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Italian Cuisine Expert and Food Blogger
Guido Pedrelli
Guido Pedrelli, the mastermind behind Nonna Box, has honed his culinary expertise for decades, inspired by family feasts in Emilia-Romagna. Mentored by his restaurateur nonna, he mastered Italian classics and furthered his skills with professional culinary studies in desserts and gelato making from Mec3. Today, he shares this rich legacy and authentic recipes through Nonna Box.
Bonet (pronounced bunèt) is a typical dessert of the Langhe, a historic region of Piedmont that is located between the provinces of Cuneo and Asti. This dessert iis like a delicious chocolate pudding and crème caramel combined, and the recipe for making it has ancient origins.
In fact, there are some historical accounts about the 13th century that say this dessert was served at the royal banquets of the time. Keep reading for our easy-to-follow recipe with just six ingredients that is sure to be a huge hit as the finishing touch to your next Sunday family meal.
In order to make bonet, you will need the following utensils and kitchen equipment.
This recipe calls for just six ingredients, so be sure to use high-quality products for the best possible outcome when making this typical Italian chocolate pudding dessert.
Try other dessert recipes:
You can crush the amaretti cookies by pulsing them on low a few minutes in a food processor or you can place them in a sealed plastic bag and crush them with the palm of your hand until you obtain a fine powder.
Our trick for a perfect bain marie is to never let the water boil because that hardens the dessert and causes bubbles. If you follow this little trick, the bonet will be soft and smooth.
This recipe is always delicious, but making it one day ahead is a great way to ensure the dessert is fully chilled so the complexity of the flavors comes out. Be sure to remove it from the fridge about 30 minutes ahead to take the chill off before serving.
There are two versions of this dessert, a white one, called alla Monferrina, is older and less known, and does not contain cocoa but only milk, sugar, eggs, and amaretti. The other, called sabauda, came later when new ingredients from South America, such as cocoa and rum, arrived to Italy. This second version is the one that is most famous and is the recipe we are sharing with you today.
Even today in restaurants in Piedmont, bonet is a dessert that is always present on the menu, not only in its original form, but also with some delicious variations. It is possible to find it made with round Langhe hazelnuts, or with espresso or rum instead of amaretto liqueur, or using lemon zest or vanilla extract to flavor the milk before it is added to the mixture.
Feel free to experiment with your favorite ingredients and leave us a comment in the comment sections about what worked the best!
Bonet should be stored in an air-tight container or covered completely with plastic wrap and can be stored this way in the refrigerator for up to 6 days.
There are different schools of thought on the origin of the name of this dessert. Bonet in Piedmontese means “hat,” intended as a nightcap, and this has given rise to two different hypotheses. The first claims that bonét ëd cusin-a, or “chef’s hat,” was the name given to the hat-shaped mold in which the dessert is sometimes prepared. The second hypothesis, and perhaps the most likely, claims that since this dessert was served as the conclusion of a lavish meal, it represented the gesture of putting on a hat (bonet) as the last garment before leaving the house.
Bonet was typically prepared on Saturday afternoon, after the bread had been baked in the wood-burning oven. As soon as the bread came out, when the oven was still hot, the preparers would beat eggs together with sugar, then add cocoa powder, milk, crumbled amaretti, and rum.
In the mold, first it would be coated with sugar and put in the oven to let the sugar caramelize while rotating the mold so that it could adhere to the entire surface. Then the egg mixture would be poured into the sugary mold and it would be cooked in a bain-marie, or water bath inside the oven.
No additional wood was added to the oven, because the cooking had to be delicate and slow, and the bonet was judged ready when it thickened. The dessert was chilled and served the next day after the Sunday family meal.
The enveloping sweetness of bonet teams up just right with one of Italy’s most notable sparkling dessert wines: Moscato d’Asti. Fresh and very aromatic, its bouquet recalls yellow flowers and fruits like apple and pear. Keen to try an unexpected alternative? Try bonet with a dessert wine, such as a Tuscan Vin Santo, served at room temperature.
There are different schools of thought on the origin of the name of this dessert. Bonet in Piedmontese means “hat,” intended as a nightcap, and this has given rise to two hypotheses. The first claims that bonét ëd cusin-a, or “chef’s hat,” was the name given to the hat-shaped mold in which the dessert is prepared. The second hypothesis, and perhaps also the truest, claims that since this dessert was served as the conclusion of a lavish meal, it represented the gesture of putting on a hat (bonet) as the last garment before leaving the house.
There are two versions of this dessert. A white one, called alla Monferrina, is older and less known, and does not contain cocoa but only milk, sugar, eggs, and amaretti. The other, called sabauda, came later when new ingredients from South America, such as cocoa and rum, came to Italy and has become very famous.
The spread of this recipe in Piedmont is due to the large presence of almond and hazelnut groves in the region. These groves also heralded the birth of the famous amaretto cookie, a pastry made with sweet and bitter almonds, probably invented by the Arabs and widespread throughout the Mediterranean thanks to its long shelf life.
Today I made this dessert recipe for my kids and family they really loved it.It was so delicious everyone appreciated me and all the credit goes to you thank you so much for putting up this recipe.
Grazie mille! So glad they liked it!
Wonderful explanation and beautiful photos. Thanks for sharing. Greeting