Literally "tits of the nun"... you cannot miss them if you come to the south of Italy!
To make it easy for you to visualize it, imagine a kind of chantilly cream puff, but three times softer and (personal opinion) better, as a cloud! Tetta delle monaca is an Apulian dessert, originated from Altamura. When cooked serve sprinkling powdered sugar. There are many variations of this dessert-like the chocolate and pistachio ones, but for the first time, I personally advise you to try the chantilly cream, it is the traditional one.
Now a little bit of history..
If you are wondering about the name of this dessert, it comes from a legend..or two:
The funny one: One day a nun was making a sponge cake but its shape turned out a little bit.. different than the others. At that moment a man who was walking around there and when he saw the unusual shape he started to laugh and said oh look at the “minne de le suor!” (south Italian dialect for tits of the nun).
The less funny one: According to this version the dessert is a tribute to Saint Agata, co-patron of Gallipoli, who has torn a breast as punishment cause she did not resist at the roman Proconsul Quinzano.
Where to it?
In the past, this dessert was made by the nuns in the Monastery of Saint Chiara. Due to the tradition, the Tette della Monaca must be handmade, without any machine, as nuns used to do. In my opinion, you can experience it at the Pasticceria Monastero di S. Chiara, the address is: Via S.Chiara, 7, 70022 Altamura BA. A handmade laboratory of ancient pastry which respects the old traditions. It is located inside the Monastery, and it is a unique business with etic and social values in addition to economic sustainability. They sell many other desserts as the Amaretto and the Amarenata, I liked both of them, super advised!
Buon appetito, Sara.
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