At this time of year there tends to be a lot of leftovers in the fridge, cookies in tins and jars, and sweets out on display in living rooms as a result of holiday festivities.

In my extended Italian family, instead of rhyming off all of Santa’s reindeer, I would go around the cookie trays and name all the homemade delectables that family members would offer up. Come Panatone, Pandoro, Caggionetti… now amaretti, pizelle, terrone, and on nuchata, sicilian cannolis and biscotti.

[You either like Venetian or Sicilian when it comes to cannolis. There's nothing more polarizing in an Italian cookie argument.]

Don’t worry about pronouncing them, “just try one” would be the answer from my family. As if cravings weren’t difficult enough to handle without 20 different homemade dessert varieties staring me in the face!

Where do these urges come from?

Cravings can result from many different factors including: (more…)