Segan - Dolci: Italys sweets

Live la dolce vitathe sweet lifewith this
delightful guide to Italys best sweets.

Join Francine Segan on a lavishly illustrated tour of Italy, with more than 100 recipes for cookies, cakes, pastries, puddings, and frozen confections.

In Dolci: Italys Sweets, Segan introduces us to the real Italy. Her recipes come from hip young bloggers and grandmas in remote villages, from important Italian pastry manufacturers (including Bauli, Corsini, and Falanga) and pastry chefs at small cafs. From thousands of recipes, she has selected the very besta list that includes both the classics and desserts that contemporary Italians prepare in their homes today.

Recipes are drawn from all regions of Italy. Classics such as Cannoli and Zuppa Ingleseare featured along with fresh and unique regional favorites like Sweet Rosemary and Grape Focaccia, Licorice Granita, and the exotic but delicious Chocolate Eggplant. In addition to the beloved Rum Bab and traditional holiday fare like Pandoro Christmas Tree Cake and Pastiera, a Neapolitan Easter Pie, readers will find new innovations, including a light and luscious updated Tiramis that does not use raw eggs.

Delicious frozen desserts appear in a variety of unexpected flavors, including Spumone with Homemade Hazelnut Brittle, Asti Spumante Granita, and Rosemary Semifreddo. In a delightful twist, theres also an award-winning Parmesan Panna Cotta with Pears. Of course, this wouldnt be an authentic Italian cookbook without pasta! Sweet Chickpea Baked Ravioli and Angel Hair Pasta Pie are just two of the dishes that are sure to become favorites.

So that we can all enjoy our sweets in the authentic Italian manner, Segan also includes a chapter on after-dinner drinks that features easy recipes for making liqueurs like Limoncello at home, along with a selection of recipes for special coffees. A basics chapter concludes the book, providing foolproof instructions for classic Italian Pastry Cream, Pie Crust, and Sponge Cake, as well as delicious dessert sauces and jams.

Throughout this handsomely photographed and beautifully designed collection, Segan shares interesting bits of history and food lore that show how intrinsic these sweet dishes are to daily Italian lifeit is a sweet life, indeed.

with
love and admiration
to Samantha Segan,
my sweet and talented daughter

Published in 2011 by Stewart, Tabori & Chang
An imprint of ABRAMS

Text copyright Francine Segan
All photographs copyright 2011 by Ellen Silverman, except:
pages 3, 143: Shutterstock; page 15: Perugina chocolates; pages 19, 100, 128: Corsini Biscotti; pages 27, 32: Falanga-Sabra; page 63: Ferrero; page 69: De Bondt Chocolate; page 73: Bauli; page 104: Amarelli licorice; pages 107, 190191: Consorzio dellAsti D.O.C.G.; pages 139, 165: Franca Artuso; page 147: Pinella Orgiana; pages 172, 175: AIDEPI; page 187: Emilia Romagna Region Tourist Board

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Segan, Francine.

Dolci: Italys sweets / Francine Segan.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-58479-898-9 (alk. paper)

1. DessertsItaly. 2. PastryItaly. 3. Cooking, Italian. 4. Cookbooks. I. Title.

TX773.S3546 2010

641.860946dc22

2010048546

Project Editor: Marisa Bulzone
Art Director: Michelle Ishay-Cohen
Designer: Laura Klynstra
Production Manager: Anet Sirna-Bruder

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CHAPTER 1
COOKIES AND BITE-SIZED SWEETS: BISCOTTI E PASTICCINI

CHAPTER 2
CAKES AND SWEET BREADS: TORTE E PANE DOLCE

CHAPTER 3
REFRIGERATOR CAKES: TORTE FREDDE

CHAPTER 4
PIES: CROSTATE

CHAPTER 5
FREEZER DESSERTS: SEMIFREDDI E GRANITE

CHAPTER 6
SPOON SWEETS: DOLCI AL CUCCHIAIO

CHAPTER 7
WEIRD AND WONDERFUL, UNIQUE AND UNUSUAL DESSERTS:
DOLCI PARTICOLARI

CHAPTER 8
HOLIDAY TRADITIONS: LE FESTE

CHAPTER 9
AFTER-DINNER BEVERAGES: BEVANDE DOPO CENA

CHAPTER 10
BASICS

a tavola
non sinvecchia.

AT THE TABLE
ONE DOESNT AGE.

None of the recipes in this book are actually mine. That might sound odd coming from a cookbook author, but its true. It takes a village to raise a child? Well, you might say it took an entire country to write this cookbook.

I gathered the recipes from all corners of Italy, from hundreds of generous, enthusiastic Italians eager to share their countrys culinary traditions. They opened their homes, kitchens, pantry cabinets, recipe files, and hearts to me. The recipes come from all of them, and the result represents their work as well as mine. Each person spent many hours with me, either in Italy, or on the phone, via e-mail, or on Skype. They helped me comb through details and nuances until finally I was able to re-create reliably what I had so enjoyed in Italy.

The recipes come from:

Homemakers and nonprofessional cooksfrom hip young food bloggers to grandmas in villages so remote they had no Internet connection.

Important Italian pastry manufacturers, including Bauli, Corsini, and Falanga, who not only provided recipes, but also hosted factory visits and arranged meetings with local historians and chefs.

Restaurant chefs, including an octogenarian so revered for his contributions to Italian cuisine that he received the title Cavaliere, the equivalent of knight hood.

Pastry chefs ranging from the proprietors of simple six-seat cafs to famous TV personalities.

Cooking school instructors, including Sorelle Similethe Simile sistersItalys famed twins with the apt last name that means similar.