Book Description
If you are a beginning baker, this book offers an accessible introduction to essential baking ingredients, equipment, and techniques as well as detailed, step-by-step recipes that make it easy to prepare even the trickiest baked goods. If you are already an accomplished baker, it offers many sophisticated and unusual recipes that will help you refine your knowledge and skills.
The book features a distinctive organization based on six key baking ingredients, from fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, and chocolate to dairy products, spices and herbs, and coffee, tea, and liqueurs. Select an ingredient or flavor you love, and you'll find many delicious ways to incorporate it into your baking.
Bloom's recipes encompass every type of baking. You'll find spectacular versions of familiar favorites - Cherry Pie, Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, and Double Peanut Butter Cookies - as well as intriguing variations and extravagant indulgences, including Coconut Biscotti, Lemon Verbena and Walnut Tea Cake, and Dark Chocolate Creme Brulee. Her meticulous recipes specify essential gear, offer tips on streamlining the recipe and storing the finished dish, and provide advice on varying ingredients and adding panache.
With in-depth guidance on techniques and ingredients, 225 standout recipes, variations and embellishments for almost every dish, and 32 pages of striking full-color photographs, The Essential Baker is truly the only baking book you'll ever need.
Customer Reviews:
Disappointed.......2007-09-09
The first three reviews all gave "The Essential Baker" top 5-star ratings and, frankly, I was impressed and ordered the book. However, my elation quickly turned to disappointment once I scanned the pages. The first 50 pages on baking essentials had brown text on a light brown background and the remainder of the book, the text remained brown on white rather than black on white. Moreover, the font style and small size in addition to the brown text made reading difficult for a senior citizen as myself. This difficulty was more pronounced since the ingredients listed on the left margin were in bold type whereas the instruction were not, thus I personally would find difficulty in using the book while trying to cook.
One thing the author mentions up front is that all her recipes use Extra-Large eggs and every recipe for making pie dough uses a food processor. Just be aware to adjust your thinking. The book is hefty with 220 pages devoted to fruits, 21 to vegetables, 48 to nuts and seeds, and 125 to chocolate, 29 to dairy, 45 to spices and herbs, and 50 to coffee, tea, and spirits. The way the recipes are formatted, as discussed in prevous comments, are unique and at times it takes three to four pages for a recipe such as Pumpkin Pie or Lemon Meringue Pie.
In comparing the recipe for Anise and Almond Biscotti (Carole Bloom vs Martha Stewart), for example, Bloom calls for 3 extra-large eggs and 3 extra large egg yolks, but no butter and Stewart calls for 4 large eggs and 4 tablespoons of butter (both use 2-1/4 and 2-1/2 cups of flour respectively. I would have to bake each recipe to determine which I preferred, but someone like Alton Brown (author of, "I'm Here Just for the Food") could tell you the pros and cons of eggs vs butter.
If I had to choose an all round baking book, my choice would be, "The Dessert Bible" by Chrisopher Kimball who is also Publisher and Editor of Cooks Illustrated. His recipes include a feature that explains "what could go wrong" explaining things that could go awry whch I found helpful.
Bloom incorporates some innovative features in laying out her baking techniques and no doubt has many excellent recipes, but I downgraded the book primarily on "mechanical" features rather than content and the fact that I personally find the book difficult to use.
Unique & Delicious Recipes.......2007-08-09
"The Essential Baker: The Comprehensive Guide to Baking with Chocolate, Fruit, Nuts, Spices and Other Ingredients" is a new book by Carole Bloom, who is a professional pastry chef and confectioner. As the title promises the contents include an impressive array of recipes that use everything from coffee & tea to vegetables & fruits as their main ingredients. More than this, however, Bloom's recipes are unique, with a dash of sliced almonds adding both flavor and texture to banana muffins and pearl sugar enhancing the visual appeal of apple turnovers. I loved her recipes for coconut biscotti, jasmine tea cakes and spiced sugar coin cookies. Indeed, though I usually give away most of the goodies I bake, I couldn't bring myself to share the biscotti with anyone other than my husband. On a few occasions I wasn't entirely thrilled with the way a recipe turned out, but given my delight with other recipes I have to chalk this up to taste. One cannot expect every single recipe in a book to enthrall, after all, and modifications can always be made to suit your preferences.
Bloom's instructions are clear and easy to follow, though the way ingredients are presented took some getting used to. Instead of listing ingredients before the recipe, as most cookbooks do, recipes are divided into stages with the ingredients for each stage listed beside the instructions. At first I didn't like this aspect of the book, but as I continued to cook with it I realized that this arrangement a) forced me to read through the entire recipe before beginning, I'm a notorious improviser, and b) made it nearly impossible to become confused about which ingredient should be used where. Essential gear is listed along side the recipe, where helpful information is also included: storage tips, variations, and instructions for streamlining the baking process over more than one afternoon (i.e. How to begin cookies one day and finish them the next.) While I'm always appreciative of baking books that have photos for every recipe, the straightforward presentation of Bloom's recipes made it easy to visualize the final result without an image. Photos for twenty recipes are collected in the center of the book, representing the various chapters, which include: fruit & vegetables; nuts & seeds; chocolate; dairy products (milk, cream, cheeses); spices & herbs; and coffee, tea, liqueurs & spirits. The first chapter is devoted entirely to baking techniques, language and an overview of essential baking gear.
Recipes range in difficulty from easy to challenging, so this may not be the best book for a novice baker. Yet those with baking experience and a curiosity for novel recipes may want to check it out. From Key Lime Squares and Raspberry-Blueberry Galettes to Pomegranate Butter Cookies and Triple Vanilla Souffle, there is something in this book to pique everyone's interests.
An excellent general manual for occasional baker. Buy It........2007-05-11
`The Essential Baker' by professional pastry chef and culinary writer, Carole Bloom presents itself as a complete baking manual, with a distinctively different organization, by ingredient. For its size, price, and claims, the book begs us to compare it to the recent `Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook', which is also a comprehensive introductory baking text.
As I first open the book, Bloom's `Essential Baker' does not readily impress me when stacked up against Team Stewart. Like Stewart, the book does not delve into a lot of the more technical explanations of baking science (as one may find in Rose Levy Beranbaum's more advanced `Bibles' on baking technique), but then the average baker really doesn't need most of this, as long as they get the message that with baking, one really needs to follow the recipe closely, even down to the size of the baking pans. Bloom does go into just a bit more detail, and may get herself into a few questionable statements, as when she states that one should not use all purpose flour for baking bread (every book I've ever seen on bread baking uses and condones `all purpose flour', with a preference for the higher protein products such as those from King Arthur.)
Based on their enormous magazine publishing resources, it's no surprise to find Team Stewart's book with wonderful pictures all along the way, especially with good series of tutorials on some basic techniques. Ms. Bloom oddly has virtually no pictures, and all she has are in two middle of the book rotogravure sections, to keep the cost down.
