love with it. I'm sort of a sandwich’ soft with the base of savoyards, stuffed with ricotta cream and decorated with icing sugar and candied. Usually with a candied orange zest or, Alternatively, a candied icing. Sometimes they are found with ricotta sprinkled with pistachios. But this decoration is not traditional, also because being “sighs of nun” , these sweets had to be as candid as possible. Here, too, it is the protagonist the sheep's cottage cheese, as in SICILIAN CANNOLI (if you've never made them take a look at the VIDEO RECIPE and get down to business).
Sospiri di monaca, history and ingredients
The origin of nun's sighs, like most traditional Sicilian sweets, starting with the ALMOND PASTE, is attributed to the mastery of the nuns scattered in convents throughout the island. In Messina the sighs of nun are found of various sizes: very big or mignon. I chose an average size, to serve on the table an elegant but not microscopic dessert. We Sicilians don't like microscopic amounts of food, i think you understand.
The execution is simple and in the recipe you will find a small step. The base is a Savoyard paste, basically a kind of sponge cake with a double dose of flour, so that by inflating it remains consistent and you can cut it out of your pocket. The dessert is stuffed with a very simple cream of sheep's ricotta and icing sugar, and then decorated with a candied. In Messina it is not difficult to find them also stuffed with lemon pastry cream or chocolate pastry cream, but these are modern variants.
I suggest you, as in the case of the Sicilian cassata, by prepare them a day in advance and store them in the refrigerator. Because the Savoyard base moistens thanks to ricotta and the taste becomes more complex and harmonious. Now I'll leave you recommending you take a look at all my SWEET SICILIAN RECIPES and I wish you as always a good day.