You can make Hannibal’s Sanguinaccio Dolce without blood for a surprisingly easy, elegant chocolate dessert.
Heeeeeeey, it’s October! That means 31 days of pumpkins, pumpkin spice lattes, and spooky things!! Do you have any plans for Halloween yet? I’m not totally sure what I’ll be doing on the 31st, but I do know what I’m doing to celebrate on the blog…
Last month the blog theme was Quick and Easy Recipes. This month, in honor of Halloween, I thought I’d do something a little less practical and a little more fun: Creepy Recipes From Fiction!
I picked a few of my favorite spooky/scary foods inspired by television shows and movies to post every Monday this month and I’m su-ooooooo-oooooooo-ooper (not sorry) excited to share them.
First off, Sanguinaccio Dolce Senza Sangue (Sanguinaccio Dolce Without Blood) from Hannibal.
For those keeping score, this is the second Hannibal recipe on the blog. Last time, I made Lomo Saltado, and if you want to see me lose it a little over how much/why I loved this show, you can read aaaaaaall about it in that post.
Today I’ll play it cool and just say, hey, Hannibal was a great show, and if you like dark humor, beautiful food, and cannibal puns, you might want to check it out. (All three seasons are available on Amazon Prime.*)
Sanguinaccio Dolce is a dessert that appears in the show’s 3rd season. It’s a fantastically rich dark chocolate pudding traditionally made with pigs blood. Hannibal makes it with cow’s blood, though he confesses to his colleague, Dr. Chilton, that the last time they ate it together, it was made with blood from a different sort of animal…
NBC via Tumblr
This Sanguinaccio Dolce recipe does not use pig, cow, or any other kind of blood because I wanted to make it a little more accessible and because it can be a challenge to get your hands on fresh pig’s blood.
I asked around at all of my usual stores, and no one carried it. In fact, when my butcher went in to ask his boss if they could get me any, his boss thought it was so funny, I could hear him laughing through two closed doors, which I think Hannibal would agree with me… RUDE! 😉
Anyway, this is a wonderful dessert and very easy to make. Despite the fancy Italian name, you don’t need any fancy ingredients, just some milk, flour, sugar, cocoa powder, and good-quality chocolate. They simmer together until you get a luscious deep dark chocolate pudding.
Sanguinaccio Dolce is pure chocolate indulgence, so dark and rich you’ll probably just want to drift off into a chocolate coma afterwards. It feels completely sinful, making it a perfect Halloween dessert.
Serve it in a bowl with lady fingers for dipping or recreate Hannibal’s plate for an elegant presentation in a hollowed out orange half with fresh berries.
More Nerdy Recipes
Sanguinaccio Dolce Recipe Tips and Notes
- This pudding is delicious warm and at room temperature, but as it cools, the surface may begin to look dull. Don’t worry. Just give it a good stir right before serving to return its luster.
- DO NOT skip sifting where the recipe calls for it. If there are lumps in your cocoa powder, there will be lumps in your pudding and you will not be able to get rid of them!
- If you can get your hands on some fresh pigs blood, you might like to try the version with sangue!
- Some stores don’t carry Lady Fingers. You can purchase them on Amazon* (make tiramisu with the leftovers!) or use any mild, hard cookie/biscuit you’d like.
- If you want to serve your Sanguinaccio Dolce like Hannibal, the easiest way to hollow out an orange is to cut it in half and run a spoon between the fruit and the pith. Keep working all the way down until you can pop most of the fruit out and use your spoon to scrape out the last bit at the bottom.
- Finally, Fannibals, did you know Janice Poon, the food stylist on Hannibal has a Hannibal cookbook coming out at the end of October? It’s called Feeding Hannibal: A Connoisseur’s Cookbook* and I cannot wait to check it out!
Sanguinaccio Dolce Senza Sangue
Ingredients
- 1 cup milk (any percentage, preferably whole)
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1/2 cup (42g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons (22g) all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup (2oz) chopped good-quality chocolate at least 70%
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a medium pot combine milk and your cinnamon stick. Heat over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes until just before simmering. Remove from heat and discard cinnamon stick.
- In a medium bowl, sift together cocoa powder, sugar, and flour.
- Slowly whisk in hot milk, doing your best not to allow lumps to form. Mix well and return mixture to the pot.
- Whisk constantly over medium-low heat until mixture begins to bubble and thicken, 4 to 8 minutes.
- Whisk in chocolate until smooth. Remove from heat, and mix in vanilla.
- Cool slightly before serving.
