Italian baking

Baked Pandoro French Toast

January 13, 2013

It’s not often I have leftover Pandoro. Everyone in my family loves it so it doesn’t last long. I still have a clear image in my mind of my son at age 1, toddling around in a blue and white striped one-piece thingie with a sailboat on it, clutching a giant piece of Pandoro in [...]

Read the full article →

Dicembre Dolce: Cherry Republic Biscotti

December 2, 2012

There is more than one way to slice biscotti. There are at least sixty. Or there will be when I’m through with them. Which is a roundabout way of saying I’ve just started work on a new book project. Subject: Biscotti. It won’t be an exhaustive project ~ just a fun little homage to one [...]

Read the full article →

Easter Break: Savory Cheese Biscotti

April 4, 2012

It is time to come to grips with the fact that I will never run my household the way my mother ran hers. How do I know? Because when I was growing up, by this time Easter week my mom would have: * Made and frozen her pizza rustica, a classic savory Easter torte, so that it [...]

Read the full article →

Baked Farro Pudding: Sweet & Slow

February 17, 2012

Patience is not a virtue of mine. From the moment I injured my finger I have pestered my doctor, and now my hand therapist, about when I can start cooking (with two hands) again, and writing (with two hands) again* and playing tennis (I have a two-handed backhand) again. And so on. While the answer [...]

Read the full article →

A Mishap, a Cake, and a Midwinter Break

January 30, 2012

You may be familiar with that famous poem titled “Cut” by Sylvia Plath, the one that begins What a thrill — My thumb instead of an onion. Well, my dears, that was me a few days ago, except it was my index finger instead of my thumb. And winter squash puree instead of an onion. [...]

Read the full article →

A Favorite Cake to Welcome the New Year

January 3, 2012

Buon Anno a tutti! Happy New Year. As I sit here writing and thinking about the year ahead, I am (literally) surrounded by the past. During the Christmas break, my husband and I decided to start a long-overdue project to clean and reorganize our basement. So far, we have said farewell to five huge bins [...]

Read the full article →

Dicembre Dolce: Panforte di Siena

December 12, 2011

For most of my life—right up until last week—I despised panforte, the celebrated Christmas fruit-and-nut confection from Siena. Every year at about this time, a flat, sort-of circular pleated package containing a dense hockey puck of a—what? Was it a cake? a torte? candy?—would appear on our buffet, purchased by my mother. She would unwrap [...]

Read the full article →

Stendhal Syndrome, Farmers’ Market Fever, and a Rustic Fruit Crostata

July 21, 2011

Years ago when I was a newspaper reporter, I came across a wire story that described a rare, peculiar illness. It seemed that certain sensitive souls, upon being exposed to the glorious art of the High Renaissance, were so overcome by the beauty before them that they literally went mad and had to be carted [...]

Read the full article →

When Is a Pie Not a Pie?

July 5, 2011

When it’s made by me. In fact, much like its creator, the dessert you see above hovers between two heritages, Italian and American. It began life as a typical Italian jam crostata—a rustic tart of sorts, made with tender, buttery pasta frolla (pastry) and filled with good blueberry jam.

Read the full article →

Biscotti alla Nutella (Nutella Butter Sandwich Cookies)

February 5, 2011

You may not remember the old days, before Nutella was available in this country. I do. Those were not happy times. My little kid brain could not fathom why something so marvelous–a chocolate concoction that Italian children spread on bread and ate for breakfast–could not be had in the land of peanut butter and marshmallow [...]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries