Do you know the dolce mattonella? A typical dessert of traditional Emilian and Romagnolo cuisine, known all over Italy and beyond! Every family has its own version, more or less rich with ingredients and variations: from coffee for soaking the cookies to milk if it is prepared especially for children; from pastry cream to create the layers to the addition of hazelnut cream; some add chocolate flakes or chips while others prefer chopped hazelnuts or pistachios. There is something for every taste!
So today I ask you: “How many times did you eat this spoon dessert as a child?” I lost count, and today I share with you my grandmother Licia’s dolce mattonella recipe! It was the dessert my grandmother often prepared: pastry cream was a staple in her kitchen. There was always a little dish of it in the fridge for an after-homework snack, and we all loved it. The scent of vanilla or lemon in the kitchen, depending on which of the two she had that day, the creaminess and texture of her custard will remain forever in my memory.
The mattonella cake or dolce mattone: this dessert has almost more names than ingredients. It is a spoon dessert perfect for a family or friends’ after-meal. It used to be the birthday cake for those born in the ’80s like me, because it’s easy to make, with few ingredients, everyone liked it and its flat surface was perfect for placing candles.
I decided to respect her recipe: four layers of cookies alternated with homemade pastry cream, cocoa only as decoration on the top layer. So no, this is not the original recipe, it is my family’s dolce mattonella recipe! Keep in mind that the cream must be prepared in advance and completely cold before being used for this recipe. I will explain the steps and show them in the video recipe below, under the first photo.
Before moving on to the recipe, I want to remind you that on the blog you can find the Collection of recipes with pastry cream that I published last year. In the collection you’ll find all my recipes using grandmother Licia’s homemade cream: easy, indulgent desserts perfect for any occasion. Here are clickable links to some of my favorite recipes: the torta nua with cream and the piumino cocoa cake with pastry cream! Of course, you mustn’t miss the basic preparation of my grandma’s pastry cream!
Remember that I wait for you every morning in the Facebook group and fan page of Le Ricette di Bea with the Recipe of the Day! A must-see appointment to start the day together with a sweet or savory treat!
Let’s now move on to the dolce mattonella recipe with cookies, pastry cream and cocoa! The dessert of the three C’s: coffee, pastry cream and cocoa with the most famous dunking cookie there is!
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very affordable
- Rest time: 1 Hour
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 8 servings
- Cooking methods: No-bake
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Autumn, Winter, Spring, All seasons
- Energy 250.22 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 29.34 (g) of which sugars 10.70 (g)
- Proteins 7.47 (g)
- Fat 10.78 (g) of which saturated 5.22 (g)of which unsaturated 2.78 (g)
- Fibers 6.63 (g)
- Sodium 342.19 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 62 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients to make a dolce mattonella for an 8 x 8 in (20 x 20 cm) pan
- 9 oz plain dry cookies (for example Oro Saiwa)
- 1 cup pastry cream (homemade)
- to taste unsweetened cocoa powder
- to taste coffee (almost cold)
- 1 cup whole milk (at room temperature)
- 1/4 cup flour (or cornstarch or potato starch)
- 1 egg
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 1 vial vanilla (or the seeds of one pod)
I chose to use instant coffee to soak the Oro Saiwa cookies for preparing the sweet ‘mattonella’. You can choose to use stovetop moka coffee or coffee from a single-serve machine if you prefer. I didn’t sweeten the coffee because we don’t like overly sweet desserts. I chose Oro Saiwa because, in my opinion, they are the perfect cookies for this dessert and because, in the tradition of this recipe, a simple dry cookie is always used.
To make the pastry cream using grandma’s recipe, click the following link which will take you directly to the step-by-step procedure: grandma’s pastry cream.
Tools to prepare the pastry cream and the dolce mattonella
- 1 Pan
- 1 Small bowl
- 1 Spatula
- 1 Sieve
- 1 Teaspoon
- 1 Refrigerator
- 1 Hand whisk
- 1 Small saucepan
- 1 Stove
Prepare the pastry cream in advance; it must be completely cold before being used to create the layers of the dolce mattonella with cookies and cocoa.
Steps for the no-bake dolce mattonella spoon dessert
The first thing to make is the homemade pastry cream. So beat the egg with the sugar and then add the flour, potato starch or cornstarch. Finally add the vial of vanilla or the seeds of a vanilla pod. Place the saucepan with the egg and flour mixture on the heat, stirring with a hand whisk and gradually adding the amount of whole milk at room temperature.
Let it thicken for about 5 minutes and then turn off the heat. Continue stirring for a few minutes and then let it cool to room temperature before placing it in the refrigerator overnight or for at least three or four hours. You should obtain a soft and silky pastry cream. The cream is ready!
Proceed with the recipe. I prepare the coffee, in this case instant coffee: I heat the water and then stir the coffee powder with a teaspoon, letting it cool for about 30 minutes. I take a square pan and arrange all the ingredients on the work surface so I can quickly assemble the layers of the sweet brick. I then take the cookies, the pastry cream from the refrigerator and the unsweetened cocoa powder. I give the cream that rested in the fridge overnight a good whisk with the hand whisk. I am ready to proceed.
Quickly dunk the Oro Saiwa cookies in the coffee and arrange them in the pan creating the base. With a spatula take small amounts of cream, spreading it gently over the cookies. You can dust each layer with cocoa, but I preferred not to to avoid a too-powdery result. I’m not particularly keen on a lot of cocoa or powdered sugar, so I use them sparingly and only as a final decoration.
Place more dunked cookies on top of the cream and continue until you create four nice, cream-rich layers. On the top layer, in addition to the cream, add a dusting of unsweetened cocoa. The dolce mattonella is ready for its rest in the refrigerator for at least one hour.
Grandma Licia’s cream is quite thick, so it doesn’t need long additional resting. It’s a cream that doesn’t run and doesn’t over-soak the cookies, thus avoiding the mushy effect when we enjoy this dessert.
As you just read, making this dessert is simple. If you want, you can create more layers. Some dolce mattonella reach seven layers of cookies alternated with pastry cream and hazelnut cream. So make your dolce mattone by feel!
I can only wish you a buon appetito and remind you that I wait for you every day here on my cooking blog with many easy, quick and delicious recipes like this one!
Tips, storage and recipe variations:
Tips and recipe variations: As mentioned, prepare the cream and the coffee in advance. The first must be completely cold and the second nearly cold. Create as many layers as you like for this dessert, always alternating cream and cookies, whether it’s pastry cream, chantilly or hazelnut cream. You can enrich it with chocolate chips or chopped nuts but don’t overdo it. Always remember that this dessert is a traditional sweet, very simple and made with few ingredients.
Storage of the mattonella: You can keep the dessert in the refrigerator for a couple of days. It will be best consumed sooner, but store it with a lid on the container and just remember to take the mattonella out of the fridge a few minutes before serving.
