Possibly the ultimate Italian custard dessert, the Bonet Piemontese is a traditional dessert from Piedmont in Northern Italy. It's essentially a chocolate flan or
crème caramel infused with coffee and rum with a soft crust of crushed amaretti cookies. It's a fantastic dessert, and probably my favorite recipe using amaretti cookies, but also simple enough that anyone can make it.
The bonet is a very old dish, likely dating back to at least the 1300's. The original version was known as bonet alla monferrina and didn't include chocolate until it arrived from the Americas.
The word bonet or bunet (pronounced like beaunay) refers to a traditional copper cooking vessel called a bonèt ëd cusin (chef hat). I assume it's a cognate of the English word bonnet.
I've been making the dish since I bought Gina De Palma's book Dolce Italiano back in the early 2000's. By far my favorite Italian pastry book, its the only one of its kind as Gina passed from cancer in 2016.
How to Make the Bonet Dessert
The first thing to do is line ramekins or molds with caramel like you're making a flan. Although it's easy to make, caramel involves cooking water and sugar to a high temperature so it's important to be very careful working with it.
It's a good idea to keep a pot of ice water handy when lining the molds. If you get hot caramel on your fingers, plunge them into the bowl of ice water.
Caramel
Heat the sugar and water until the sugar liquifies and turns a light amber color.
Pour the caramel into the molds, swirling it around to coat the sides. Just like flan, you can also bake it in a single, large mold or loaf pan.
Custards / Flans
Bring heavy cream, coffee, sugar, vanilla, rum, cocoa powder and a few cinnamon sticks to a boil, then cool.
Pour the cream into eggs and egg yolks beaten with sugar, then strain.
Next, crush some amaretti (Italian almond cookies). I like to use black walnut or hazelnut amaretti, but almond are the most traditional. If you want to make your own, the method is in the recipe notes.
Pour a few heaping tablespoons of crushed amaretti cookies into each mold, fill with the chocolate custard and bake in a hot water bath. They should take about 60 minutes to cook.
Unlike pot du creme and puddings, it's important that the custards are completely set for them to unmold properly.
When they're done, let the custards cool for at least four hours, then slide an off-set spatula around the rim of each ramekin and unmold them onto a serving plate.
Spoon any extra caramel sauce from the mold over each bonet. Served with whipped cream, crushed amaretti and a few toasted nuts for texture they're a showstopper that have served me well for nearly 20 years.
Related Posts
Bonet Piemontese: Italian Amaretti & Chocolate Flan
Equipment
- 6 4 oz ramekins or 12 small, 4 oz jelly jars
- 1 Heavy 2 quart saucepan for the caramel
- 1 Strainer optional
- 1 Wide, deep baking pan for using as a waterbath
Ingredients
Caramel *see note
- 2 cups white sugar
- ⅓ cup water
Flan Custard
- 2.5 cups Heavy cream
- 1 large Egg
- 5 large Egg yolks
- ¼ cup Unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ cup white sugar (divided in half)
- 1 cup crushed amaretti cookies plus extra for garnishing
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla extract or wild vanilla extract
- 1 Tablespoon Rum optional
- ½ Cup Very strong coffee or espresso *see note
- 2 Cinnamon sticks
Serving
- ¼ cup Toasted nuts, chopped of the same type used for the amaretti, optional
- 1 cup Whipped cream
Instructions
Caramel
- Heat the water and sugar in a heavy bottomed saucepan until the sugar is melted and turns a light amber color.
- Remove the pan from the heat, swirling it occasionally. It will continue to darken in color as it sits while you prepare the molds.
- Carefully pour ¼ cup caramel into each mold, carefully rotating the molds to coat the bottom and sides with caramel.
- Allow the molds to cool completely.
Chocolate Flan
- Heat the cream, cocoa, coffee or espresso, ¼ cup sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and rum and bring to a simmer. Turn the heat off and allow to cool. Remove the cinnamon sticks.
- In a wide mixing bowl, beat the egg and yolks with the remaining ¼ cup sugar, then pour the custard into them. Strain the custard if possible.
- Preheat the oven to 325 F.
- Put two heaping tablespoons of amaretti in each ramekin, then fill with custard leaving at least ½ inch headspace from the top.
- Put the ramekins in a baking dish, filling it with hot water ¾ of the way up the molds.
- Bake the custards for 30 minutes, then rotate the pan 180 degrees.
- Continue cooking the custards for another 20-30 minutes, or until completely set. When in doubt, cook them a little longer, until a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean.
- Remove the custards and allow to cool in the warm water until room temperature. Cover with plastic wrap and chill the custards for at least 4 hours.
Serving
- Put the ramekins in a tray with warm water to loosen the caramel for 5 minutes.
- To serve, slide an offset spatula or butter knife around each mold and invert onto a plate. Spoon the extra caramel sauce over the custard, garnish with crushed amaretti, a few toasted nuts and whipped cream, and serve.
Video
Notes
- Caramel can be dangerous. It's a good idea to keep a bowl of ice water on hand while lining the molds. If you get caramel on your hands, plunge them into the ice water.
- For a richer chocolate flavor, melt two ounces of grated semi-sweet chocolate with the cream.
Sandy
You nailed it, babe - looks beautiful
Alan Bergo
Thanks Sandy, yeah I was a little rusty at first 😉
Sara Wellman
This sounds very yummy! Am I missing the cream in the ingredients for the custard?
Sara Wellman
I see it now.
Deborah Volovski
At what point do you add the cocoa powder to the chocolate flan?
Alan Bergo
It's added to the cream with the vanilla and coffee as shown in the process images here.
Janis
This dessert sounds utterly divine.
I think you have an error in your equipment list. Presently it reads, "6 4 oz ramekins or 12 small, 4 oz jelly jars". 4 oz is 4 oz, isn't it?
Alan Bergo
Thanks Janis. I was conflating 4 oz with 4 inches.