[.ca] Sweet Sicily: The Story of an Island and Her Pastries (ISBN 0060393238)

From Amazon.com:
In Sicily they eat ice cream for breakfast. That fact alone was enough to convince Victoria Granof that she had to go there. Sweet Sicily: The Story of an Island and Her Pastries is the result of a number of Granof's visits to Sicily, during which she confesses she ate more sweets than she ever thought possible. With plenty of humor and great respect, Granof shares what she learned from her experiences in Sicily and the friends she made there. Few of these sweets are fancy, and all are very traditional. Light and crispy Sweet Ricotta Turnovers from the Bar di Noto in Piana degli Albanesi and Chewy Pistachio Cookies shared by Giuseppe Chemi of Pasticceria Etna in Taormina are Sicily personified. All 106 of the recipes, such as the elegant little Engagement Cookies filled with almonds and cinnamon and honey-drenched Rice Fritters, call for the same ingredients the Sicilians have used for centuries. Learn to make homemade ricotta cheese and you won't believe how good your cannoli can be. --Leora Y. Bloom

Beautiful book:
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.

Sweet Sicily: The Story of an Island and Her Pastries:
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.

Not so Sweet:
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).

Not Very Impressive:
Great history IF you want a cook book that gives you history VS RECIPES. Too much history.... Just the fact that there are ingredients missing....is amazing. I noticed the pistachio chewey cookies....NO FLOUR!!!! Yet, the picture clearly depicts that those cookies have flour in them.... Recommending margarine instead of butter where margarine is much more watery than butter....causing very runny batters (cream puffs).... I think it needs review if ingredients are missing. I can't stand typos either.

A beautiful book:
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.