Browsing Tag

sweet

Marcella Hazan’s Pastry Ring

April 15, 2020

Dear friends, I hope you are all healthy and safe right now. So many people aren’t, and I’m heartsick about it. I have been struggling with what to write in this space since our lives have been upended by the corona virus pandemic. That is why I have been quiet (again) around here. Last month, when we began to self-quarantine I initially thought how fun it would be to blog more often. But then I was hit with overwhelming guilt as I read headline after headline of people getting sick, people succumbing to the virus, and people losing their jobs. […]

Smitten Kitchen’s Bakery Style Butter Cookies

December 24, 2019

chocolate dipped butter cookies with sprinkles

Hi friends! Happy Christmas Eve! I know it has been a long time since I’ve blogged. Ten months. After giving my blog a small makeover at the beginning of February, everything came to a screeching halt within the same month. I didn’t intend to step away from blogging, but it became necessary. This year had several rough patches for me so I (reluctantly) gave myself permission to let my blog go dormant. I found myself struggling with anxiety and overwhelm–not only regarding my blog, but about several other Life Things. It was next to impossible to feel creative when I […]

Crostoli

February 13, 2018

Buon martedì grasso! Welcome to the February edition of Cucina Conversations. Our posts are early this month since we are reprising the fun topic of carnevale which in Italy began on February 3rd and ends today, “Fat Tuesday”. For the past two weeks, the shiny bakery cases of pasticcerie (pastry shops) and forni (bakeries) across Italy have been filled with overflowing trays traditional carnevale sweets: castagnole di ricotta (ricotta fritters), frìtole veneziane (Venetian sweet fritters), bomboloni (doughnuts), fritelle di mele (apple fritters), and my personal favorites, crostoli (fried pastry ribbons). Crostoli have a special place in my heart and culinary memory because both my maternal nonna Liliana and paternal nonna Ada used to make these […]

Struffoli

December 27, 2017

Welcome to the December edition of Cucina Conversations! For our last post of the year, my fellow Cucina Conversations friends and I are reprising last year’s topic and sharing ricette di natale–Christmas recipes. The holiday season has been a flurry of activity for me since last month and I’ve neglected my small corner of the Internet (yet again), but I wasn’t about to end the year without sharing one more traditional Italian recipe with you! My contribution to this month’s theme is show-stopping struffoli. Struffoli originated in Napoli, the capital of the region of Campania, and dates back to the time […]

Frìtole Veneziane

February 28, 2017

Buon martedì grasso and welcome to the February edition of Cucina Conversations! Today is Fat Tuesday, the last day for Christians worldwide to indulge before the lean forty days of Lent. Martedì grasso is also the final day of carnevale season. This month, the bloggers of Cucina Conversations are telling you about the variety of traditional foods prepared and eaten during the three weeks of carnevale. To commemorate my recent trip to the Veneto and my northern Italian heritage, I made frìtole veneziane–known in the Venetian dialect as frìtoe venessiane– a yeasted sweet fritter laced with liquor-soaked raisins and fragrant pine nuts, and coated abundantly in granulated sugar. Frìtole are considered an institution of the carnevale […]

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