One cannot choose a cookbook as the Flavour of the Month and then allow the whole month to pass without saying even one thing about said cookbook.

That just won’t do.

Especially when one has chosen such a special, pretty little cookbook as the Flavour of the Month for March 2008.

As often happens in life, while searching for one thing, I came across another even better thing. As I scoured www.amazon.com for a certain book I was looking for, I hit upon Maria Bruscino Sanchez’s Sweet Maria’s Italian Cookie Tray and what a delightful find it was!

This slim little volume should not fool you, though. It carries more baking wisdom in its little pocket than many books three or four times the size carry. And it’s full full full of the kinds of recipes that you find handwritten on old pieces of paper tucked away in kitchen drawers. Except in this book the recipes actually have identifiable measurements like cups and tablespoons as opposed to “a handful of this” or “two fingers worth of that”.

I didn’t know who Maria Bruscino Sanchez was when I bought the book so I looked her up and found out that she’s a baker with a business of the same name located in Connecticut. Sanchez is the author of three other cookbooks that I was unable to locate because they’re exceptonally hard to find! On a whim, I decided to e-mail her and lo and behold she sent me a lovely e-mail in response informing me that all four of her books will be available in a bound volume in the fall of 2008.

Yes! The cookbook monster is appeased.

In the meantime, I’ve been keeping this book close at hand to leaf through during the few quiet moments that I’ve had over the past month or so. And while I didn’t have time to try a recipe, Mama Cream Puff came to the rescue and made the very first recipe in the book: anginetti.

I asked her to make these because they reminded me very much of a simple lemon cookie that my grandmother would often make. The recipe consists of eggs, milk, lemon extract, sugar, vegetable oil, flour and baking powder. The baked cookies are topped with a glaze of icing sugar, lemon extract and water.

Simple.

And delicious.

Ah, the joys of accidental stumbles! You just never know what treasure you’ll find.

A wonderful weekend to all!

Ciao!