Author: Grace Massa Langlois
Publisher: Ulysses Press (2012)
While there is nothing wrong with store-bought pastry
once in awhile, homemade desserts are almost exclusively better tasting and
better for you. The problem arises when tradition comes into play and the old
recipes of your nonna’s are either long gone or so outdated that modern
appliances and ingredients don’t apply. Enter Grace Massa Langois, with her
book Grace's Sweet Life: Homemade
Italian Desserts from Cannoli, Biscotti, and Tiramisu to Torte, Tartufi, and
Struffoli. The book’s
mission is really to build on the passionate blog started by Massa Langois and
make those classical Italian treats more approachable for the common
cook – and as long as you have the courage of a lion, no dietary restrictions
and a large group to feed, it is successful.
This is not simply another “Italian” or “dessert”
cookbook. Recipes in Grace’s Sweet Life are complex, multi-step
concoctions which, while intended to be as helpful as possible (and the details
are, for the more convoluted items) can send the average baker running for the
hills. While written in English, the book seems like it’s almost half in
Italian thanks to the labelling of each recipe and step in that language first.
Quaint, for the first few recipes, but if you’re cooking your way through the
multi-page Torta Chiffon all’Arancia con
Crema Chantilly all’Arancina e Crema all’Arancia (p. 39) it does get
tiresome. Massa Langois also calls for
many specialty ingredients (an entire page as to what they are and what they do,
however, is thankfully provided (p. 8)). While our local stores and Italian
grocery are relatively well stocked, I have yet to find glucose, “lievito
vaniglinato”, “vanillina aroma per dolci”, 00 flour or gelatine sheets save by
either going into downtown Toronto or ordering online. There is no “resources”
page to point would-be cooks to a store for purchase, and many online retailers
require far more in shipping charges or quantity than I’m willing to incur.
Grace’s Sweet Life is also not a book for anyone
with restrictions on the amount of dairy, nuts (and especially) eggs. Recipes can
call for up to a full dozen, and cheese, cream and other dairy is lavishly
used. There is a sizeable portion of the book using deep-frying and
sugar-caramelizing techniques, which can also be off-putting to those of us
nervous around those types of things (I myself am terrified of hot oil) or who
are trying to minimize the amount of crispy-fried items in their diets. Granted,
the book is not intended to be health food in the least – and I’m sure that the
recipes using those ingredients are divine – but they definitely fall into “special
occasion only” fare.
There are so many mouthwatering recipes in this book that
it is impossible to say which one will next come about in my kitchen. One thing’s
for sure, come the next Italian family celebration around here, Grace Massa
Langlois’ Grace's Sweet Life:
Homemade Italian Desserts from Cannoli, Biscotti, and Tiramisu to Torte,
Tartufi, and Struffoli will
not be far out of reach.
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