Two more comparisons tend to favor Team Stewart. The first is that their organization is by end product and method rather than by principal ingredient. For an introductory manual, I simply find that more useful and intuitive. Unlike savory cooking, one is much more inclined to begin with `lets bake a cake' or `lets make a pie' or `lets make some cookies' or `lets make some bread'. One of the few cases where this may not be true is with some highly seasonal local ingredients such as rhubarb. Otherwise, my baking choices are largely based on birthdays needing cake, picnics needing pies, and Christmas needing cookies. The second is that Ms. Bloom does not cover yeast breads at all. There are recipes for quick breads such as biscuits and Irish Soda bread (under the subject of buttermilk), but that's it. Team Stewart has a 70 page chapter on yeast breads with 31 recipes, including muffins, bagels, pizza, Danish, croissants, and babkas. If this were the whole story, Team Stewart would have it all over Ms. Bloom. Ms. Bloom, however, has an ace up her sleeve.
Only after reading the long and highly informative (but pictureless) introductory chapters in `The Essential Baker' did I discover that Ms. Bloom is hiding her light under a basket. While celebrating her ordering by ingredient, she neglects to trumpet the fact that her method for writing recipes is really superior. Everything is laid out in exactly the way one may wish to find it. And, on this count, she has Team Stewart beat hands down. But that's not all. I also find her recipes to be more interesting (albeit not necessarily more complicated) than those from Team Stewart. I compared at least a half dozen recipes and in all cases, Ms. Bloom had the more satisfactory recipe for the beginner. Stewart either tended just a bit too much to the simple or overembellished to fit her overriding motif of cooking for entertaining.
I'm still inclined to see Stewart's `Baking Handbook' as the superior book for the beginner, except for the fact that Ms. Bloom does something that is rare in bigger baking books. She does not `divide and conquer' by separating all her utility recipes for crusts and other pastries in a separate section, so that one must constantly be flipping back and forth when doing a pie or an icing. This is really an exceptionally good thing for the occasional baker, who wants `the recipe, the whole recipe, and nothing but the recipe' in one place.
And, although both books retail for $40, Ms. Bloom has about 200 more pages, with a corresponding 30% more recipes. She also has an exceptionally good list of sources, the best I've seen in quite some time (although Miss Martha does a good job here too).
On the arrangement by ingredient, I'm still a bit agnostic about it, and it would have been nice to see a supplementary table of contents by type of recipe, but if you happen to really like books such as Aliza Green's `Starting With Ingredients' or books on vegetable or fish cookery, you will love this book. Otherwise, you may just like it very, very much.
Viva Coconut Biscotti.......2007-04-14
Though I love to cook and entertain, I seldom bake. Somehow, in planning my meals, dessert is often an afterthought. Thus, when a friend gave me Carole Bloom's latest tome, The Essential Baker: The Comprehensive Guide to Baking with Chocolate, Fruit, Nuts, Spices, and other ingredients, I thanked her profusely and thought I would relegate the exhaustive 650 page book to the upper reaches of my kitchen shelf. Last week, in need of an easy dessert recipe, the stunning chocolate madeleines on Bloom's book cover came to mind. What delights might I find within its pages, I wondered? I thumbed through it, looking for something simple to complement a bowl of fresh strawberries. The Coconut Biscotti on page 229 caught my eye.
I followed Bloom's instructions to the letter. The author of Chocolate Lovers' Cookbook for Dummies, among eight other books, made it all the easier thanks to her clever organization: ingredients and their corresponding usage are laid out side by side on the page rather than one following the other as is usually the case. I assembled the dough in minutes, shaped it into two loaves as instructed, and popped them in the oven. I waited for them to cool before slicing them into biscotti, and returned them to the oven a few minutes longer. Twenty minutes later, "my" biscotti looked like those sold by the piece at an extravagant price in upscale coffee shops--sweet and crumbly and ready for dunking. "Those are the best biscotti I have ever tasted," opined my husband, a cookie connoisseur from way back.
The Essential Baker may not turn me into a pro but the clarity of recipes inspire me to try the Cherry Clafouti(page 61) and the Pineapple Tarte Tatin (page 247). I may even read through Bloom's extensive Baking Essentials section to expand my newfound skills!
Average customer rating:
- I love this book
- Help! My book is now lined with post-its!...
- Very good baking book
- A great book for beginner and expert alike.
- Authoritative
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How to Bake: Complete Guide to Perfect Cakes, Cookies, Pies, Tarts, Breads, Pizzas, Muffins,
Nick Malgieri
Manufacturer: William Morrow Cookbooks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Bread
| Baking
| Cooking, Food & Wine
| Subjects
| Books
Cakes
| Baking
| Cooking, Food & Wine
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Baking
| Cooking, Food & Wine
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Muffins
| Baking
| Cooking, Food & Wine
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General
| Cooking, Food & Wine
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Reference
| Cooking, Food & Wine
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Perfect Cakes
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Chocolate: From Simple Cookies to Extravagant Showstoppers
ASIN: 0060168196 |
Book Description
How To Bake is as necessary and essential as a good oven; it is the most comprehensive and accessible guide to baking available in English. In a single, illustrated volume, Nick Malgieri, one of America's preeminent bakers and baking teachers, leads cooks through the simple art of creating an international assortment of delicious sweet and savory baked goods.
Here are the best recipes for breads, including such quick ones as Buttermilk Corn Bread, Irish Soda Bread, Classic Southern Biscuits, and Currant Tea Scones, as well as such delicious yeast-risen breads as Italian Bread Rings, Swiss Rye Bread, Challah, and English Muffins. Malgieri also offers recipes for savory treats like Old-Fashioned Chicken Pie, Pepper and Onion Frittata Tart, Cheese Quiche, and Rosemary Focaccia; and for sweet pastries ranging from puff pastries--Apple Turnovers, Banana Feuilletés with Caramel Sauce, Brioches, Strawberry Savarin, and Croissants--to pies and tarts, cobblers, and cookies of every stripe--drop, bar, rolled, and filled; brownies, macaroons, and rugelach. Cakes, too, are here, from layered to rolled, from angel to devil's food.
The recipes in How to Bake are clear and methodical. Master recipes explain all the steps to making a classic dish. They are frequently followed by creative variations so that the baker's palate and skills will always be accommodated and challenged. Start out with a simple spice cake, for example, and transform it, under Malgieri's reassuring guidance, into a lavishly decorated celebration cake.
In addition to an exhaustive and tempting selection of recipes, Malgieri offers clear, detailed instructions, interweaving techniques and helpful sidebars: how to make a pastry bag out of parchment paper; what baking pans to buy; mastering pie and cake toppings; learning to decorate a cake so it looks as if it came from the bakery; and scores of other helpful tips. All this is punctuated with precise explanatory illustrations and thirty-two pages of luscious color photographs to inspire and guide the baker. How to Bake is a one-volume "bible" for bakers.
