Testa's Bakery: Leave the Gun, Take the Cannolis

The line "leave the gun, take the cannolis" from "The Godfather" has been immortalized. While many argue over the exact meaning of the line, I take it to mean that you should keep moving forward and enjoy life. What could be more enjoyable than a delicious freshly made cannoli?

The Italian bakery in Havertown knows a thing or two about a good cannoli. They have been in business since the early 1980's and continue to create homemade baked goods, pastries and cakes for their loyal customers. 

You can have a regular or miniature size cannoli made to order with vanilla, chocolate or ricotta cheese and chocolate chip fillings. The ricotta filling is smooth, creamy and wonderful. Many times the filling can taste too cheese-y but this only had a slight ricotta flavor. They sprinkle the cannoli with powdered sugar to finish it.

Though Italian, the bakery offers many non-Italian items including the Irish specialities Irish potatoes ($9/pound) and soda bread ($6.75) for St. Patrick's day. The Irish potatoes consist of shredded coconut and cream cheese rolled around in cinnamon. Each one is rich, creamy and decadent.

Although I love coconut, I would be hard pressed to eat more than one. The soda bread was denser than regular white bread with a slight sweetness to it. I love the raisins and imagine that the soda bread would be fantastic as toast with a huge pat of Irish butter.

There are multiple cases of loose cookies, biscotti, donuts and danishes. The danishes come in regular and mini sizes (perfect for entertaining). The donuts are a bargain at only $0.65 each. The glazed donut had a thick sugary shell that encased a soft, airy and light yeast-based donut that was excellent.

The anise, napoletan (with cherries) and almond biscotti ($9-$12/pound) were perfect dunked into a cup of coffee.  For me, the subtle and crunchy anise biscotti was the clear winner. For those that aren't a fan of licorice-y flavors the almond biscotti is probably your best bet.

There are oodles and oodles of cookies. I chose the amaretti cookies ($9/pound) out of all the other contenders because I love almond paste and all things made with it. These amaretti were bursting with almond flavor, moist yet not too heavy. Consider these for an after dinner treat for your next dinner party. 

The bakery specializes in all kinds of cakes including wedding cakes. The pictures on the wall showcase memorable projects from the past.

The service is friendly and as a typical bakery they open as early as 7:30 a.m. on weekdays. Sadly, they are closed on Mondays and only take cash. I would recommend this place to anyone in search of a good old fashioned bakery. Also noteworthy is that there is no minimum on loose items as there is in many other bakeries. Feel free to get only 1-2 cookies or biscotti.

In closing, I can't agree more, "leave the gun" (we don't need any more senseless violence) and "take the cannolis" (these are worth the trip wherever you may be coming from) and whatever else strikes your fancy.