By Maria Filice • December 17, 2009 
Buon Natale,
Stuck on last minute “Buon Natale” gifts? Make a batch of my amaretti cookies as gifts when you are visiting friends and family during the holidays. They are perfect with coffee, tea, sweet liqueurs, or your favorite gelati.
You can package a dozen with a decorative tea towel or cellophane.
My recipe yields 3 dozen.
Printable Recipe
Ingredients
3 cups almonds, plus an additional 36
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoons almond extract
2 cups of confectioner’s sugar spread on 12 inches of wax paper (for rolling)
Vegetable spray for the baking sheet (though Mom sprinkles the baking sheet with flour)
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Using a food processor on pulse, chop the 3 cups of almonds until they are finely ground.
Beat the eggs, sugar, and almond extract. Add the ground nuts and gently fold them together until you have a moist mixture that you can form into balls.
Lightly grease three baking sheets. Using a teaspoon (or your hand), scoop up the batter, form balls, and roll them in the confectioner’s sugar. Place them at least an inch apart on the greased baking sheet. Prior to baking, press one almond into each ball.
Bake for about 15 minutes, or until the cookies are golden in color and firm to the touch.
Let them cool before removing them from the pan.
By Maria Filice • December 16, 2009 
How many times have you thought to yourself, “I swear that I followed exactly what the recipe called for. Why didn’t the cake rise? How could I have burned the biscotti?” (I’ll get to the biscotti in a minute.) You were sure that you followed the recipe. You bought exactly what the recipe required, with no deviation whatsoever. But when you took a step back to figure out what the heck happened, did it ever occur to you that it might be your oven?What I mean is, all ovens are different. Some models are gas, some are electric, and they’re made by different manufacturers. Are all cars alike?
When I was testing recipes for my book, I always had more of a challenge with the desserts, which I categorized as “high maintenance.” I ended up making a couple of batches before I figured out that the oven temperature was off, and that I needed to spend a few minutes making sure that the biscotti logs (for example) were getting the right amount of heat. Once I understood my oven a little better, it became easier.
Nobody tells you these things, but I promise that I will share with you all that I know!
By Maria Filice • December 2, 2009 
Now that’s a cauliflower! I was so proud of my purchase: any size for the same price! I brought my prize cauliflower home and weighed it…five pounds!
Then I said to myself, “Who’s going to eat this? I’m going to be away all next week.” Sound familiar? I cut enough for the week and planned to eat it either raw or steamed (who me). The rest went into the freezer.
Here are a few “cauli-maria” tips:
1. Remove all of the outer leaves of the cauliflower.
2. Fill a large pot with water and place the pot on the stovetop at medium/high. Add about 2 tbsp. of salt (or to your salt preference).
3. Cut the cauliflower into separate florets of about 2 inches, or of a size that you prefer. Trim and peal the stems.
4. Wash the florets thoroughly in cold water.
5. Add the cauliflower florets to the boiling water, place a lid on top, and cook for one minute.
6. Strain the cauliflower florets and immediately place them in a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process. Leave them there for one minute.
7. Drain the cauliflower florets and gently dry them off with paper towels.
8. Zip them into freezer bags and label them with the date. They’ll be good for six months.
If you have the time and the space, you can store cauliflower for up to three weeks by hanging them upside down and mist-spraying them with water every day. Just gave the family another reason to hang something else in the cantina!
By Maria Filice • November 24, 2009 Over the weekend, my photographer, Carolyn Pulford, and I finished shooting a total of 49 recipes for my book. Believe me, it’s been like preparing weekly Thanksgiving dinners since Labor Day. Not to mention that there were many re-takes from plating something and then realizing “Oops! I forgot an ingredient!” At times, my “no recipe” upbringing came out!
We worked almost every weekend, which meant planning, grocery shopping, chopping, prepping, cooking, and food styling, all before we could say “lights . . . cameras . . . action!” There was no crew, just me. Carolyn would call me before she arrived, giving me a heads-up to get the pasta water boiling. Then she would begin the magic of prepping the lights, cameras, and backdrops before the sultry dishes were photographed.
It felt like working a fashion shoot, prepping my creations for the catwalk. At the same time, it was important to make sure that the colors, plates, and textures all worked together to produce picture-perfect shots. Plating is an important aspect of preparing our meals. You may be thinking, “What is Maria talking about when during the week I barely have time to get things ready in the kitchen!” Well, our eyes also have an appetite. If it looks good on the plate, it always tastes delicious. In my book, you will find that the recipes are simple but that I always strive to make it attractive—from garnishes of grass skirts of parsley to basil top hats! Work it and have fun!
Wishing each of you a Happy Thanksgiving and breaking bread with friends and family.
By Maria Filice • November 18, 2009 
For those of us who grew up with recipes that do not exist, here’s one recipe that made me question the egg count.
To clarify, I’m not prejudice about the odd egg count, but I swear that this cake started with twelve eggs.
But I got a little suspicious. Could this have once been an eight-egg sponge cake, and then one egg fell or was miscounted? Or perhaps it was originally a six-egg sponge cake, and one egg was left over and then added for good luck? Understanding the ideology of the misfit school of no recipes would lead one to believe that a broken telephone or a misinterpretation was the real reason behind the seven-egg sponge cake.
At any rate, the cake was fantastic!
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