Sweet Maria's Italian Desserts: Classic and Casual Recipes for Cookies, Cakes, Pastry, and Other Favorites

by María Bruscino Sánchez

Sweet Maria's Italian Desserts is baker Maria Bruscino Sanchez's loving tribute to the desserts her family has enjoyed for generations - desserts you'll find in Italy and in Italian-American homes on special occasions and, in many cases, any day of the year. These are festive favorites like Traditional Cannoli, Espresso Cheesecake, Tiramisu, Amaretto Chiffon Cake, Spiced Gelato, and many others. The result of years of baking in Italy, in her popular...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 031224133X
• ISBN13: 9780312241339
• Release Date: October 2000
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.78 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 7.0" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Make Delicious Italian Desserts at Home

Make Delicious Italian Desserts at HomeIn her latest cookbook, "Sweet Maria's Italian Desserts: Classic and Casual Recipes for Cookies, Cakes, Pastry, and Other Favorites," baker Maria Bruscino Sanchez offers traditional family recipes for the home baker. She demystifies the "handful of this and that" that one often finds with "old country" family recipes. Italian baking, like Italian cooking, is regional. Maria offers recipes from her Neapolitan and Abbruzzese heritage; from her Sicilian husband's heritage; and from her travels all over Italy. She shares updated traditional and contemporary recipes from her own Sweet Maria's Bakery in Waterbury, Connecticut, where Italian-Americans and others purchase desserts.The recipes in this cookbook are easy to follow. Here you will find authentic Italian recipes for everything from cookies (including biscotti), cakes (including cheesecakes), pies and tarts, pastry (wonderful cannoli), sweet breads, frozen desserts, fruit desserts, and dessert sauces.Of special interest are recipes for tiramisù (including savioardi--Italian ladyfingers), homemade limoncello, crostata di fico (fresh fig tart), millefoglie (thousand-layer apricot tart), biscotti di cioccolata con noci (chocolate hazlenut biscotti), and apricot-almond semi-freddo. For special occasions, such as St. Joseph's Day (March 19) and Easter, Maria tells how to make "Pane di Pasqua con Uovo" (Braided Easter Bread with Eggs). For Christmas, there are recipes for "Panettone" (Christmas Fruit Bread) and "Crostata di Natale" (Christmas Tart).Sidebars occur throughout this cookbook that offer tips such as "How to Make an Italian Cookie Tray," "Bomboniere" (favors for Italian weddings and bridal showers), and "Al Dente." Another sidebar tells how ". . . Italian pastry chefs traveled with Catherine de Médici when she went to live in France . . . .who showed the French chefs some of their basic techniques for pastry making, which they then adapted to make some of their legendary sweets."Highly recommended for authentic Italian dessert recipes!