Dessert

Italy

Pignoccata is a popular Sicilian sweet that is traditionally prepared during Carnival and Christmas time. It consists of bite-sized fried pieces of pastry dough generously soaked in hot, lightly caramelized honey. The sticky, sweet balls are then arranged in a pile and sprinkled with colorful sugar confetti and chopped pine nuts or almonds. Crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, these gooey treats are best enjoyed while still warm.

Pignoccata

Pignolata is a traditional Sicilian sweet from the city of Messina, usually prepared during Christmas time. This festive treat consists of tiny balls of lemon-flavored pastry dough, fried or baked in the oven, then covered in dark chocolate and lemon glaze on both halves of the pastry. The name pignolata comes from the word pigna, meaning pine, because these rounded sweets are usually served in a pile and arranged in a pinecone shape.

Pignolata Messinese

Australia

Pihlohlo mwehng is a traditional dish that consists of taro root coated with coconut sap syrup. The dish is made with a mixture of boiled and ground taro root, starch, and sugar. The taro mixture is then formed into oblong-shaped pieces that are added to a pot of caramelized coconut sap syrup and thoroughly coated with it. Typical of Mwoakilloa, this specialty uses mwehng, which is a variety of hard or swamp taro root traditionally harvested by women.

Pihlohlo mwehng

This New Zealander confectionery product known as Pineapple Lumps is made by covering a soft and chewy pineapple center with a chocolate coating. The sweet treats were first made in the 1950s by Charles Diver, a confectionery chef at the Regina Confectionery Company. Although they were first called Pineapple Chunks, the name changed in the 1960s to Pineapple Lumps in order to be more recognizable.

Pineapple Lumps

A classic all-American dessert, pineapple upside down cake consists of a layer of canned pineapple slices, Maraschino cherries, brown sugar, and butter, which are poured over with cake batter. Once the cake is baked, it is flipped, so the pineapple and Maraschino cherry layer is on top. Optionally, nuts can also be added to the layer with pineapple and cherries, and the cake batter can have different flavorings added, most commonly vanilla and lemon. Traditionally, it is baked in a cast-iron skillet on the stove, as most upside down cakes are. The oldest known recipe is from 1925, when the Hawaiian Pineapple Company (now Dole Company) made a contest looking for the best pineapple recipes. Out of 60,000 submissions, 2,500 were recipes for pineapple upside down cake, and the pineapple upside down cake recipe by Mrs. Robert Davis of Norfolk, Virginia won. Given this, it is safe to say that the cake was a known thing at that point, but when it was first created is unknown, except that the contest further popularized it. Pineapple upside down cake was extremely popular in the 1950s and the 1960s and is typically served with lots of whipped cream.

Pineapple upside down cake

India

Pinni is a dessert from Punjabi and North Indian cuisine that is enjoyed during wintertime after lunch or as a snack paired with a cup of tea or a glass of warm dairy. The adorable little cakes are made from desi ghee, jaggery, wheat flour, and almonds, but they can also be additionally flavored with khoya&mdash;thickened or dried whole milk, or modified to include additional ingredients such as cashews and raisins. Once shaped, they are covered with crushed cardamom or chopped nuts and left to chill before consumption.

Pinni

Pinza Bolognese is a traditional shortcrust pastry-based dessert from Bologna, belonging to a group of torte da credenza, which could be translated as cupboard cakes - simple cakes that can last for days without being stored in a refrigerator. Pinza Bolognese is filled with mostarda Bolognese, a special kind of locally-produced black jam made with quinces, plums, apples, pears, oranges, and mustard seeds - both of these delicacies are pretty hard to find outside their city of origin and its surroundings. This rustic dessert is finished with a sprinkle of granulated sugar, and it is best enjoyed cold, paired with a cup of coffee or tea.

Pinza Bolognese

Pinza Veneta is a traditional cake originating from the Veneto region. It's made with a combination of polenta flour, plain flour, raisins, figs, apples, orange zest, grappa, butter, sugar, yeast, and fennel seeds. The mixture is placed onto a baking tray, then baked until golden brown. This rustic cake is traditionally prepared for Epiphany (the 6th of January). It's recommended to serve it with a glass of dessert wine.

Pinza Veneta

Pio quinto is a traditional custard cake that is drenched in rum, then dusted with cinnamon. It is traditionally made with a combination of flour and pinol (toasted white cornmeal). Sometimes, raisins and prunes are added to the cake for extra flavor. The cake is often served at special occasions such as Christmas. It is believed that this festive dessert was named after Pope Pius V.

Pio quinto

Piragua is a Puerto Rican dessert consisting of shaved ice that is shaped into a pyramid, then covered with fruit-flavored syrup. It is typically sold from brightly colored carts by pirag&uuml;eros &ndash; snow cone makers. The name piragua means canoe in Taino language, although no one is quite sure how that word is connected to this colorful sweet treat. The syrups used for piraguas vary in flavor &ndash; from lemon, grape, and strawberry to the more exotic mango, pineapple, and coconut.