Customer Reviews:
I love this book.......2006-08-24
This is a great cookbook for anyone. Whether you are just starting or are a seasoned baker. The recipes are fantastic and I haven't made one in the book that my family hasn't loved. Check out the Potato Pizza--it is a favorite for my kids. The instructions are very clear in the recipes and the option to use a food processor or a mixer are also available as well as if you are doing it by hand. This is my right hand in the kitchen. I love it!
Help! My book is now lined with post-its!..........2006-05-03
...and "dog-ears" and whatever else I can use to sve the pages of great recipes!
This was a required book for my baking class at school. It is the only school text book I actually wanted to keep after I completed the class!! The bread recipes are great. I now see all the baked breads in the supermarket and specialty stores and smile knowing that this book has helped me to be able to make the same stuff at home for a fraction of the cost. In class we had to learn the recipes without using a Kitchen Aid or food processor. Now that I am baking at home, I feel no guilt in using my machines finally. Even a more complex bread recipe is not that much of a challenge any more for me. I've also made some of the cake recipes. I am sure there are many other books out there about baking but this one is a great place to start. It made me actually want to bake when I started off just using it to complete one of my many required culinary classes.
Very good baking book.......2005-10-01
Whenever I'm going to bake something, I at least take a look in this book to see how he did it. I use this book for the bread and pie recipes mostly. I've not tried any of the cookie recipes, but I have tried a few of the other desserts, and they've been very successful. The best recipes that I've found are the sourdough bread recipe, and the quick puff pastry recipe. The puff pastry never fails to turn out perfectly as long as I follow his directions.
Another thing I really like about the book is that it is laid out well so recipes are easy to follow. He also offers lots of variations at the end of each recipe, which I like because I like to start from a basic recipe then give it my own flare.
A great book for beginner and expert alike........2005-07-25
I like Malgieri's practical, no nonsense instruction. This book is a great teacher as well as a good cookbook. It is equally good for beginner and expert. His recipes are achievable and delicious. He explains and teaches so that one is not left in the dark as to any of the "how tos."
Last Christmas, I gave countless loaves of panettone...all met with great appreciation and raves. I fear it is now an expected tradition for me. His challah is one of my favorites and was my first attempt at this beautiful braided bread. I am hooked. It is interesting as each time I make it, I think "this isn't going to rise" but each time it rises beautifully.
My only critique is that I wish he'd included comments on oven spring. Some rise like crazy in the oven, some do not. All in all, it's a good book to have.
Authoritative.......2004-07-06
Having studied with Chef Malgieri, I know first hand the detailed work that went into his master work, How to Bake. I've used many of these basic recipes in both home and professional kitchens; I've made many my own. The book is methodical. It is geared toward intelligent cooks. I believe it is critically important when dealing with recipes on this level to acquire as much background information and perspective as possible, to learn the ins and outs of ingredients, to understand the moods of your oven, take altitude into careful consideration, and, in all ways, treat recipes as beginnings rather than ends. You can find recipes anywhere. The deep perspective and commitment to teaching of How To Bake is something much rarer.
Food writer Elliot Essman's other reviews and food articles are available at www.stylegourmet.com
Average customer rating:
- Great pastry recipe and unusual filliings
- Dessert Tarts Masterpiece
- absolute best tarts
- great fun with great recipes!
- Inspiration to make pure and simple tarts!
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Book of Tarts: Form, Function, and Flavor at the City
Maury Rubin
Manufacturer: Cookbooks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Desserts
| Baking
| Cooking, Food & Wine
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Baking
| Cooking, Food & Wine
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Pies
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ASIN: 068812254X |
Customer Reviews:
Great pastry recipe and unusual filliings .......2006-07-26
I recently purchased this classic and have been totally impressed with the quality of the pastry, the clear directions, and the creativity Maury shows. I've made the lemon tart with berries and the chocolate tart infused with Ethiopian coffee beans. Both tarts were way better than anything I've had from a bakery. However on a recent trip to NYC I tried the tarts from City Bakery and the Payard bakery (Francois Payard, his book is Simply Sensational Desserts), and found that I preferred the Payard crust slightly. Comparing the recipes, the two key differences are that Francois uses more sugar and less butter. His crust comes out slightly sweeter and more chewy, with a more cookie-like taste. I plan to continue using his pastry recipe but want to applaud Maury Rubin for the creativity of his fillings most of which I have not tried -- but I certainly plan to! Kudos Maury! And thank you for sharing.
Dessert Tarts Masterpiece.......2004-10-28
Karen Barker in her excellent new "American Desserts" book recommends this one highly, and it does not let one down for finding and purchasing it.
One can tell that Rubin enjoys his art, and is very proficient at it. His humor and talent show from his culinary acknowledged beginnings of Pop-tarts, then from ABC Sports to cookbook reading in libraries! This book is lively and informative and creative and great eating tarts!
Applying all his French learning with his creative touch led to City Bakery fame. His desire for quality and seasonal menus breathed life into his enterprise and this resultant cookbook. How neat that he has shared all that work and development with us who like to whip up a tart every now and then. This work will greatly aid!
What is neat is that his goal of making simplistic tart recipes so that new employees could achieve the high quality he wanted is achieved for us home pastry types. Here they are seasonally offered after a just unbelievable primer on Tarts 101. Ingredients, equipment, then tart dough recipes and procedures, as well as decorating and chocolate tips. One can see why the likes of Barker likes this one!
The creativity displayed here in recipe design and photo of most makes this one a real keeper/user! Feast your tartloving eyes on the likes of: Champagne Peach Tart with Vanilla Sugar; Ricotta Cheese Tart with Summer Fruits/Flowers; Lime Cream in A Candied Ginger Crust; Sake-Spiked Plum Tart with Ginger; Zinfandel-Marinated Cherries with Cocoa; Square Pear Peg Tart; Grapes with Hazelnuts; Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee Tart; White Chocolate Cream with Raspberry in a Hazelnut Crust.
Sources are included as well.
absolute best tarts.......2004-06-29
I was told that the best tart dough recipe could be found in this book and was happy to discover this to be completely and utterly true. Yes, the pastry is fragile, but, my god, it's delicious -- buttery (but not greasy), flaky, slightly sweet. No more thick, heavy, greasy crusts from other cookbooks!
The recipes for the various tarts are wonderful and unique and the pictures beautiful. But, the bottom line is, you should buy this book for the pastry recipe alone.
great fun with great recipes!.......2001-07-06
After flipping through the pages of this book, I was on a mission like a thing posessed in search of flan rings, which the author lists as a "must have" to make his tarts. The tarts are so visually appealing, I had to find out for myself if they tasted anywhere near as good as they looked. I found four flan rings- at a rediculous $9 per four-inch ring. I couldn't see buying eight, which is the number that one recipe of pastry makes. But the results were worth it!! I tried two recipes. The first was a fully baked tart shell filled with ricotta cheese and topped with fresh berries. The second was a tart baked with almond cream and fresh cherries (my substitution for plum slices which the recipe called for). The cherry tarts looked like something I'd buy from a pastry shop- just gorgeous. The shells have a great short-bread like flavor and a much nicer crumb than many tart recipes. However, what they make up for in flavor, they lack somewhat in durability. They are somewhat fragile. Mr. Rubin's instructions are excellent, and though the first time through takes time and patience, it was not difficult. Anyone comfortable with pastry should have no trouble with the shells. The down side is the practicality. If you need many tarts at one time, the flan rings are expensive. I was able to fashion rings out of foil and shape the tarts with a foil ring inside a stainless steal ring. Once the pastry is shaped and trimmed, just slip the stainless steal ring off and the foil will hold perfectly fine for baking. The pastry dough handles easily, but the sharp rims of traditional tart pans will cut through it and ruin it before you have a chance to shape it.
