By the time you read this, I will have escaped snowy Colorado and will be relaxing in Palm Springs with my besties. 🌴✨
Flipping through the recipes in Bitter Honey and La Vita é Dolce is kind of like looking at a menu at an incredible restaurant. You would love to eat these dishes, but you would never cook them at home. The recipes don't go into enough detail on techniques or where to source the ingredients (or how to substitute). I often found myself turning to external recipes to make sure things were coming together.
As I mentioned before, these are beautiful books but if you want a cookbook you will actually cook from, I wouldn’t suggest these.
You should buy this book if…
You like pretty book covers.
Coffee desserts are your love language.
You have a bunch of bottarga on your hands.
January: Bitter Honey: Recipes and Stories from Sardinia and La Vita é Dolce: Italian-Inspire Desserts by Letitia Clark
Nothing beats an icy treat on a snowy day! Call me crazy but the coffee and brown sugar granita with whipped cream (pg. 179, la vita é dolce) hit the spot in my toasty apartment this week. As I ate it, I imagined owning a little café where I would serve this and how it would be the most popular item on the menu.
To make this, all you need is a cup of strong espresso, mix in 2-3 tablespoons of brown sugar and pour into a shallow dish (like a loaf pan). Put in the freezer and fluff with a fork every hour or so. After three or four times, you should have a fluffy granita!
For the last recipe of the month, I went with the two-booze tiramisu (pg. 216, bitter honey). As another classic Italian dessert, I felt it must be included. I prayed it turned out better than my cannolis… Luckily, once I tracked down Ladyfinger cookies, the rest went quite smoothly! I cut this recipe in half to make a smaller portion and it came together in just about 20 minutes. I popped it in the fridge to set overnight and by morning I had a restaurant-worthy dessert.
The two boozes in this recipe refer to the Marsala wine and brandy. I did not have either so I improvised with Jameson and Grand Marnier. It’s not traditional, but booze is booze.
Thanks for reading, sweeties! 🍎