Palmabella's Passions

I joined the Sunday Slow Bakers in trying this Italian Crumbly Cake (page 82 of Dolce Italiano).

My 10" springform pan died in it's last use (spring no longer works, so bottom falls out), so I used a nine inch springform. I tried CAKE FLOUR instead of 00 flour, and used Trader Joe's almond meal. The recipe was quick and easy, and all I had to do was adjust the cooking time to 45 minutes. I love the flavor of almonds, and the cake has a nice texture and leaves a delicious scent in the kitchen. This is a great cake with a second or third cup of coffee!

This week's recipe was quick and easy pistachio cookie bars (page 60 of Dolce Italiano.)
The dough is spread into a baking sheet with chopped pistachios and some sugar sprinkled on top. Wonderful scents of pistachios and almond extract will fill your kitchen. I reduced the baking time to 30 minutes. Here they are out of the oven cooling:

Ready to eat!

Enjoy a cup of coffee...and put the rest in the freezer to take to work on Monday!

Gina's Babbo's Breadsticks, or grissini, are a HUGE HIT at our house! (from Dolce Italiano, page 270)

I absolutely LOVE this dough! It is cheesy with a kick of picante! The dough is simple to make, and it rose besutifully in two hours. Try these, and a wonderful scent will fill your kitchen.

Last week I ran out of parchment paper (and forgot to buy some), so I baked mine right on the oiled baking sheets.

I made half sprinkled with sea salt, and half with parmigiano.

Oh, my lucky staff on Monday will devour these as a mid-morning snack!

I have another idea...I'll let you know what happens!

This week, for the Sunday Slow Bakers, Jerry chose Lemon Semolina cookies from Dolce Italiano. It will be a happy Monday for my staff tomorrow! I used "lemon sugar" (from Bristol Farms) to roll these light, buttery lemon cookies in. It is quite a lovely dough!

The recipe made 56 cookies.