Inspiration to make pure and simple tarts!.......1999-08-26
New York Times Aug 18. Food Section featured a splendid summer picnic menu. All recipes were included except Maury Rubin's Blueberry-Coconut Tarts. New Yorkers get them at City Bakery. What's a Bostonian to do? Get Maury's book which does have this recipe and many more. Best of all, he gives very easy to follow directions on making the dough. Many of the tarts are made with fresh fruit. The color photos of each tart are very helpful and inspirational to me. Love this book.
Average customer rating:
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The Art of the Dessert
Ann Amernick ,
Margie Litman , and
Taran Z
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Desserts
| Baking
| Cooking, Food & Wine
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Baking
| Cooking, Food & Wine
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Cooking, Food & Wine
| Subjects
| Books
All Deals
| Blowout Books
| Stores
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Cooking, Food & Wine
| Blowout Books
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Pure Dessert
ASIN: 0471443816 |
Book Description
Named one of the country's top ten pastry chefs by both Chocolatier and Pastry Art & Design magazines and nominated five times for the James Beard Pastry Chef of the Year award, Ann Amernick is one of the nation's most accomplished dessert makers. Now, in The Art of Dessert she shares nearly 100 recipes for artfully distinctive desserts - the summation of her long and distinguished career as a baker. Amernick's creations often recall familiar foods and flavors - a cheese danish, for example, or a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup - but in her hands, the familiar becomes something truly extraordinary: Apricot and Custard Danish Sandwiches, or Peanut Butter Cream Truffles with Shortbread and Raspberry Gelee.
Spanning the whole range of dessert possibilities - cakes and tortes, pies and tarts, cookies and candies, cold desserts, warm desserts, and dessert sandwiches - The Art of the Dessert is filled with recipes that are as innovative and sophisticated as they are homey and unfailingly delicious. Chocolate Toffee Torte, Lemon Caramel Tartlets, Almond Lace Cookies, Amaretto Nougat Cups, Toasted Coconut Pecan Souffle Tartlets, and Pumpkin Custard Napoleons are just a few of the dazzling creations you'll discover. For each recipe, Amernick offers detailed, step-by-step guidance on preparation, as well as sidebars that offer options for embellishing the desserts when serving.
Sixteen striking full-color photographs accompany the recipes, along with Amernick's "Trucs of the Trade" and expert advice on pastry making, including basic and advanced techniques, information on equipment and ingredients, and helpful tips on creating all kinds of dessert components and garnishes, from tartlet shells to fruit leather. If you want to refine your baking skills and add some show-stopping new desserts to your repertoire, let this extraordinary cookbook by a master pastry chef be your guide.
Customer Reviews:
wonderful cookbook.......2007-05-08
I was lucky enough to intern with Ann Amernick for a short time while she was doing final editing on this book, and got to test some of the recipes. They were all fabulous. Ann is a wonderful baker and a true artist. She provides detailed, easy to follow instructions, and shares professional techniques that she has learned over the years. This would be a wonderful addition to anyone's cookbook collection.
Book Description
In the Modern Classics series, Australia's bestselling food writer Donna Hay takes the food from the past we love the most and makes it irresistibly new. Then she looks at what's the best of the new and turns it into a cooking classic.
In Modern Classics Book 2, Donna brings back trifle, lamingtons and vanilla slice, but gives them a great modern twist. Then she introduces biscotti, muffins and sugar grilled fruit, the new breed of sweet treat.
Modern Classics Books 1 and 2 are set to become the commonsense cookbooks of a new generation and essential for everyone, no matter their age or cooking expertise. More practical inspiration from Donna Hay.
Customer Reviews:
Delicious ;-().......2006-09-03
If you want to impress people with delicious treats that look complex yet are easy to make, this book is for you. Donna Hay's books are full of great ideas that are broken up into easy to make items that taste so good. As the title suggests, this book focuses on all the good stuff; desserts, cookies and cakes etc.
My favourite recipes (and the ones that I've made successfully so far) in here are Melting Moments, Triple Chocolate Semifreddo, Moist Chocolate Cake and the Simple Lemon Cake. Everything turned out OK for me (which is rare) and I credit that to her easy to follow instruction (the motivating pictures) and all the helpful hints. In the back of the book there is a Glossary, Before You Start, A Perfect Finish - all mini chapters to give you extra information and helpful tips. She is on a par to Rachael Ray. Both make great ideas and help you discover that we all can be good cooks. I really enjoy this book and hope you get to try some of the great recipes in here too because each one is easy and incredibly good.
Donna Hay Rocks!!!.......2005-03-22
All of her cookbooks are incredible, and the magazine as well. What is great is that the ingredient lists are short and there is a picture illustrating every recipe. The thing to be careful of, however, is that an Australian Tbs. is not the same as an American one (It is about 1 TBS + 1 tsp.). Also, some of the fruits aren't readily available here (very few) but I'm sure if you are creative you can make a substitution! PS to the reviewer who can't find the magazine...I live in a medium sized town and my local Barnes and Noble carries it regularly...a few months behind, but better than nothing!! And I think you can order a subscription through amazon.com or isubscribe.au.
Betcha can't make just one!.......2005-03-08
This book has more awesome recipes than you can imagine. They say you only really use about 10% of each cookbook on average and this one is going to make up for all the others. You will be taking goodies everywhere you go! This book has a lot of very simple, but fabulous desserts that you won't believe how easy they are to make. If you love desserts and you love to impress people you should get this book that is loaded with great recipes:)
Best Aussie (or ANY) Dessert Recipe Book! .......2005-03-05
I am American, but having lived in Sydney for over six years & married an Australian, it was such bliss to have been given this book as a 'bon voyage' gift! I can now make Anzac biscuits, caramel slice & pavlova with confidence. It's great too that the measurements have been 'converted' to American standards.
In any case, it is the one book that I always reference when having to make any type of dessert. I love the photography, the instructions & suggestions at the bottom of the recipes (ie. to make a cake lemon instead of vanilla, etc.). I'm also a big Donna Hay fan too -- shame the magazine isn't available in the US.
