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Help, looking for Italian Dessert Cookbooks


NYC Mike

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Looking for a recomendation or two.

All of my wife's Italian cookbooks seem to approach desert as an afterthought (not unlike many Italian restaurants come to think of it).

Is there such a book?

Thanks,

-M

-Mike & Andrea

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i would second the nick malgieri book suggestion - also try 'la dolce vita' by michele scicolone, and carole fields' 'the italian baker'. i own, but don't think i've actually used yet, 'sweet maria's italian cookie tray'. a few more that aren't just about desserts, but which i've found really wonderful dessert recipes in: 'saveur cooks italian' and lynne kaspar's 'the italian country table'.

i used to be the pastry chef for an italian restaurant - can you tell? :biggrin:

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I also like the Malgieri and Scicolone books. The latter has many nice "spoon desserts", fruit and cookie recipes. There are also chapters on Gelati, Sorbetto and Granite and Semifredidi.

Another very nice book is

"Patisserie of Italy" by Jeni Wright. Many wonderful recipes. The latest one I made was a delicious chocolate-hazelnut tart.

A small but *sweet* book if you can find it is Anna del Conte's "Italian Kitchen: I Dolci". One of my favorite rustic apple cake recipes is from this book.

"Under the dusty almond trees, ... stalls were set up which sold banana liquor, rolls, blood puddings, chopped fried meat, meat pies, sausage, yucca breads, crullers, buns, corn breads, puff pastes, longanizas, tripes, coconut nougats, rum toddies, along with all sorts of trifles, gewgaws, trinkets, and knickknacks, and cockfights and lottery tickets."

-- Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 1962 "Big Mama's Funeral"

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I've done my fair share of Italian themed sweets tables over the years........struggling to find good information and good recipes.......and actually try to learn Italian baking. I've got a fairly thick Italian file now, even though I'd say most of the recipes I'll never use, they serve only as references. Sometimes I buy a magazine and only get one or two decent pastry recipes out of it for my file. But that's the bulk of my file...recipes from various magazines collected over the years. So if theres something specific your looking to make, it might be helpful if you just started a thread here asking on that particular item.

I can't tell you a name of one or two books on Italian baking you can buy and just follow the recipes and you'll get great results. I haven't found that book for Italian baking myself. And or it's highly possible that I'm too influenced by other baking experiences/knowledge that I expect better or different from recipes printed as is........and vary my Italian pastries to suit my palate. I've purchased and recieved from people that claim to be really good Italian bakers some pastries I couldn't choke down.........

I've worked from Great Italian Desserts by Nick Malgieri.......the recipes I've made from this book have all worked fine. But every recipe I've had to add a little bit to..... Like I didn't like his pastry cream and or I added whipped cream or I added additional ingredients like chocolate, nuts or a liqour to reach the taste I wanted in a particular recipe. But I do think this book is a starting place to learn.

I don't know if you can find this book, but Patisserie of Italy by Jeni Wright (published by McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1988) as always done right by me. All the recipes I've tried from that book worked well and I think I like her baking better then Malgieri's.

Edited........oops, I see that Ludja also reccomended the Wright book..........

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  • 1 year later...
carole fields' 'the italian baker'. i own, but don't think i've actually used yet, 'sweet maria's italian cookie tray'.

i used to be the pastry chef for an italian restaurant - can you tell?  :biggrin:

Both of these authors' books (Carol Field and Maria Bruscino Sanchez) are very good. The latter, a bakery owner, has several other titles on desserts and cake.

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if you can find a copy, Ursula Ferringo has a nice book on italian desserts called "Ursula's Italian Cakes and Desserts"

Spam in my pantry at home.

Think of expiration, better read the label now.

Spam breakfast, dinner or lunch.

Think about how it's been pre-cooked, wonder if I'll just eat it cold.

wierd al ~ spam

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