Customer Reviews

Sweet Sicily: The Story of an Island and Her Pastries

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book contains authenticity throughout--the photographs, the history, and the recipes. Beautifully written and photographed, the book will warm the heart of Sicilians and non-Sicilians alike. Every recipe I attempted resulted in a delicious pastry reminding me of my childhood surrounded by Sicilian family and friends. The writing is eloquent and heartwarming, and the history is fascinating and authentic. I would wholeheartedly recommend Sweet Sicily: The Story of an Island and Her Pastries.

This is a fantastic book! The recipes are great and the photography is really beautiful. The history of the island is so fascinating and is covered well in this book. It is a nice set up to the recipes... its wonderful to get some background on why Sicilian pastries are the way they are. I also enjoyed learning which pastries are associated with religious observences. This book also brought back great memories. The Ricotta Turnovers in the book are very similar to the "Cassateddi" that my Sicilian grandmother loves. The author does an excellent job of providing mail order resources for some hard to get ingredients and provides infomation on how to make a reasonable approximation of other components yourself. (like Fresh Ricotta) I would also like to clear up a misconception. Two previous reviewers indicated that there was a typo on the Chewy Pistachio cookie recipe just because flour was not listed. It is NOT an ingredient in the cookie. If you read further and pay attention to the instructions, flour is not called for. Not every cookie has flour and not every cookie is made like Americans make things. As for the person who said that the picture showed flour... rest assured, the cookie is dusted with powdered sugar which is in the recipe (and much tastier than dusting it with flour). No typo there, just a different (and delicious)type of cookie.

The history in this book is wonderful. However, the recipes are very inconsistent. Missing ingredients, etc. make it impossible to use this cookbook. I tried twice to make the Little Tea Cookies (pg.70) with no success. The dough would never come together (obviously some ingredient is missing).

The book starts with a very interesting and well-written part on the history of sweets/deserts in Sicily...but goes downhill from there. In a very short amount of time I found at least two very significant typos. One was in a recipe for a pistachio cookie. In that recipe the flour ingredient was completely left out. Another was a recipe for a cherry pastry which did not call for any cherries. Those were just two typos I found on one Sunday of cooking.

Here I am. It's Dec 23. I'm trying to make some pastries for Christmas eve dinner. I just found out the hard way that the recipe for "Pasta Frolla", is garbage. 'Garbage' is not the word I would normally choose given my level of anger and frustration, but I'd like the review to stand so others know not to follow in my footsteps. If Hurricaneman can make it following her recipe, I bow to his superior skillz.

Her recipe calls for 5 cups flour to 1 cup butter. All the recipes I find in a brief online search have a ratio much closer to 3:1. I didn't even finish adding all the flour before my "soft dough" was a bowl of fine powder.

Being full blooded Sicilian myself, I have a feeling that these bakers who she "sweet talked" gave her bogus recipes just to get this woman out of her hair. I know that's what I'd do and I know plenty of Sicilians who would resort to similar tactics to protect their trade secrets. :-)

I can tell you from experience that this cookbook is much more than just a cookbook. It's a manual for creating authentic Sicilian pastries and desserts. I learned many guarded secrets working for an Italian Bakery in my youth, and can say that this book should have never been published. Now all the secrets are out.

Some reviewers have complained of typos in the book. If there are any typos, I believe contacting the publisher and author could easily clear the air and correct any mistakes. The author went through a lot of trouble flattering her interviewers and humbling herself before others to obtain these recipes, I'm sure she would want purchasers of her book to be successful creating these masterpieces. She even went so far as to list suppliers for hard to find items. Personally, I've noticed NO TYPOS!

Buy this book, you'll never put it down.

As a Sicilian, I can say the book really embodies the Sicilian culture and cuisine. It is beautifully photographed and I am impressed with the amount of pastries she covers in this book. However, as a pastry chef, I found quite a few recipes that are not quite accurately written. You can play around with them and get the recipe to work, but that really isn't the point of a recipe; especially, if you have never before eaten the item you are making, you don't know what to correct. If you want a great picture book, this is for you. If you are looking for great recipes, I wouldn't recommend it.

A picture is worth a thousand words & this book says it all! Sweet Sicily: The Story of an Island and Her Pastries Even if you do not make many of the pastries, the book is worth reading for its enjoyment. If you love to make pastries, as I do, you will find there are many steps to make the more elaborate confections, e.g, cannoli. Read the recipes through well. I purchased this book for gifts for multiple people & everybody loved it.

Fun Book!!Nice colorful book with beautiful pictures of Sicilian desserts and demonstrations. Lots of fun good recipes. Received book promptly and was in good condition. (new) Makes a good gift.

This is a wonderful book to enjoy and to give as a gift. This pictures are lovely. The history included makes it all that much more interesting.