Better than Martha!.......2004-04-14
I purchased this book because of the simple and delicious looking photos, and for the authentic British/Aussie recipes that I have grown up with. I researched Donna Hay and have found her to be as interesting and creative as our own Ms. Stewart, but find Ms. Hay's approach more subtle and simple. Thank you Donna Hay! I wish your magazine was available in the U.S. One day eh?
This makes a great coffee table book if you're not into baking and cooking. Or give as a gift to your chef wanna be friends.
Average customer rating:
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The Soy Dessert and Baking Book: Add Soy and Nutrition to Your Favorite Cakes, Cookies, Pies, Tarts, Muffins, Puddings, Quick Breads, and Other Desserts
Brita Housez
Manufacturer: Marlowe & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Desserts
| Baking
| Cooking, Food & Wine
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Baking
| Cooking, Food & Wine
| Subjects
| Books
Muffins
| Baking
| Cooking, Food & Wine
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General
| Cooking, Food & Wine
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Healthy
| Special Diet
| Cooking, Food & Wine
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General
| Vegetables & Vegetarian
| Cooking, Food & Wine
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ASIN: 1569245894 |
Book Description
Incorporating healthy ingredients into delicious baked goods and desserts can seem like a daunting goal, but it doesn't have to be. Brita Housez has created 120 delicious recipes that incorporate soy into everyone's favorite baked goods and desserts--thereby making them more nutritious than ever. By substituting soy products for fattening ingredients like butter, cream, and cheese, Housez cuts calories, adds nutrition, and retains every bit of the great flavor you expect when biting into a slice of cheesecake or a chocolate cupcake. The book includes eight pages of gorgeous four-color photographs and many dairy-free recipes.
Customer Reviews:
Soy Pastries Yum Yum!.......2007-05-28
I really enjoy this book as it gives you choices and the ability to make your desserts more nutritional with soy. Great addition to any kitchen!
Amazon.com
Tamasin Day-Lewis writes so beautifully, so eloquently, and so descriptively that it's almost impossible to choose which of her exceptional, delectable tarts to begin with. Her tone is warm, friendly, and generous, and her attitude towards food and cooking will make you nod and smile and want to read this cookbook aloud to anyone who'll listen. She laments that the "current speed-addicted climate" has pushed so many of us to give up cooking from scratch. We have been convinced to make questionably nutritious fast food instead of relishing the relaxation, pleasure, enjoyment of not just preparing good food, but of eating it in the way it is meant to be eaten--by savoring it slowly.
Early childhood memories of standing on a kitchen chair, cuffs covered with flour, making her first tarts, and then impatiently biting into a hot jam tart and the sweetly searing pain that results inspired Day-Lewis to write this book. Tarts, she argues, are superior fast food. With practice, the dough can be made quickly and in batches large enough that there's no need to make the dough every time. Fillings can be as simple as the onions, eggs and cream necessary for the Onion Tart. And longer recipes are just longer, not any more complicated or difficult to follow. "Anyone reading this book," says Day-Lewis, "should not doubt his or her ability to achieve every one of the recipes." She assumes "basic skills and competence," and a bit of curiosity. Many of these recipes are remakes of old favorites, but because Day-Lewis is writing in the U.K. and Ireland, most of those old favorites are brand new in America. The Leek, Potato, and Oatmeal Tart is a substantial cold-weather dish made with oatmeal crust filled with garlic, leeks, potatoes, and cheddar. Treacle Tart is "gloopy, gooky, toothachingly sweet," best served with "a solid spoonful of clotted cream slipping deliquescent from the slice, turning buttery at the edges as it slides." How can anyone read that and not start checking the kitchen for ingredients?
Divided by the chapters "Savory Tarts," "Sweet Tarts," and "Other People's Tarts" (try Nigel Slater's Broccoli, Blue Cheese, and Crème Fraiche Tart and Richard Corrigan's Banana Tart), the book is sprinkled with vibrant color photographs of lusciousness such as the Peach, Vanilla, and Amaretti Tarte Tatin ("amber-hued ... speckled with vanilla and sticky with caramel") and the bright yellow Corn and Scallion Tart with a Polenta Crust. Day-Lewis is inventive, as is evident with recipes such as Monkfish Tart with Bearnaise, Tomato, Goat's Camembert, and Herb Tart; Rhubarb, Honey, and Saffron Tart; and Brûléed Black Currant or Blueberry Tart. If your taste buds (or those of your audience) are less adventurous, you can start with Asparagus Tart, Potato, Garlic, and Parsley Torte, or Quiche Lorraine. And no one will ever turn down a "state-of-the-art" Lemon Tart, a Strawberry Tart ("voluptuous ... and glazed to gloopy perfection"), or Simon Hopkinson's Chocolate Tart ("If there is a heaven, this is it," says Day-Lewis). Whatever your time frame, your kitchen comfort level, or your palate, Day-Lewis will leave you with your cuffs in flour, composing a thank-you note in your head to this most delightful author. --Leora Y. Bloom
Book Description
Tarts are the perfect self-contained treat, a delectable indulgence. In this special collection, Tamasin Day-Lewis provides classic recipes and new twists for an assortment of savory and sweet tarts. She explores the rituals of their preparation, from rolling to primping and patching to whisking, all of which make tarts the most satisfying of foods — to make and to eat.
The home chef is taught to prepare a variety of crusts from easy-to-follow directions. The most difficult step is trying to figure out which of the mouth-watering fillings to use. Included is everything from Sweet Corn and Spring Onion Tart to Rhubard Meringue Pie.
Beautifully designed, featuring more than fifty full-color photographs, and sumptuously filled,
The Art of the Tart is sure to be the perfect addition to any cookbook collection.
Customer Reviews:
Attractive Book of Unusual Recipes. Beginners Beware.......2005-03-27
`The Art of the Tart' and `Tarts With Tops On' by noted English culinary writer, Tamasin Day-Lewis both have the outward appearance of books on the express line to the discount table. And, while many good books have suffered that fate, that appearance should not be held against these two volumes. It is important to distinguish this book from the excellent volumes on general pastry making such as Rose Levy Beranbaum's `The Pie and Pastry Bible' or Nick Malgieri's `Perfect Pastry' or Flo Brakker's `The Simple Art of Perfect Baking, or Gayle Ortiz' `The Village Baker's Wife'. It is also playing in a different league than the excellent `Mes Tartes' by Christine Ferber. All of these spend many pages on the ins and outs of pastry technique. Ms. Ferber's volume is especially interesting if you are devoted to the French approach to pastry, which is just a bit different than what you will get from the American experts.
When I first browsed through Ms. Day-Lewis' books, the absence of the heavy concentration on technique and the many familiar names of classic tart and pie recipes had me discounting the books as not worth my attention. The opening tart with a top on was nothing more than a classic chicken potpie that I have made following better instructions from James Beard.
The first thing that began redeeming the books in my eyes was the quality of the writing. Ms. Day-Lewis has a way with phrases that seems to owe more than a little from the writing style of M.F.K. Fisher, although the writer to which she seems to pay the greatest homage is Jane Grigson. In spite of a few misstatements such as the notion that pastry making was a science, `but not an exact science', her general observations are quite a pleasure to read and make me want to read more of her books.
