'Turk's head', a Sicilian convent sweet bound up with the Norman defeat of the Saracens. In Castelbuono, above Palermo, it is a spoon dessert: layers of blistered fried pastry soaked in a lemon-scented milk cream, dusted with cinnamon and chocolate sprinkles and served cold. In Scicli, in the Ragusa hills, it takes another form entirely, a giant choux 'turban' baked hollow and filled with sweet cinnamon ricotta.
The name looks back to 1091, when the Normans under Count Roger completed their conquest of Sicily and drove out the Saracens; the turban shape and dark dusting of cinnamon are said to mock the severed head and headdress of the vanquished 'Turk'. In Scicli the sweet belongs to the late-May feast of the Madonna delle Milizie, whose legend has the Madonna appear on horseback to rout the Saracen raiders; there it is baked as a hollow choux turban and filled with sweet cinnamon ricotta. The Castelbuono version, a listed traditional sweet, layers fried pastry with lemon milk cream instead. Both descend from the kitchens of cloistered convents.
A spoon cuts down through cold, cinnamon-dusted layers: thin shards of fried pastry, crisp for a moment then softening into a silky, lemony milk cream. It is only lightly sweet, warmed through by cinnamon, with a scatter of chocolate for a little crunch.
The pastry puffs and blisters in hot oil as its surface water flashes to steam, inflating pockets between the thin sheets while egg and gluten set them crisp; the fluted slit vents the steam so each piece fries flat and bubbled rather than curling up. The milk cream thickens by starch gelatinization above about 85℃, and the oils in the lemon zest perfume it. Once layered, the crisp pastry slowly draws moisture from the cream and softens, which is why it is made ahead, chilled and served the next day rather than eaten at once.
Variations
Two towns, two sweets. Scicli's is the baked choux turban filled with cinnamon ricotta — sometimes pastry cream — for the Madonna delle Milizie. Castelbuono's is the layered fried-pastry-and-milk-cream spoon dessert, finished with cinnamon and coloured or chocolate sprinkles, occasionally with ricotta in place of the milk cream. Households adjust the spice, the sprinkles and the richness of the cream to taste.
On the Palate
Where Testa di Turco sits in the Italian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 8
How it's made
7 steps · 40 min
- 135 min
Mix the flour with the sugar, a pinch of salt and the lemon zest, work in the egg and knead to a smooth, elastic dough, then rest it 30 minutes.
- 215 min
Roll the dough paper-thin, cut into rectangles and slit each down the centre with a fluted pastry wheel.
Watch outRoll the dough paper-thin and cut the fluted slit down the middle — that vent lets steam escape so each sheet fries flat and blistered instead of curling.
- 315 min
Deep-fry the sheets in hot oil until puffed, golden and covered in blisters, then drain on paper.
- 48 min
For the cream, slake the cornstarch in some of the cold milk; heat the rest with the sugar and lemon zest.
- 512 min
Whisk in the slurry and cook, stirring, until the milk cream thickens, then let it cool a little.
Watch outCook the milk cream stirring until it visibly thickens and coats the spoon — pull it early and the layers won't hold; it thins back down.
- 68 min
Spread cream in a dish, lay in fried pastry, spread on more cream and dust with cinnamon; repeat the layers.
- 7180 min
Finish with a layer of cream, scatter over chocolate sprinkles and chill at least 3 hours before serving.
Watch outChill at least 3 hours before serving — the crisp pastry needs that time to drink the cream and soften into the right melting texture.
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