Robicelli's

Flavors: Wednesday, December 14th

I know the Tumblr is crazy late today.  Last night I came home, collapsed into bed and just watched the lights on my Christmas tree.  Atticus was up, too.  He said he stayed up in his bed til I got home because he loves me and he misses me.  Of course, after he says this I start crying.  Then he starts petting my head and saying “It’s ok Mommy! Don’t cry- I’m right here! It’s ok!”.  

This, of course, makes me cry more.

With all the craziness of the holiday season- with the gift buying and running from market to market to dealing with extended family and making travel arrangements and whatever you start to think that the holidays are meant to kill you.  Then you have moments like that where you realize that the holidays are about nothing more than taking a little step back from the insanity of your life, looking around, and realizing not what you want, but what you already have.  And I am an incredibly lucky person.

Now to today’s flavors.  Today’s sort of special to me, because as we’ve made many cupcakes that touched on “traditional” Christmas flavors, most of those things were never found at my house growing up.  Now while those of us who were born and raised in Brooklyn know about American Christmas traditions from tv and pop culture, our neighborhoods were divided into ethnic enclaves where we held strong to the traditions of the old world, regardless of when our families arrived from there.

At my Sicilian grandmother’s house, I don’t think we ever had a turkey, or eggnog, or gingerbread.  But we DID have lasagna, red wine, orange flavored chocolates and panforte.  Panforte is a sort of chocolate fruitcake/candy hybrid that is not remotely like the fruitcakes we all joke about.  It’s so rich that only a small slice will do.  And it’s wonderful.

My mother’s parents came here to escape the Nazis in occupied Norway.  For Christmas, my bestemor made “Riskrem”- rice cream.  Now, the Persians and Mexicans and whomever else can talk about how great their rice pudding is, and yes, it’s delicious- but Norway OWNS rice pudding, and nobody realizes it.  The secret? Once they make the pudding, they fold in an equal amount of whipped cream.  And yes, it’s ever better than you’re thinking it is right now.

Riskrem is made in a giant pot, then one solitary almond is mixed in, and whomever gets it has good luck for an entire year, AND gets a marzipan pig! I got the pig when I was 8, and let me tell you, marizpan? Tastes like VICTORY.

Today we have a chocolate and mascarpone cake topped with a sliver of homemade panforte for you to try, and another topped with riskrem and some almonds so you’ll all have good luck in the New Year.  If you like them, maybe you can make them into traditions for your family in the years ahead.  

That was pretty much the best part of growing up in Brooklyn.  We had all our own cultures, but we got to have all our friends cultures, too.  And that was a lot more interesting than the tradition of holiday red velvet milk. (it’s red flavored!)

Clockwise from front: Chocolate Orange, Creme Brulee, Chocolate Panforte, Riskrem

NEW! Chocolate Panforte: Chocolate Cake, Mascarpone Buttercream, Homemade Italian Panforte

Riskrem: Vanilla cake, rice pudding buttercream, roasted almonds

Creme Brulee: Vanilla cake, vanilla custard buttercream, caramelized sugar

Chocolate Orange: Chocolate orange cake & buttercream, candied orange peel

Available at:

Robicelli’s at the Union Square Holiday Market: Booth Number C34

Robicelli’s at DeKalb Market: 138 Willoughby Street, Downtown Brooklyn

Hom: 88th & 3rd, Bay Ridge

Cafe at Sam’s Bakery: 94th Street off 3rd Ave, Bay Ridge

Blue Apron Foods: Union Street off 7th Avenue, Park Slope

Tazza: Clark Street off Henry AND Henry Street off Atlantic, Brooklyn Heights

Jem: Broadway off Franklin, TriBeCa

Battery Place Market: 77 Battery Place, Battery Park City

Joe Columbia University: West 120th Street btwn Broadway & Amsterdam, Morningside Heights

Brooklyneer: 220 West Houston Street, West Village

Red Hook Lobster Pound (whoopie pies only)