Southern Italian Desserts: Rediscovering the Sweet Traditions of Calabria, Campania, Basilicata, Puglia, and Sicily [A Baking Book]

Received as a gift and it is great for learning excellent recipes & history on southern Italy!

Authentic and delicious recipes which are unique in that they are not easy to find and most Italian cookbooks or baking/dessert books. All the favorites with some nice twist are here for those who love Italian desserts from the Basilicata & Puglia. Superb photography. Clear directions. Highly recommended

A really lovely variety of baked sweet recipes, from a country that knows how to do it.

If you're looking for the classical finest Italian dessert recipe book, this is it. For many years I've used the "Mama Mia" Italian cook book given to me by my mother in the 1940's. If your looking for the finest Italian dessert cook book, look n further. It is truly magnificent. You will not be disappointed. Grampa Joe.

What I know about traditional southern Italian desserts, you could put in a pistachio shell. Gelato. Cannolis. That's about it. Sad, huh?The picture on the front of this book stopped me in my tracks. What WAS that? Watermelon? In a pie or pudding? Whoa. That sounded like the best kind of food crazy. I needed to know more.Not only is this a beautiful book with clear instructions and unusual (to us here in the US who are not Italian) desserts, but it's a wonderful introduction to some parts of Italian cuisine that are grossly and unfairly under-represented in most articles and books on Italian cooking/food. I enjoyed reading this as "just" a book before ever taking it into the kitchen; however, do take it into the kitchen, I certainly did.The lemon cookies I made were delicious, as were the pear ricotta cake and the other four recipes I've made. (The pistachio mousse cake? Oh yeah! Be still, my heart.)In my opinion, this is a cookbook for an adventurous cook because the flavor combinations are not common to American menus. For one thing, there is not much chocolate in here, so if you're one of those people who cannot conceive of a dessert that doesn't involve cocoa beans, you're going to be disappointed unless you can bring yourself to think outside the chocolate box. Fortunately, I don't care much for chocolate, and I love fruit, nuts, and citrus.As for the recipes' skill level, more than half likely will be a challenge for an average cook and possibly frustrating for a beginner cook, at least one short on patience and attention. You aren't going to knock out any of these in half an hour while having one eye on the TV or Angry Birds. These recipes require paying attention to what you're doing. I consider myself a slightly above-average cook, and so I enjoyed the challenge of making something I'd never made before. There are a few recipes I find intimidating, but having had success with the recipes I made, the more challenging ones give me something to look forward to. (If I can get those peach cookies to come out looking anything like the photo, I'll know I've accomplished something impressive.)

Obviously I haven’t tried every recipe, but I loved the ideas and the confidence it gave me to make some of the desserts on my son’s sweet table for his wedding reception. Of course I ordered most things from the Italian bakery but now I have a whole new book and as I make things I can update and take pictures. But the couple recipes I tried were just like being home.

Lovely, I want to try every recipe in this book. Crowd pleasures with clear directions and just enough history to make each recipe slightly more intriguing. I love the layout with resources for equipment and basic ingredients with homemade versions at the end where they belong... This trend of boring the reader with lists and descriptions of common equipment is in the way and never appreciated by me.

Step by step instructions for desserts from a part of Italy.

A definite must have book..simple easy and delicious recipes!!!

Algunas recetas interesantes y fáciles de ejecutar. Como defecto importante, demasiadas fotos de monumentos y paisajes de Italia, en lugar de los productos terminados.

Brilliant book - rare in content unless in Sicilian and Italian books from old. Love this book... it is also the answer to many questions I had and tribute to southern Italian kitchen ingenuity.

Beautiful

Great book with recipes that remind me of my family roots. My parents came from this area, and the book has a great representation of authentic recipes from this location. It is great to find a book that contains many recipes in one book. The photography is beautifully illustrated and print is easy to read. Great book for authentic Southern cuisine.