Wheat berries folded into sweet ricotta, topped with hazelnut cocoa cream, for 13 December.

On 13 December, Santa Lucia’s day, many Sicilians skip bread and pasta and eat cuccìa, a dessert of whole wheat berries. In this version the wheat is folded into sweet ricotta cream and each cup is topped with Scyavuru Hazelnut and Cocoa Cream 20%, cinnamon and ground pistachios.

Starting from dry wheat? Soak it for three days first; a jar of cooked wheat saves a lot of time. For another Santa Lucia sweet, try the Sweet Orange Arancine.

Difficulty: Medium
Course: Dessert
Time: Prep 1 h · Rest 30 min · Total 1 h 30 min
Made with: Scyavuru Hazelnut and Cocoa Cream 20%

Ingredients for cuccìa

600 g cooked wheat (from a jar)
800 g ricotta
400 g sugar
90 g Scyavuru Hazelnut and Cocoa Cream 20% (15 g per serving)
Ground cinnamon
Ground pistachios

How to make cuccìa

1. Cream Beat the ricotta with the sugar using an electric whisk, then finish by hand until very smooth. Let it rest for 30 minutes.
2. Wheat Meanwhile, drain the wheat, rinse it under hot water and let it dry completely.
3. Combine Fold the wheat into the ricotta cream.
4. Serve Spoon into 6 cups and top each with 15 g of Hazelnut and Cocoa Cream, a dusting of cinnamon and some ground pistachios.

Tips

Starting from dry wheat? Soak it for 3 days, changing the water every day, then simmer it for about 3½ hours.

Try it with…

Scyavuru Pistachio Cream 25%
Scyavuru Orange Cream

Did you know?

The name may come from the Sicilian verb cucciari: eating grain by grain.
On 13 December, many Sicilians leave bread and pasta off the table. In Palermo they eat arancine, panelle, crocchè and cuccìa instead.
The legend: during a famine, a ship full of grain arrived on 13 December, and people boiled it whole rather than lose time milling it.
Cuccìa started out as a savoury dish, and in some areas it is still cooked with chickpeas.
Cuccìa is on the official list of traditional food products (PAT) of Sicily.