I became addicted to these wonderful candies that I bought in Genoa, which are essentially crunchy, sugared slivers of cinnamon sticks. Sounds amazing, right?
These cannelle confet are made by a family of Italian candy-makers Pietro Romanengo fu Stefano, whose family first started making candy and chocolate in Genoa in the second half of the 18thcentury.
Dragees can be any number of items (almonds, pine nuts, pistachios,candied citruses, cinnamon, aniseed, coffee, cocoa etc) which are coated in sugar.
In this case, the cinnamon is sliced very thinly and hand-dipped in sugar, making a great crispy, sweet but spicy bite.
Rufus' Food and Spirits Guide says
Oh that does sound awesome.
saffronandhoney says
It’s so surprising at first, but entirely addictive!
Lenna (veganlenna) says
I have never heard of these! But they sound delicious. Cinnamon is my favourite spice and I bet it tastes great. I like coffee and cocoa dragees, but I haven´t had them in a long while…
saffronandhoney says
I never heard of them either until I bought them while walking around in the old city in Genoa. They are really great, if you can track them down!
yummychunklet says
What a great idea! I’ve had cinnamon roasted nuts before, but never cinnamon in sugar. What a great idea!
saffronandhoney says
It’s made me wonder how no one’s thought of this before (though clearly, these have been made for decades and decades just far away :)).
Anne says
Hm, this looks intriguing! Will certainly see if I can find it next time I go to Italy
saffronandhoney says
The more I think about it, the more I think they would also made a great after-dinner sweet.
Tasty Mayhem says
These are a favorite from my childhood. Italian grandmother – and they sold these in many of the Italian groceries. Cinnamon was the best.
saffronandhoney says
Ah, happy that someone else has experienced them!