The Chocolaty Pasta Dish Giada De Laurentiis Loved As A Child

If you've ever seen the movie "Elf," you may have been secretly jealous when Will Ferrell makes Buddy the Elf's breakfast spaghetti, complete with maple syrup, marshmallows, and crumbled-up Pop-Tarts. While that sugar rush may be a little too much for your average Monday morning, it also looks ... kind of delicious?

But fictitious Christmas characters aren't the only ones who like to treat themselves to dessert pasta from time to time. The queen of Italian-American food, Giada De Laurentiis, is known to indulge in chocolate pasta on occasion. And while we may not be jumping to replicate recipes from a Christmas elf (although if you are, no judgment there), if De Laurentiis thinks a dish is good, we'll take her word for it. The chef rose to fame on her Food Network show, "Everyday Italian," where she teaches viewers how to make easy meals inspired by her family's Italian home cooking. But her empire today extends far beyond that show — De Laurentiis is also an Emmy award-winner, author of nine best-selling cookbooks, and restaurateur. So if she has something to say about dessert pasta, we're all ears.

Although "Elf" may have created widespread attention over dessert pasta, for De Laurentiis, this meal is nothing new. In fact, the chef has been eating spaghetti with melted chocolate since she was a kid, according to Bon Appétit, and it was her favorite dish back in the day. That's not to say she has ditched the pasta completely as an adult — she'll still make it from time to time, and has even made it for her daughter.

But De Laurentiis' chocolate pasta today is a little more zhuzhed up than that of her childhood days. In her Food Network recipe for Chocolate Fettuccine with Peas and Pancetta, De Laurentiis includes cocoa powder in the pasta dough, and tops the whole dish off with a chocolate curl garnish at the end, made with a vegetable peeler. Although the rest of the dish includes savory elements like fried sage, Parmesan, and pancetta, De Laurentiis also incorporates ingredients to compliment the chocolate, like vanilla extract and mascarpone. As one user commented, "The pancetta gave the salty and the chocolate the sweet ... the perfect combination!"

If you're looking to dip your toe into the world of chocolate pasta, De Laurentiis' recipe seems like a safe place to start. Or, if you want to follow in the footsteps of Buddy the Elf, try Bigger Bolder Baking's Chocolate Pasta with Chocolate Hazelnut Sauce — between the homemade Nutella, chocolate noodles, and whipped cream on top, your sweet tooth is sure to be satisfied.