Solo Dolci: The Italian Dessert Cookbook [Hardcover]

Anna Bruni Benson (Author), Sumishta Brahm (Illustrator), Sean Hise (Photographer)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Solo Dolci is a marvelous book of intense, narrow focus. Anna Bruni Benson has assembled a few score recipes for desserts near and dear to the hearth and home of native Italians, lifting the veil of preconceptions so that the sunbeams of sweets-eating in Italy can shine through. She naturally zeroes in on fruit-based confections, although the word is somewhat expansive when it comes to the Italian dolci. For, from the American perspective, what is one to make of Peach and Rice Pie, Baked Pears Stuffed with Nuts and Dried Fruits Macerated in Marsala, and Cantaloupe Stuffed with Pineapple and Strawberries? And she also gives a beautiful sampling of nut-based cookies, cakes and tart-crusts--dry, savory items that are associated with coffee-houses or ancient Italian-American relatives too old to bite down on them. Additionally, Ms. Benson draws up a fine compendium of Italian dessert wines, describing each efficiently and enticingly, adding a dash of history here, a sprinkle of folklore there. This survey is helpful to the beginner wandering through conflicting and often erroneous information concerning there delectable "desserts in a glass," and quite informative for the more advanced oenophile looking for, say, something from Sardegna to round out a meal of roast lamb and pasta with stewed vegetables. After a series of sections dedicated to various genres of recipes, the book has a long coda of regional recipes, mostly completely unknown to most enthusiasts. On the strength of this section alone, Solo Dolci is highly recommended. The scattered line-drawings are charming, and the small section of color photographs is filled with the mood and grace of fine art. Too bad it is not a larger section. This is a great book for anyone trying to master the art of Italian dessert-making." -- The Journal of Italian Food, Wine & Travel

"This Italian dessert cookbook shows how much more there is to see and taste at the end of a good Italian meal. There are over 150 recipes with chapters ranging from fresh fruit desserts to fresh fruit cakes and pies; nut cakes and cookies; ices and ice creams; mousses and souffles; and regional favorites from all over the map of Italy. These tasty recipes rely less on butter, eggs, and sugar than we've come to expect from European desserts; instead, they delicately blend fruits and other ingredients for an effect of lightness and subtlety. Solo Dolci is well organized and full of helpful advice including a complete chapter on Italian dessert wines with suggestions for choosing the right wine and the appropriate dessert for special occasions. Best of all, here is a book that will allow cooks to end every Italian meal with style, beauty, and flavor, drawing on Italian traditions that go back to Etruscan times as well as on contemporary inventions of today's finest Italian chefs." -- The International Cookbook Revue

From the Publisher

ITALIAN DESSERT CHEF AND COOKBOOK AUTHOR RECALLS THE SWEETNESS OF HER YOUTH

Fithian Press is proud to present Solo Dolci, a collection of Italian desserts from all over the map of Italy, some newly invented by the finest Italian chefs, others that have delighted Italian taste buds for centuries. These tasty recipes are gathered together by Anna Bruni Benson of Los Angeles. A native of Venice, Dr. Benson has been cooking Italian desserts almost all her life.

"My very first memories of homemade desserts go back to my childhood," Dr. Benson recalls. "We often visited my paternal grandparents in Abruzzo, where my grandmother's large kitchen was resplendent with copper pots and pans hanging on the walls, and had, besides modern appliances, a big black fireplace and a long table with a gray marble top, at the head of which my little nonna sat like a queen on her throne, giving orders right and left to her helpers.

"It was there that I saw the sweet bread dolls being made for her granddaughters and the little horses for her grandsons. At first I was allowed only to place the pepper grains for the eyes. The big excitement came when I could actually get my hands nice and sticky with the dough and help with the shaping of the dolls and horses.

"Other times I watched, fascinated, the two men charged with making the torrone, the honey and almond candy I loved, taking turns mixing this concoction in a big cauldron hanging over the fireplace. When the torrone mix was ready to be cut on the marble table, I was there with my little knife eager to help--and I always ended up with one small bar all to myself.

"Another happy memory is the making of the cicerchiata, a dough and honey cake, in which I would take active part rolling some of the dough into sticks and cutting them in small pieces, which we then deep fried and threw into boiling honey to be shaped later into a ring. "When I was old enough to make desserts all by myself, however, World War II came. There were no eggs, sugar, or butter to spare. My first cookies, made with all sorts of substitutes, were as hard as rocks. But they were better than nothing during the long hours we had to spend after school in Venice, waiting for the sirens to tell us that the aerial alarm was over and we could take the ferry home. I called these cookies, which I shared with my classmates, 'I biscotti dell'allarme,' the alarm cookies.

"Eventually I became the pastry chef of our family and was charged with making desserts for all the festivities and for visiting friends. With some of these friends I exchanged recipes and started writing them down in little notebooks, which began to overflow with these and other recipes, until, one day, much later, I decided to write a dessert cookbook."

Solo Dolci offers a full array of recipes--fresh fruit desserts, fruit cakes and pies, nut cakes and cookies, creams, puddings, mousses and soufls, ice creams and spumoni. The book also contains a chapter discussing Italian dessert wines, region by region, and a chapter on regional desserts. The result is, in the words of restaurateur Piero Selvaggio, "a diary of traditional, typical, and honest recipes--very useful, very comforting," all presented with style and good taste by an aficianado who has spent a lifetime researching and celebrating the art of Italian desserts.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 205 pages
• Publisher: Fithian Press (June 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1564741850
• ISBN-13: 978-1564741851
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: No customer reviews yet. Be the first.
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,921,003 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)