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

~ (Author) "Because cookies are so vital to Italian-American celebrations, they are a large part of this book..." (more)
Key Phrases: toasted biscotti, unused cookies, sharp straight knife (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In her latest endeavor, Sanchez (Sweet Maria's Cake Kitchen and Sweet Maria's Italian Cookie Tray) serves up enticing recipes for Italian and Italian-American specialties, including the ubiquitous cookies as well as cakes and tarts. Sanchez's spirit is casual, and her recipes rely on readily available ingredients as is typical of Italian dessert making, which is often improvisational in spirit. Ricotta and citrus, nuts and fresh fruits are showcased in their full, tasty glory. There are Fig and Walnut Biscotti, perfect for dunking in wine or espresso; Chocolate Calzone, little pockets of chocolate dough enclosing a chocolate and nut filling; and, of course, Italian Ladyfingers, essential for Tiramisu. There are nut cakes and rich chocolate cakes with chestnut cream or Polenta Cake topped with sour cherry filling. An Italian cheesecake features ricotta and is scented with amaretto. Bountiful fruit tarts include fig, pear and pine nut. There are traditional favorites, such as cannoli as well as sweet breads, for Christmas and Easter. The treats beguile but what may be even more appealing is the atmosphere they createAcoffee on the porch and Sunday dinners with the whole family.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Sanchez is the owner of a bakery in Waterbury, CT, and the author of two earlier baking books. Here she focuses on the desserts she grew up with, treats baked by her mother, grandmother, and extended family (several of her aunts work at the bakery today): Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti, Tuscan Harvest Cake, Panettone. Nick Malgieri's Great Italian Desserts (LJ 12/90) includes recipes for many of these, as does Michele Scicolone's La Dolce Vita (1993), but Sanchez's earlier books have proved reasonably popular. For area and other larger collections.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; 1st edition (October 20, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031224133X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312241339
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #799,387 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Make Delicious Italian Desserts at Home, January 22, 2001

By	Michela (Seattle, WA, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Make Delicious Italian Desserts at Home

In 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!

4 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Sweet Maria's Italian Desserts -paperback, February 16, 2004

By A Customer

Many of us past the age of 40 have difficulty with small print, especially in recipes with fractions. I will give the book to a friend who can read without a magnifying glass.

Some of her recipes do not contain salt, which can result
in a flat taste,regardless of other ingredients.
It would have been nice to have a few photos.

This is a varied collection of recipes with simple directions.

5 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars bad tiramisu recipe, November 25, 2005

By	J. Heinrich "marina cook" (marina del rey, ca) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Do yourself a favor and skip the tiramisu recipe in this book - it is awful.
(I use a more authentic one from [...].)
I've only tried the tiramisu recipe in 'Sweet Maria's", but if the author can't get this classic right, how good can her other baked goods be?