5 comments about Modern Classics Book 2: Cookies, Biscuits & Slices, Small Cakes, Cakes, Desserts, Hot Puddings, Pies & Tarts (Morrow Cookbooks).

1. 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.



2. 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.



3. 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:)



4. 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.



5. 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.

5 comments about The Art of Chocolate: Techniques and Recipes for Simply Spectacular Desserts and Confec tions.

1. The explanations are clear and the ideas are great, but there are few photos that show the step-by-step of the confections. It is a pity!



2. A good guide for home cooks with the time and interest to play with chocolate artistically. Great overview of equipment and terminology. Inspiring photos. Thanks Elaine!



3. The book is OK, the recipes seem to be good (I haven't tried any yet), but there's a lack of photographs...
   
   I think they are very important in cook books!!



4. A lovely looking book and very easy to read. It contains some very helpful tips for dealing with chocolate and some lovely recipes.



5. This book has a few simple recipes that are worth making for your family and friends. Some are a little more complex but it has great source of facts.

5 comments about No-Fuss Diabetes Recipes for 1 or 2: 125 Healthy & Delicious Meals and Desserts.

1. Two of my best friends are diabetics! We often eat our meals together and I was having a tough time trying to find a good recipe that I could use and yet have the food taste good! I love this book....it is so easy to use. Anyone that does not want to fuss....should buy this book! I think it is wonderful!



2. I am so pleased to have found this book. Type II runs in our family, and I'm trying to prevent it, by being careful about carbs, and balancing them with protein. All the balancing work is done for you. Great to find a cookbook with easy recipes that taste good, and you won't have to eat it all week! It was just what I had been looking for. I've only had it a few days, and have already tried several recipes. And these easy recipes make you realize how easy it could be to create your own variations. As a singleton, I'm glad things serve one or two, and it gives me a better idea of what a right-sized portion should be.



3. There seems to be two camps developing in the type 2
   comunity, those who follow the traditional ADA high-carb
   and low-fat way-of-life and those who follow the
   low-carb, higher protein/fat way. This book is in the
   high-carb group. Since I'm keeping my BG's 2hrs post
   meal near the pre-meal targets (<120), the meals here
   did not help me. Your milage may vary.



4. Finally, quick recipes! Some of the recipes you get in other books have way too much prep time or are too complicated to make. I think this is the best resource for someone with diabetes who has to watch sugar/carb intake. I hope more versions of this book comes out.



5. I eat a lot of from scratch food, usually on a vegetarian tilt. I bought this book for myself and my recently diagnosed daughter. To be honest, most of the recipes aren't something I see myself eating. It isn't what I eat, (salads, lean meats) but the quantities that I eat that cause me problems.
   
   For someone who has little idea of how or what to cook, this would be helpful. For someone who has cooked healthy for years, it is redundant and ugly.

2 comments about Soda Fountain Classics: Ice Cream, Sundaes, Milkshakes, and More.

1. Shows how to make almost any kind of old fashioned soda fountain treat. Pictures in color. Easy to follow instructions. Treat your grandchildren to favorites enjoyed during your childhood. Who cares about the calories. Enjoy happy memories making these treats.



2. I really like this book. Its full of photo's and the recipes are easy to follow. A great treat.

5 comments about Classic Stars Desserts: Favorite Recipes by Emily Luchetti.

1. I have been a fan of Emily Luchetti for years. Her recipes work. The plates are approachable. No crazy architectural do-dads that invariably break or take a high degree of skill to make. Just beautifully and tastefully prepared desserts and cakes that say wow. The book has great photographs as wells.



2. This book includes many eye-catching, and great tasting desert. It also offers recipes or substitute recipes such as Double cream which cannot be found in the US.



3. When I got this book I was very excited. After looking thru it and trying a few of the recipes I can honestly say I was disappointed. The desserts were nothing special. The quality of the book as well as the photographs could've been better for the price. Just very disappointed.



4. Pastry chef Emily Luchetti provides a fine collection of over a hundred of her own creations from her best-selling Stars Desserts and Four-Star Desserts, making this a fine 'best of' collection for any cookbook collection and for newcomers in particular. From a traditional Apple Pandowdy to Cranberry Linzertorte and Drunken Chocolate Cake, these are favorites packed with flavor and innovation, with a peppering of color photos throughout adding interest. Public libraries strong in culinary guides will find this appealing.
   
   Diane C. Donovan
   California Bookwatch



5. I have tried a few recipes from this cookbook and other Luchetti cookbooks and I have to question how this baker continues to get published. I will write another review for one of her other cookbooks later. Today, I set out to make the Pear Ginger muffins which is the third recipe I've tried from this beautiful cookbook. They were bland and dry. As a baker I will find my inspiration elsewhere. Three strikes and you're out!

5 comments about The All-American Dessert Book.

1. I no longer need to beg my neighbor for her secret dessert recipe. Nancy Baggett has done the work for me in this delightful dessert book. Her recipes are researched, tested and perfected. The book is a treasure of marvelous and unique American desserts for everything from pies, tarts, and cheesecakes to trifles, cookies and candies. Instructions are comprehensive and easy for me to follow. A bonus: For the curious, each recipe is annotated with interesting or amusing background facts. Delicious!



2. I've been reading the All American Dessert Book to my husband. He's fascinated by the history behind some recipes, both the ingredients, people and places. Some people read poetry to each other, some read cookbooks - it's fun.



