Sweets & Desserts from the Middle East

Arto der Haroutunian's "masterpiece . . . If you know nothing of Middle Eastern desserts and sweets, then you might feel transported to a different world" ( Cooking by the Book).   From the renowned cookbook author comes Sweets & Desserts from the Middle East, widely regarded as the seminal work on the subject. In this book, Arto der Haroutunian takes us on a sumptuous and erudite tour of one of the delights of Middle Eastern cuisine. Sweets and desserts occupy a special place in those lands where natural food resources can sometimes be limited. The people have made supreme the art of creating delights from very little and in doing so have enriched their world with wafer-thin pastries, luscious halvas, crunchy biscuits, exotic fruits, and cool refreshing sorbets.   Many Middle Eastern desserts are very sweet (literally soaked in honey or syrup) and yet their variety is infinite. It reflects the multifarious origins and races of the people of the region and combines ancient traditions and modern influences. One basic sweet may have been adapted in a dozen different ways. Tantalizingly fragrant, sweet and succulent, or dry and spiced with the aroma of the East they transport us as if by magic carpet to the exotic lands of the orient. There are recipes for sesame and date baklavas, almond and pistachio coated biscuits, tempting stuffed fruits, rich mousses, delicate sorbets and syrups, jams and preserves, all of which may tempt you to conjure up these Middle Eastern delicacies in your own home.