Sanguinaccio Dolce Without Blood Adapted From Scatti di Gusto
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Andrew says
Overall a great recipe. Might be a little too late to ask, but how come 1/2 cup equals both 100 grams and 42 grams?
Tracy says
Hi, Andrew. It’s because the same amount of different ingredients have different weights. If you hold one cup of sugar in your hand, it’s going to be significantly heavier than the same amount of cocoa powder. Hope that makes sense!
Kacie says
I realize this post is now a few years old, but I’m wondering if you thought substituting dry red wine for the blood in the original recipe might help add back some of the richness and depth others are talking about? I’ve never had the original version, and a rich chocolate served in orange rind is certainly appealing to me, but I’m weighing trying it with wine and wanted to see what you thought of the idea.
Tracy says
Hi, Kacie, sorry this reply is late. This comment got buried. You definitely could add red wine! I’ve never tried it before, but Sanguinaccio Dolce without blood is really just a dark chocolate pudding, so if you search “red wine chocolate pudding,” you can find recipes with these exact same ingredients plus red wine, so you don’t have to experiment with the ratios.
Mary says
My Grandma , family from Naples, made this with the blood and when i was a little girl in the late 60’s I had it. It was amazingly delicious. Smooth and creamy. I love the recipe but I would actually use the blood, it adds a richness. People forget that jello used to be made from cows and pigs LOL. I also enjoy black pudding, or blood sausage. I am going to try this as it looks so yummy. Yummy thank you posting
Tracy says
What a lovely memory, Mary! Thanks for taking the time to comment!
Eve says
why did you not use blood? that is like the main ingredient besides chocolate! the blood is what gives it the slight salty taste and not only that this is a traditional dessert and it’s great. though if the only reason you didn’t uses blood was because it is hard to come by in stores sorry to bother you….
Tracy says
Hi, Eve. I’d love to do a version with blood, but like I said in the post, I had real trouble tracking down fresh blood locally. And I realized that if I was having trouble finding it here in an agricultural community, other people would have an even tougher time. I did include a link to a version with blood in the post so those brave souls who have access to pig’s blood can give it a try. 🙂
Nancy Mock says
I have not seen Hannibal but I love your idea for spooky screen-inspired foods for October! I can’t wait to see what else you create. I have to agree with Dawn… this dessert sounds much more appealing without the sangue, but I greatly admire that you tried to get some from your (rude) butcher! This dessert looks amazing.
Tracy says
Thanks, Nancy! I’d still love to try the authentic version someday, but I have to admit, when I realized it was going to be tough to get my hands on fresh blood, I was a *tiny* bit relieved. I was having the hardest time finding potential taste testers for the blood version! 😉
Lisa says
Shout out to a fellow Hannibal fan!!! This looks so delicious! And even if pig’s blood were readily available – I’m pretty sure I’d pass on that version anyway! Sorry!
Tracy says
Yeeees! Love meeting other Hannibal fans. 🙂 Ha, thanks! And that’s exactly the reaction I got from all of my usual taste testers!!
Platter Talk says
I agree. I’m very happy you gave us the bloodless version. Looks sublime.
Tracy says
Thanks!
Swayam says
This looks good! Now i guess i should start watching Hannibal although seriously can’t wrap my head around someone using blood in dessert!
Tracy says
Thanks, Swayam! I know, I had to go look it up when I first saw the episode, I had never heard of desserts being made with blood!
Ali @ Home & Plate says
What a fun dip for a party. This looks delicious with all the fruit and the cookies. I would love this. I love the name even though it’s hard for me to see this as anything related to blood. Looks delish!
Tracy says
Ooo, I didn’t even think of using it like that! And thanks. 🙂
Ilona @ Ilona's Passion says
Yum! What a dessert and how nicely it is served. Such a beautiful photos!
Tracy says
Thank you, Ilona!!
Dawn - Girl Heart Food says
Ok, seriously, happy that you did not use blood here. So odd! I’ll just stick to the chocolatey goodness, l 😉 ? I haven’t seen the Hannibal tv series, but I’m sure I’d enjoy it ’cause I enjoyed watching the movies years ago. Though, they freaked me out. Have a great week, Tracy. Looking forward to seeing what recipes you have in store 🙂
Tracy says
Ha! Thanks, Dawn. Part of the reason I didn’t go too hard in hunt for blood to use was that none of my usual taste testers were willing to try the blood version, so I figured most people would probably prefer the bloodless anyway. 🙂 If you like the films, and you don’t mind gore, you would probably really enjoy the show. It’s definitely one of my faves!