Piragua

Fried bananas or plantains are a common everyday snack eaten throughout Indonesia. They come in numerous versions in which the fruit is simply fried in shallow oil, but more often sliced banana pieces are coated in batter before they are fried until golden. Besides numerous other varieties, fried bananas also appear under different names such as godoh biu on Bali or gedhang gor&egrave;ng on Java. They are traditionally sold at street stalls and carts and belong to a group of gorengan dishes&mdash;Indonesian deep-fried snacks. The more elaborate version of pisang goreng are served dusted with powdered sugar and cinnamon, drizzled with chocolate, or accompanied by jams or ice cream. Similar banana-based dishes are found in other Southeast Asian regions and countries such as Singapore, the Philippines (maruya) and Malaysia (kuih kodok).

Pisang goreng

Pisua is a flavorful Samoan dessert consisting of tapioca pearls drenched in a creamy sauce made with coconut milk and caramelized sugar. This dish is always served chilled, either as a dessert or a sweet afternoon snack. It is traditionally served in small, transparent bowls. If you don't have tapioca pearls in your kitchen, they can be replaced with granular sago.

Pisua

Pizza de Pasqua de Civitavecchia is a traditional dessert hailing from Civitavecchia, hence the name. The cake is made exclusively in the short time period before Easter, and it is then consumed the following week. It is made with a combination of soft wheat flour, sugar, butter, eggs, cinnamon, sheep's ricotta, vanilla, aniseed, yeast, and either wine or vermouth. The cake is baked in ovens for about one hour in specially-designed circular pans. It is traditionally left to stand for a week before consumption, as this will enhance its natural flavors. Pizza de Pasqua de Civitavecchia is mostly prepared at home as an accompaniment to the staples of Easter breakfast &ndash; salami, hard-boiled eggs, and coratella (lamb offal) with artichokes. This cake is also often exchanged as a gift during the Easter festivities.

Pizza de Pasqua de Civitavecchia

Pizza di ricotta is a type of cheesecake from the Apulia region traditionally prepared for Easter. It consists of a shortcrust pastry base and a filling typically consisting of ricotta, sugar, eggs, and lemon zest. Strips of shortcrust pastry are typically placed decoratively on top of the filling. Depending on the recipe, the filling can enriched with candied fruit, chocolate chips, or alcohol.

Pizza di ricotta pugliese

Plăcintă cu ciocolată is a thin pastry with chocolate and nut filling. It is one of many Romanian plăcintă dishes that are stuffed with either savory or sweet fillings. This dessert is made with soft dough layers filled with chocolate, eggs, sugar, and chopped nuts, and flavored with orange zest and vanilla extract. Its sweet and nutty flavor, enhanced by the refreshing orange zest and vanilla, will satisfy any sweet tooth.

Plăcintă cu ciocolată

Plăcintă cu mere is a Romanian dessert made with a filling of grated apples, cinnamon, sugar, and melted butter, which is spread evenly between two layers of baked dough, flavored with orange zest and vanilla sugar. It is not a typical pie, but more of a pastry-like cake, which can be eaten hot or chilled, and it is typically topped with powdered sugar. This dish is usually consumed as a dessert, but it can also be eaten for breakfast or as a snack on the go. By removing the eggs and any optional dairy products from the dough, it can become a perfect sweet treat suitable for eating during the fasting period.

Plăcintă cu mere

A light dessert called plăcintă cu urdă is a traditional Romanian pastry filled with a mixture of urdă cheese, br&acirc;nză cheese, eggs, sugar, and vanilla sugar. Raisins soaked in orange juice or rum, sm&acirc;nt&acirc;nă, and orange or lemon zest are typically added to this dish for extra flavor. The dessert can be eaten hot or chilled, topped with granulated sugar or a dusting of powdered sugar.

Plăcintă cu urdă

Plat&aacute;no frito is a simple side dish made by frying ripe plantains in oil until they become golden brown. The dish is usually served for lunch, accompanying numerous main dishes, often along with cooked rice. The plantains can be additionally topped with Mexican crumbly cheese, sour cream, or condensed milk if they are served as a dessert. Although fried plantains are prepared throughout Mexico, they are very popular in the coastal areas, but also in other Latin American countries such as Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, and Cuba.

Platáno frito

Platinum pudding is the name of a British lemon swiss roll and amaretti trifle. This decadent dessert was made in 2022 by Jemma Melvin, who won a competition that was held to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II&rsquo;s Platinum Jubilee. This complex dessert consists of seven crucial elements: Swiss rolls, lemon curd, St. Clement&rsquo;s jelly (lemon and orange jelly), amaretti biscuits, custard, jeweled chocolate bark (white chocolate shards), and chunky mandarin coulis. Platinum pudding is assembled in layers, and it&rsquo;s served well-chilled in a trifle dish.

Platinum Pudding

Plum pudding has roots in medieval English sausages when fruits, spices, and fat used to be combined with grains, meats, and vegetables, then packed into animal intestines in order to keep as long as possible. First records of plum puddings can be traced back to the 15th century, and plum was a generic term for any dried fruit &ndash; mostly currants, prunes, and raisins. Near the end of the 16th century, dried fruit became more common in England, and plum pudding started to evolve from savory to sweet. Nowadays, plum pudding refers to a wide variety of puddings such as Christmas pudding or Spotted dick.