Random House Chez Panisse Desserts: A Cookbook

Replacing a lost copy, this is a must for anyone interested in baking.

Everything you'd expect from the kitchen at Chez Panisse - simple, accessible, elegant and most importantly, tasty recipes on every page. A real bed time read!

With the taste of the wild plum sherbet (p. 174) still on my palate, I have to tell you that this is the only book you'll ever need to make the most spectacular sherbets and ice creams you've ever had. Lindsey Shere organizes her book around types of fruit, and the comparative analyses are alone worth the price. You quickly learn how apples, pears and quinces differ from berries and how they both differ from summer fruits such as nectarines and plums. This book has a lot of classic tart, cobbler and related recipes. I don't bake and use this book solely for fruit sherbets and ice creams! I can attest to the results of several fruit cobblers that my wife made from this book (she's used it for years), but I can't vouch for the recipes firsthand.For the past two years, I've been following Shere's inspiring book religously in making sherbets and ice creams from whatever's fresh at the Union Square Greenmarket on a given Saturday. I've made wild plum sherbet, nectarine sherbet, apricot sherbet, apricot ice cream, peach ice cream, blueberry ice cream, raspberry sherbet, strawberry sherbet, strawberry ice cream and even coconut (though those weren't grown locally). Each one has been great, and I'm only using a fifty dollar Krups ice cream maker. The differing recipes and strong attention to technique provide a clinic on balancing acidity through lemon peel, sweetness through sugar, and texture through blending and straining.

Definitely not a cookbook for the average Banker and that's exactly why I got it. The marriage a different flavors with different ingredients Works quite well for a basis for other recipes that you may want to make yourself or improvise. Some of the ingredients are listed may be hard to find the area but that does not mean that you can't use other choices for flavors. Kirsch and coffee are quite common ingredients in a lot of the recipes but that does not mean you have to use those I find personally that Grand Marnier was quite well chocolate and almonds. Here is a great example, there's a recipe for cognac caramel sauce which is quite good on cheesecake and not to mention a cake as well , if you switch out the Cognac and use Grand Marnier you get a flavor that is more intense than just cognac. With can be paired with cashews and chocolate tart. My variation of the very rich chocolate cake recipe in the book. I'm very happy with this cookbook.

Great book full of amazing desserts