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TOWARDS QUARTU S.ELENA
After tasting some of the traditional dishes, let’s move towards the inland to try some Sardinian desserts.
We arrive in Quartu, a city near Cagliari, with a long commercial and agricultural tradition. Over the last decade, Quartu has become the third largest city in Sardinia. It’s the “capital” of Sardinian desserts, which are made of genuine ingredients, as all Sardinian specialities.
Is Candelaus are delicious sweets made of thin pieces of dough, wrapped around an almond mixture. They are covered with icing sugar and are shaped like flowers, animals, amphorae, shoes, small saucepans…. Gueffus are small balls made of almonds, flavoured with orange flower water and wrapped in multicoloured tissue paper (in Ozieri they are called sospiri-sighs, and are flavoured with myrtle liqueur, maraschino and covered with chocolate).
Gatto’ is a crunchy dessert of almonds, honey and orange rind, cut in different beautiful shapes. Pirichittus are sweets of Spanish origin, shaped as snow-balls. They are made of eggs, olive oil and flour. When cooked, they are dipped in a sugar icing made of lemon and orange.
You must also try is Pabassinas, with raisins and almonds, and is Pardulas, soft dough disks, stuffed with grated fresh “pecorino” cheese, sugar, saffron, vanilla and orange rind. In other Sardinian villages, they are called Casadinas and are stuffed with ricotta cheese instead.