Biancomangiare is a traditional Sicilian white pudding. Dating back to the Middle Ages, biancomangiare, literally means “white food” or “white dish”, and derives its name from the white color of its main ingredients: almond milk, sugar and cornstarch. I learned how to make this delicious and creamy Sicilian dessert during my travels in Palermo, Sicily [...]
Cantucci are Tuscan dipping cookies. They’re also known as biscotti in other regions of Italy as well as here in the U.S. I learned how to make these almond studded beauties from Chef Claudio Piantini last October during our travels in Tuscany, when my husband and I took a private cooking class with the Chef [...]
In the fall of 2015, my husband and I took a three-week trip of a lifetime to beautiful Italy. We started our adventure in Rome, then flew south to Sicily and north to the Piedmont region; we then journeyed east to Venice, west to the Tuscany region and concluded our extraordinary voyage in the Umbria [...]
Of all the desserts that have come out of my kitchen, Pear and Almond Tart always gets the most raves. Not only is it festive and gorgeous—it tastes even better than it looks. A golden brown, crisp pastry shell is filled with a rich and creamy almond custard, which serves as a cushion for delicately poached [...]
I recently made these scrumptious beauties for a family gathering. When they were gobbled up by one and all, young and old, finicky and foodie, I just knew I had to share them with my Essex Fells dessert connoisseurs Profiteroles (known to us as cream puffs) are a French dessert made from the classic French [...]
Velvety smooth, rich and creamy, this cheesecake is divine. Its decadent taste and texture belie the fact that it is relatively easy to make. Cream cheese, sugar, eggs, and sour cream are beaten together and then poured into a cake pan lined with a traditional graham cracker crumb crust. The cake is then baked in [...]
Pineapple upside down cake is an old-fashioned cake that made its debut in the 1920’s, coinciding with the advent of widely available canned pineapple. So delicious and beautiful to behold, pineapple upside down cake remains popular to this day. Although it may look like a cake that requires the skills of an accomplished pastry chef, [...]
As I write this column, it is early March, and we are digging out from yet another snowstorm—the third one of the week. It’s hard to believe that spring is just around the corner. So, it is with a leap of faith and some wishful thinking that I present you with this recipe for meringue [...]
Ratatouille is a classic French vegetable stew with origins in the city of Nice located in the Provencal region of southern France. It almost always contains a savory mélange of garlic, onions, eggplant, peppers and zucchini, which are first sautéed in olive oil and then simmered together with tomatoes and an aromatic blend of Provencal [...]
I recently brought this cookie platter to a dinner party. From left to right, the cookies are vanilla chocolate chip biscotti, chocolate macadamia nut biscotti, pumpkin pecan cookies with powdered sugar, checkerboards and chocolate drizzled pumpkin pecan cookies. The cookie platter was a big hit, but hands down, the favorite cookie was the chocolate macadamia [...]