In Desserts and Sweet Snacks, Viana La Place concentrates on the simplest homemade desserts. Some of them barely involve a recipe. She suggests placing on the table an ice-filled bowl containing whole fruits, for example. If this seems too minimal to qualify as dessert, just read the passage describing the end-of-meal ritual of selecting and peeling a piece of fruit, and then leisurely eating it, savoring the aromas, succulence, and ripe sweetness.

When you must have something more elaborate, La Place offers peach halves stuffed with crumbled amaretti and baked or espresso, lightly gelled and topped with a dollop of whipped cream.

Baked desserts include a dense, nut-studded Italian Rice Cake and Hazelnut and Lemon Meringues. But La Place really proves how less can be more: it's as simple as finding ripe fruit and embellishing it with liqueur or some other simple flourish. --Dana Jacobi