Both books include chapters on `other people's recipes', and some of the most interesting material is in these chapters. Some of the borrowing is from Nigel Slater who is a writer like Day-Lewis and unlike Nigella Lawson and Jamie Oliver, whose works have not made a very big impression on this side of the pond. Others are attributed to Claudia Roden, who has made a big splash over here. Many others are attributed to friends and relatives. Regardless of the source, all these recipes are pretty far removed from your garden-variety tomato tart. Some recipes such as Michel Roux's Tourte au Jambon et Tomme de Pyrenees require ingredients such as black truffles and hard Pyrenees sheep's milk cheese which are just a bit to dear or too much trouble to acquire. Others in this chapter are both very simple and very fetching. Two that caught my eye were Nigel Slater's Stilton, Onion, and Potato "Frying Pan" pie and Deborah's Luxury Meat Loaf Pie. Both recipes are small variations on very common dishes, but the small improvements are worth a bundle of raves at the dinner table.
The next chapter of recipes for pies covers eight variations on apple pie. Aside from the plain vanilla apple pie, all were pretty unusual, but certainly not difficult. I did miss a recipe for Tart Tatin, but I suspect I probably already have five or six recipes for this classic on my shelves already. Another reason the Tart Tatin does not appear with these apple pies is because the first book already includes nine recipes for lidless apple tarts, including the famous Tatin dessert. The first book also includes a perfect recipe for entertaining with an English theme, a treacle tart.
The next recipe chapter of pie recipes covers classic American pies. Among these eleven recipes are peach pie, pecan pie, blueberry pie, pumpkin pie, and key lime pie, but no Pennsylvania Dutch molasses cake, which of course is much more of a pie than a cake.
Among the recipes for sweet pies, there are a few with unusual ingredients such as gooseberries and a few which simply did not appeal to me such as the raspberry ice cream pie, which I considered a misnomer, as the filling was not a true churned ice cream but more like a simple frozen custard.
If your cookbook collecting leans toward those that look good and read well, then these books are for you. They are also very interesting if you have a special attraction to baking tarts and pies, and already have the basic techniques securely under your belt. If you are a novice with pastry, then I suggest you take a by on these and check out the four titles I cited at the beginning of the review.
I will note that for the very nice binding, photography, and the build-in page marking ribbon, these books are very reasonably priced, which make them even more attractive if you are fond of attractive culinary books.
If you are always on the lookout for unusual pie and tart recipes, don't give it another thought and put in your order for these lovelies.
Tart magic!.......2003-11-26
My family and I enjoy eating quiches and tarts very much. We love the creamy filling and the comforting warmth, especially when encased in a light, crunchy, delicate pastry case. They are so easy and practical, as you can make them ahead and reheat them.
I usually made them using ready-made pastry, because my attempts at making my own were always a bit laboursome, it was always a bit difficult to roll the pastry and not to tear it, and somehow it was always a bit undercooked (maybe that was due to the fact that I used rice instead of baking beans, but now I have bought them). Those times are over! Now I can make perfect, crisp and tender pastry, and the best part is that it rolls in a breeze! I don't know what was wrong with my method, but now that I have this recipe I don't even think of buying ready-made pastry anymore.
The recipes for the different fillings are wonderful, too. We have found great quiches that we love to have for dinner, like Spinach and Anchovy Tart ( we make it with yougurt instead of cream and it is delicious!). Or the different ones with fish, or Onion Tart,or the Flamiche, mmm...yummy!
The sweet ones are very good too. I made the Chocolate Pecan Pie for a dinner party and it got raves. I love the Lemon Tart and I could go on like this...
Well, the recipes are very rich, but I find that you can easily substitute lighter ingredients (like yoghurt for cream) with consistent results. At least, I often do it...
The book is heavy weight paperback, not very thick, just 144 pages. It has the picture of a tomato tartlet on the front with a silver band for the title and author. The recipes are laid out well: an introduction on how it was created, or anecdotes about the recipe; the ingredients on one side and the instructions on the other. Easy to follow and clear.
There are a few pictures of the finished tarts, even if many recipes don't have one, or have just pictures of the ingredients, that's why I'm giving it four stars. (I like to be tempted by pictures!)
At the back of the book there is a chapter on pastry, with the instuctions on how to make all the different kinds (shortcrust, pâte sucrée, pâte sablée, puff pastry).
I found this book really useful to help me making better tarts and quiches and I would suggest it to anyone that likes baking.
Beautiful book, but not for healthy eaters.......2003-04-05
Every recipe in this book looks beautiful and delicious. I enjoyed reading all of the author's "stories" about each recipe. I haven't tried any recipes yet simply because nearly every one uses lots of butter, cream, etc. I'm no health nut, but these are not everyday recipes for those of us even reasonably concerned with healthy eating. I would only use this book for cooking for special occasions like showers, parties, and holidays. One other thing--a few recipes in this book are pretty foreign sounding to an American cook such as myself. Definitely written for the English palate.
Easy recipes for delicious, beautiful tarts.......2002-08-08
Seven years ago, I had an onion tart in New York that was so good I've been trying to replicate it ever since. I bought the book based on its beautiful graphics and what looked like easy-to-follow recipes, including one for an onion tart.
I invited friends over a couple of weeks ago and made the onion tart for the first time. The custard came out voluminous; I used about half of what the recipe called for. Otherwise, it was absolutely delicious. I've started making other recipes and they're turning out just as well.
The really impressive thing, though, was the selection of dough recipes in the back. I'm not a baker and the first time I made dough according to her directions it turned out flaky and delicious! She has a rare talent for explaining baking. And, to boot, it didn't take very long or require expensive or hard-to-find ingredients.
I recommend the book whole-heartedly, but please experiment with the ingredients and quantities.
The quick and the good...........2001-09-13
In this day of working away from home, shopping after work and fixing a meal on the run, THE ART OF THE TART is a gift. I discovered this book in the Washington Post Food section, which seems to be dedicated to folks like me who don't want to restort to scambled eggs, oatmeal, or fast food night after night. How wonderful to discover there are elegant dishes one can fix relatively quickly, and in most cases healthier than the fast food fix.
Day-Lewis is apparently well established in England as a food expert and has written articles for Conde-Nast and House and Garden. If you missed her in these other forms, this is a good place to start. Some of her tarts are meals, such as the 'Porcini Mushroom and Red Onion' tart or the 'Scallop, Artichoke, and Smoked Bacon' tart. Other tarts are for dessert, such as 'A Tatin of Apricots Stuffed with Almond Paste' or 'Apple Crumble Tart.' Not all tarts come in the same wrapper. While some tarts have a traditional flaky crust, others have a crust of polenta such as the 'Corn and Scallion Tart' or 'George Morley's Leek Tart' which has a cheese pastry crust. Some of the recipes Day-Lewis includes are her own, such as the 'Spinach and Anchovy' tart or the 'Asparagus' tart, and others are from friends.
