Sweet Delights From A Thousand And One Nights: The Story Of Traditional Arab Sweets

"Bake baklava? Forget it. Mine always comes out gummy and sodden, unlike the crisply perfumed trays I get UPS’d from Detroit’s Shatila Bakery. (There, now you have my best dinner party secret.) That unctuous alchemy of nuts and honey dates from the 10th century, when princes and caliphs wrote cookbooks, sometimes in rhyme. Habeeb, Muna and Leila Salloum’s recipes stretch from the Gulf States to the Levant to North Africa and include both contemporary and historical versions (although sheep fat is thankfully replaced by butter). They also trace the DNA of Arab sweets in food from around the world, including cannoli, tres leches cake and ice cream cones."