Desserts That Have Killed Better Men Than Me

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Summary: So -- *Is* fruit a dessert. . . ?
Review: Chocolate-Dipped Ranger Cookies? Three-Lemon Cheesecake? Yikes! Rather than, as he says, produce a book with 1,000 recipes, of which only a couple of hundred are slightly better than average, Jackson, author of _The Cornbread Book,_ decided to limit himself to 60-odd lethel desserts, all of which are fantastic. Some of these are original (like Black Walnut and Dried Blueberry Tart, which is new to me, anyway, and which is now on my to-do list), some are variations on old standbys (like banana smoothies, or clafouti with raspberries instead of cherries), but all of them are at least interesting. The style is light and chatty but always informational, and there are some serious droolers in this little volume -- but I wish there were pictures.

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Summary: Your wife will love you for these treats...
Review: I saw an article in our local Iowa newspaper which featured this book and a couple of the recipes. The title piqued my curiosity, so I bought it. To date, I have made four of the desserts contained therein. None are particularly difficult or time consuming. The instructions are written in novel-like prose and are easy to follow. The flavors in the finished products range from brain-melting (Chocolate Sinkholes) to delightfully sublime (Earl Grey Applesauce). Amaze your family and friends, or create the perfect conclusion to a romantic meal with your spouse at home while the kids are away at Grandma's for the weekend.

Rating:
Summary: Your wife will love you for these treats...
Review: I saw an article in our local Iowa newspaper which featured this book and a couple of the recipes. The title piqued my curiosity, so I bought it. To date, I have made four of the desserts contained therein. None are particularly difficult or time consuming. The instructions are written in novel-like prose and are easy to follow. The flavors in the finished products range from brain-melting (Chocolate Sinkholes) to delightfully sublime (Earl Grey Applesauce). Amaze your family and friends, or create the perfect conclusion to a romantic meal with your spouse at home while the kids are away at Grandma's for the weekend.

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Summary: Great Little Book of Largely Original, Easy Desserts
Review: This little book by Jeremy Jackson is not quite perfect, but it's close.

Jackson is a rare male culinary writer specializing on desserts who, unlike David Libovitz or Wayne Harley Brachman, is not a professional pastry chef. Not only does he simply write about dessert recipes, but he claims to write, in this book at least, exclusively about original recipes.

The story of how this book came about makes perfect sense to anyone whose mind has wandered. When Jeremy was testing and tasting an interminable queue of cornbread recipes for his first cookbook, he was daydreaming of potential book titles. This one lit him up like the famous lightbulb over the head. The task was then to come up with recipes that deserved the title.

By the author's count, the book contains sixty recipes. His objective is to avoid the situation he encounters with other cookbooks where a quarter of the recipes are good, a quarter of the recipes are so so, and half the recipes are filler. The challenge with these books is to find the recipes in the quarter of good recipes. While I suspect Jackson's estimate of average recipe quality may be just a bit more dismal than what we encounter among respectable authors, I think he has a point. The question about this book, then, is 'Has Jeremy Jackson succeeded in publishing sixty original, better than average desserts?' As I suggest in my opening sentence, I believe the answer is 'almost'.

On the easier question of originality, the very simple answer is that not all recipes are original, by the author's on admission. The very first recipe in the last chapter of nine 'Basic Recipes' is attributed to the very good book by David Libovitz, 'Room for Dessert'. I suspect that there is also not a lot of originality in the remaining eight basic recipes or their variations. People have been making pate sucree, pate brisee, and ganache for centuries. I doubt the author has anything startling to tell us about these. Several dessert recipes also have the look of being only small variations on well-known classics. The first traditional title which catches my eye is the Apple Galette.

In spite of the appearance of a few standards, I do believe that the majority of the recipes in the book deserve the label of 'original'. I say this with the understanding that I have not read every dessert book ever written, so some of these recipes may be variations on recipes as old as Monsieur Careme himself. I will only say that the recipes which strike me as original seem, at the very least, to not be the product of the imaginary computer program the author concocts to visualize how many recipes in large cookbooks may be created.

The very first recipe in the first chapter on fruits immediately catches my attention as a very clever adaptation of the savory cooking en papillote to the construction of a delightfully surprising dish. The very next recipe gives us an Earl Grey applesauce recipe which I suspect never crossed the minds of the Pennsylvania Dutch who spent so much time perfecting apple dishes. In general, all but the last recipe for a banana smoothie in the chapter on fruit desserts has the strong smell of originality about it. The next chapter on custard based desserts show somewhat less pure originality and somewhat more variation on classics. The three lemon cheesecake seems like an especially delicious addition to the canon of cheesecake recipes. The chapter on pies and tarts opens with a delightful maple custard tart. In fact, the opening recipe in each chapter seems to be an advertisment for the author's originality.

I give the author extra credit for not dwelling on the details or explanations of what makes good pastry. Many very competant writers on pastry, most notably Sherry Yard in her new book 'The Secrets of Baking' have covered this ground quite well already. The author does give just enough attention to being careful with your ingredients to insure that no one will shoot themselves in the foot by using an inappropriate substitution when making these dishes. I am a little surprised that he believes there is a big enough difference between Gold Medal all purpose flour and King Arthur all purpose flour to make a difference in these recipes. I know there is a difference, but I'm surprised that a 2-3% difference in protein will make that big a difference. But, he's the baker and I am not, so take his word for it.

One result of this light touch around the details of pastry practice and science is that this book may not want to be your very first experience with touchier techniques like cheesecake, caramel, and melted chocolate. I was surprised at the atypical techniques used in the cheesecake recipe where the recipe starts out with a very hot oven without the benefit of a water bath. I was especially surprised at the prediction of cracks in the cheesecake, until I saw that the cake was to be covered with a glaze which would heal all wounds.

As far as the overall quality of these recipes, I believe that most are very, very good. I did find some which may simply not be the very best use of it's ingredients. The rhubarb cobbler, for example does not come close to the delightful things Wayne Harley Brachman has done with rhubarb in a pie in his book 'American Desserts. I don't even thing the recipe is a true cobbler.

The single most delightful aspect of this book is the fact that so many of the recipes are short and relatively simple, as long as you are the master of pastry dough and simple chocolate handling. The high quality of the recipes coupled with the very low list price make this book a sure thing.

Very Highly recommended, with many simple, easy delicious recipes. Almost all recipes live up to the title.