There are plenty of plain tarts, and tarts with too much cholesterol, but there is a tart for everyone. According to the Washington Post, Ms Day-Lewis is the sister of Daniel. Such a talented family.
Average customer rating:
- Best Ginger Cake Ever
- Great little gift for anyone
- Thoughtful, Informative, Delicious, Doable Desserts.
- Best book for dessert lovers
- The Gooiest Book in My Kitchen
|
Room For Dessert : 110 Recipes for Cakes, Custards, Souffles, Tarts, Pies, Cobblers, Sorbets, Sherbets, Ice Creams, Cookies, Candies, and Cordials
David Lebovitz
Manufacturer: William Morrow Cookbooks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Desserts
| Baking
| Cooking, Food & Wine
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Baking
| Cooking, Food & Wine
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Cooking, Food & Wine
| Subjects
| Books
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ASIN: 0060191856 |
Amazon.com
Baking books abound, but none presents a more mouthwatering selection of contemporary sweets than David Lebovitz's Room for Dessert. A former pastry cook at Chez Panisse in California, Lebovitz offers more than 110 recipes for cakes, curds, soufflés, tarts, pies, cobblers, ice creams, cookies, and more, beautifully depicted by color photos. He also manages, as few other baking book authors do, to provide lucid technical guidance, so even novice bakers should have success with his recipes. Readers searching for a solid collection of doable desserts, from homey to dress-up (but never too bedecked) will find the book is just what they're looking for.
Featured are a number of Lebovitz's most acclaimed desserts, including Meyer Lemon Semifreddo, Butternut Squash Pie, and Orange Almond Bread Pudding. Readers will also want to try his modernized Marjolaine (chocolate-covered layers of vanilla and praline creams sandwiched between crisp nut meringues), Fresh Ginger Cake, Mexican Chocolate Ice Cream, and Brown Sugar-Pecan Shortbread, among others. With a chapter on liqueurs and preserves--there's a recipe for a luscious pineapple ginger marmalade, for example--and a presentation of basic formulas that includes dessert sauces (Lebovitz's soft-candied citrus peel topping is a standout), the book, wide in scope yet straightforward in detail, delivers. --Arthur Boehm
Book Description
Always Save Room for Dessert
Especially if it's one of David Lebovitz's signature showstoppers. In his first cookbook, Room for Dessert, he offers more than 110 recipes for sweet everythings. You'll find sensational cakes, custards, soufflés, tarts, pies, cobblers, sorbets, ice creams, cookies, and candies, each designed to tempt the diner.
In the introduction David writes of one of his earliest dessert memories--a bowl of freshly picked blackberries, perfectly ripe, topped with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of sugar. "When you search out the best ingredients, do as little to them as possible, and serve them in a straightforward way, the presentation follows naturally," he writes. "A glossy custard looks best with a, swirl of whipped cream; a cool tapioca pudding looks enticing when it's accompanied by its natural complements--tropical fruits and shaved coconut."
With such an aesthetic, David eventually made his way to Berkeley's legendary Chez Panisse, establishing himself as a pastry cook under the tutelage of Alice Waters and founding pastry chef Lindsay Shere. He shares, the Chez Panisse commitment to fresh, seasonal exceptional ingredients, presented simply and unpretensiously, at their peak flavor. As Alice Waters writes in the books foreward: "David is one of those rare pastry chefs who knows that in desserts, as in all art, the cliché is true: sometimes less is more."
After leaving Chez Panisse, Lebovitz served as pastry chef at Bruce Cost's critically acclaimed Monsoon, experimenting with a wide variety of Asian ingredients and flavors to create more remarkable desserts. Home cooks as well as professionals have been clamoring for the Fresh Ginger Cake recipe, which, finally, is published here. It so often appears at Bay Area restaurants that it's frequently listed on menus as "Dave's Ginger Cake." Make it once and you'll immediately want to add it to your list of tried and true standbys. David offers comforting yet sophisticated versions of everyone's favorites, including Gingersnaps, Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Coconut Macaroons, surefire hits for people of all ages. For grown-ups, there are homemade liqueurs and cordials. Add to this delectable ice creams and frozen treats, as well as jams, preserves, and candied fruits, and you get an idea of the incredible scope of David Lebovitz's talents.
Beautifully illustrated with seventy-five full-color photographs by San Francisco's Michael Lamotte, Room for Dessert is as stunning to look at as it is to cook from. With this remarkable debut, David Lebovitz offers his expert hand to guide a new audience of readers and home dessert makers.
Customer Reviews:
Best Ginger Cake Ever.......2006-08-01
I love this book.
Intense flavors, great technique, baking I can manage as a non-baker.
I also have the "In The Sweet Kitchen" tome, but find this is the book I return to . . .
Good mix of different types of sweets, great basics for important fancy things, very versatile.
Great little gift for anyone.......2006-05-23
If there's someone in your life who likes to cook, this is a great gift for any small occasion. My gift recipient was very appreciative and said the recipes were very good.
Thoughtful, Informative, Delicious, Doable Desserts........2004-01-29
This is David Lebovitz' first of two books on desserts. The second is devoted entirely to desserts made with fruits. This volume is more general, including recipes for just about every different type of dessert you may think of. The collection is weighted in favor of recipes which would work well in a restaurant, so the number of recipes typical to the home are less common than you may find in a more general book on dessert baking. That is not to say this is a poor book. In fact, I am happy I reviewed Lebovitz' more recent book first, so I was able to appreciate the virtues of this book which were missing from the second volume.
Lebovitz' introductory chapter on `Essentials' is divided into three sections, each an extremely useful tool to the home baker. First, is a discussion of equipment, which seems to me to be one of the best around for baking tools. The ingredients section is similarly useful, although I wish the author, who is so careful to be precise about other items would avoid the descriptions of `bittersweet' or `semisweet' for chocolate and use, instead the percent cocoa grades as used by Vahlrona, a brand which Lebovitz endorses. The third section of essentials on Fruits is the star of this part of the book. The author not only gives the best season and the best properties and uses for a large number of fruits, he also supplies an extremely useful picture of each and every fruit, although the picture for coconuts is a bit puzzling. There must be varieties of coconut I have never seen in the very untropical northeast.
Lebovitz must be especially fond of fruits, as this general book has a very large portion of its pages devoted to fruit, with a wealth of interesting information on various varieties. I was especially surprised to learn that the grapefruit is a human invention developed by crossing the pomelo with the orange. Who know. Lebovitz is true to the traditions of current and former Chez Panisse writers such as Alice Waters and Jeremiah Tower in that he is especially careful to note the variety names of various fruits and sometimes, like both Alice and Jeremiah, go so far as to specify the botanical species names. This is all very good, except that few markets distinguish types of fruits beyond apples and pears. I have never, ever seen any peaches labeled Carnival, Suncrest, Elegant Lady, Elberta, Flamecrest, or Cal Red. More importantly, I have never seen persimmons distinguished by variety, even though persimmon variety is much more important to the way it is used than with most types of peaches. But all of this is not a reflection on the book, only on the author's access to better than average greengrocers. Bottom line is that the pages on fruits in this book are worth the price of admission.
