desserts

I have mellowed the molasses a touch with corn syrup -- when I make this pie I go whole hog and use all sorghum molasses. It's your call. I also found I really liked the rice flour streusel because it is very tender but either flours work great here.

Using a combo of butter and shortening produces a tender and flakey crust. And making it with frozen butter in the food processor is a snap. The lovely, smooth filling is a wonderful step up from plain, old apple pie.

Serves 10 to 12

A welcome change to your run-of-the-mill fall fruit pie.

It's a little ridiculous to call this a recipe, but you all should know this. The soft, sweet, and jam-like flesh of a ripened persimmon is perfect for freezing.

Special equipment you'll need: - An inexpensive sticky rice steamer set (both the woven basket and pot-bellied pot) - Cheesecloth or a clean mesh rice-steaming bag

a wheat berry and ricotta cake from Naples that's traditionally served on Easter.

A traditional Greek cookie recipe given to my Mammina Loreta when she immigrated to New York from Italia. Her newfound Greek friend made her and my Papa Pierino these cookies to welcome them to their new home... This generational recipe has become a beloved one in our famiglia for years.

Sometimes I'm feeling a little "crunchy" when I reach for a sweet treat--this does the trick!

I'm always trying to come up with new recipes and this one is an adaptation of a tyrolean dessert which can be done with other grains such as rice and with any type of fruit (roasted apples and raspberries are also a good combination). This specific one uses amaranth, an ancient grain with fresh seasonal cherries. Hope you like it.