The various types of desserts discussed, each in their own chapter, are:
Cakes
Custards and Souffles
Fruit Desserts
Sorbets, Sherbets, Ice Creams, and Gelees
Cookies and Candies
Liqueurs and Preserves
As noted above, the author is positively in love with fruits, as they appear in virtually every type of dessert in every chapter. The chapter dedicated to fruit desserts has an especially good discussion on how to make fruit compotes. I confess the author has endeared himself to me by pointedly avoiding the pairing of fruit and chocolate. I have never liked the popular raspberry and chocolate combination, as all those gritty little seeds just seems to spoil the chocolate experience. Lebovitz does cross the line just once in combining blueberries with white chocolate in a tart. I'm good with that.
The book ends with a very worthy chapter on basics which includes separate recipes for tarts, pies, and galettes where many other authors would simply give you a single recipe for all three. As other authors such as Wayne Harley Brachman point out, these three pastries simply have different requirements from their doughs. The basics also includes a section on caramelization guidelines. As this is an extremely scary topic for anyone like myself who has seen just enough Food Network shows to know what can go wrong, this section is invaluable.
The book's list of sources for equipment is better than average as it gives web sites, telephone numbers, and addresses, plus a detailing of what the organization supplies. The photographs are competent and add to the attractiveness of the book. The color scheme is much better than the glaring pink and orange used in the later book. The Bibliography is a delightful addition. I wish every cookbook had one. The entries point to many titles familiar to me and many which are not, which is even better.
This book is strongly recommended, especially for folks who are looking for new desserts for entertaining.
Best book for dessert lovers.......2003-09-17
I would also give this 10 stars if I could! This is one of the best cookbooks I have ever purchased. I have a big sweet tooth and have accummulated quite a collection of cookbooks on cakes, cookies, chocolate, etc. This book covers a large variety of sweets, from cookies (the best chocolate-chip cookie recipe I have ever tried) to sorbet (chocolate coconut sorbet, sangria sorbet) to ice cream (butterscotch ice cream with hickory nuts) marmalades and jams (plum strawberry), sauces (caramel, blackberry), crysalised ginger (which I can't find here, so I have to make it), to cakes (coconut, fresh ginger). I have tried a variety of things in this cookbook (cookies, ice cream, caramel) and they have all turned out DELICIOUS. I made coconut macaroons dipped in chocolate for my husband since he loves them so much and I ended up eating most of them - they were fantastic! A large fraction of the recipes are accompanied by mouth-watering pictures. Lebovitz includes some guidelines at the end for caramelisation as well. You don't have to be an expert to use this book, but you probably do have to have some experience and some tools (candy thermometre, hand-held mixer) for a few of the recipes. The ice creams and sorbets require an ice cream maker. I am extremely pleased with this cookbook and intend to eat my way through all of it. Excellent gift too, but make sure to get one for yourself!
The Gooiest Book in My Kitchen.......2003-06-11
I received this book as a holiday gift, and it is now caked in flour and dried-up goo because I use it so often. I've made about half the recipes and the only thing I struggled with was the caramel (but then, I have a [bad] pan). Everything else was perfect, perfect, perfect. I also like that I can usually easily find the necessary ingredients and equipment. Some cookbooks require fancy pans or hunting at farmer's markets for obscure ingredients...sorry, but I far prefer to be able to make a beautiful, scrumptious dessert on a whim. Thanks David!!!
Book Description
A warm slice of apple pie with a scoop of cold vanilla ice cream. A not-too-tart sour cherry pie with a soft, flaky, almond-scented crust. A towering lemon meringue pie with a tart lemony filling and a cloudlike meringue topping. Whether it's a buttery pastry or graham cracker crust, a fruit or chocolate cream filling, or a lattice crust or cinnamon streusel topping, who doesn't love a wedge of freshly baked pie?
But when it comes to making pies, most people hide in the kitchen corner. Not any-more. Not with expert piemaker and cooking teacher Susan G. Purdy by your side. From traditional classics like Old-Fashioned Apple Pie, Mississippi Mud Pie, and Key Lime Pie to inspired favorites like Rum-Pumpkin Chiffon Pie, Italian Ricotta Cheese Pie, and Grass-hopper Pie, The Perfect Pie features simple recipes for dazzling pies, tortes, tarts, and crisps. Flawless crusts and an enormous selection of fillings are as easy as pie. With step-by-step illustrations, clever shortcuts, and troubleshooting tips, Susan is with you every step of the way. The Perfect Pie guarantees that your pies will be perfect every time.
Customer Reviews:
Pies, Tarts, Pastries, Dumplings, Apple Crisp, and More.......2004-05-23
Each section provides a detailed tutorial followed by a variety of recipes. There are a wide number of crusts and fillings available to suit any need or occasion.
Lots of good info.......2002-08-23
I had never made a pie before reading this book, but I was interested, so I picked up a copy. It has a lot of good recipes and advice for the price, and the sections in the beginning about the different ingredients and their roles in pie fillings and crusts were very helpful. I don't like just following the steps in a recipe. I really like to know what's going on in the bowl/pan, and her details really helped me get a feel for how the process of making a pie should work.
Major disappointment........2002-04-04
Sometimes it only takes one bad recipe to ruin a cookbook for me, and that's what happened with this one. Susan Purdy's apricot-walnut pie turned out to be a soggy, way oversweet mess, and I didn't use half the sugar she called for. I've been making pies a long time, and I had questions about this recipe from the get-go. Her crust recipes are good, however, although it's annoying that she never tells you, when adding an ingredient like wheat germ to a crust, whether said ingredient replaces part of the dry ingredients called for, or is added to them. Seems like a major oversight in a book that promises to clearly communicate pie recipes.
ALL YOU'LL EVER NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PIES.......2000-07-02
IF IT HAS A CRUST AND YOU CALL IT DESSERT, SUSAN G. PURDY PRESENTS IT TO YOU IN THIS COOK BOOK. SHE DISPLAYS HER ENCYCLOPEDIC KNOWLEDGE ABOUT PIES IN LOGICAL PIE-MAKING ORDER AND USES A FRIENDLY CONVERSATIONAL TONE THROUGHOUT THE BOOK. FROM CRUSTS TO GLAZES TO GREEN TOMATOE OR LEMON MERINGUE PIE, YOU WANT MAKE IT!
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- Equilibrium and Efficiency in Production Economies
The Greyston Bakery Cookbook: More Than 80 Recipes to Inspire the Way You Cook and Live
The Art of the Dessert
Essence of Chocolate: Recipes for Baking and Cooking with Fine Chocolate
Chocolates and Confections: Formula, Theory, and Technique for the Artisan Confectioner