3. `The All-American Dessert Book' by the accomplished baking writer, Nancy Baggett is the fifth `American' dessert book I have reviewed in the last two years, not even counting her own, earlier `All American Cookie Book'. This seems to be an incredibly rich topic, as I see practically no `All American' books on other branches of cookery, except for the great `James Beard's American Cookery'.
   
   The other `American Desserts' books are by Wayne Harley Brachman, Judith Fertig, Karen Barker, and Laura Brody (emphasis on chocolate). The great thing about this subject is that these books are uniformly superior cookbooks, but I will give two big nods to Ms. Baggett over the other books.
   
   First, Ms. Baggett's two `All American' baking books form a larger body of recipes than any of the other four alone. While Nancy's second book does have a chapter on cookies and bars, there is no overlap of recipes with her earlier book, so the two are highly complementary, although the newer book does have a few which border topics in the cookie book, such as a new ginger cookie recipe.
   
   Second, Ms. Baggett makes a point of giving us very detailed recipe instructions. The observation that very few of us got training at our mother's knee anymore is becoming more and more common in cookbooks, so many cookbooks, like Ms. Baggett, are giving us more detailed instructions. While I am very fond of Wayne Harley Brachman's book, especially for his many recipes for basic pastry doughs, I thing I would go to Ms. Baggett for her recipe for certain standards, if the two cover the same preparation.
   
   The first thing I always go to in a baking book is the author's recipe for pie pastry. It is amazing to see the variety of additives one can find in this seemingly simple preparation. While many highly respected bakers will add vinegar or egg to the water in making the pastry, Ms. Baggett adds baking soda. Otherwise, her technique is the same you will see over and over again, with the new suggestion of using supermarket produce bags to sandwich the dough as you work it, due to their strength and food grade material.
   
   Like Brachman's book, Baggett covers desserts which lie outside the world of baking such as puddings; custards; ice creams; sauces and sundaes; and candies and confections. The last subject is strong on fudges, taffies, caramels, and marshmallow.
   
   Like all these books, this one is not by any stretch of the imagination a COMPLETE compendium of American desserts. I suspect that you could take all five books together and find a truly American sweet that is missing. I looked for my two favorite Pennsylvania Dutch sweets here, Apple Dumplings and Shoofly pie and found the former only as a variation to a peach dumpling recipe and found nothing on shoofly pie or molasses cake or anything else familiar to our Amish and Mennonite friends.
   
   I am especially fond of the way Miss Nancy writes her recipes and whenever I need a cookie recipe, I always go to her book first, even before I go to bakery superstar, Nick Malgieri. And, I see the same attention to details in this volume. I am especially happy with her lecture on using the right sized pans and the techniques for assuring ourselves that our pans are comparable to what is called for in the recipe.
   
   Very highly recommended book on American desserts of all kinds.



4. Now this is the good stuff. I love Italian cooking and have yet to pass up anything French but, for me, it all comes down to dessert. This is a truly excellent dessert book. As well as the stock and standard dessert items we all love there is a multitude of specialty recipes from across the nation. Included are recipes for pies, cakes, tarts, and even puddings and custards. My favorite is Maple syrup on snow.
   
   Since many of us aren't very versed with dessert cooking Baggett spends time with each recipe going over any special technique needed. I found that I learned quite a bit just trying new recipes. I also enjoyed the historical asides that highlight many of the recipes.
   
   This is really an excellent cookbook that deserves to be on every shelf.



5. Sure, the pictures are beautiful and the recipes sound delicious, but the true mark of a cookbook is how the final products taste.
   
   Having made many of these recipes- some several times- I can vouch for the quality of the food. Chocolate chip cookies, blueberry buckle, apple pie. Simply put, everything I have made has been wonderful!
   
   I wholeheartedly recommend this book for anyone who wants to delight a crowd. But you'd better double the recipe.

5 comments about Frozen Desserts: The definitive guide to making ice creams, ices, sorbets, gelati, and other frozen delights.

1. If I had the option, I would give this book only a 1/2 star. I agree wholeheartedly with other reviewers: this book is written, organized and intended for a British/European audience. This would be fine, except that it was never made clear in the descriptions of the book. There are many recipes that are interesting, but as a chef, I can look at them and know that they will not work. Ingredients for many of the recipes are obscure, to say the least, probably only available outside the US. It's a curious and quaint book, but of absolutely no use to me personally or professionally. I WISH I'D READ ALL OF THE CUSTOMER REVIEWS AND READ THEM CAREFULLY, but mostly, I wish I'd bought the Williams-Sonoma book.



2. Not everybody likes really fine gourmet icecream, but if you do this book is perfect. I've eaten gelato all over the world, and the pistachio recipe from this book, while complicated, is among the best I've eaten - as good as anything I had in Florence, the home of gelato. If you're looking for easy, no fuss - this is not for you. It is written for the UK audience and takes no shortcuts - there are plenty of other ice cream books if you want easy.



3. If the presentation of the book were somehow "thicker and glossier," I would like it better. I dislike many of the figures in the book, particularly those portraying old advertisements. Those tastes aside, I think many of the reviews on Amazon give the book too little credit. This book is researched in meticulous detail, from the history of ice cream through the details of production of all the recipes. The guide to ingredients is helpful in ways I have not found elsewhere. It is clear that the authors have themselves produced every recipe in the book, and they've left clear enough instructions that I can, too. (I'm not a very good cook.)
   
   It is true that several recipes include ingredients that would be hard to find in rural America. Some reviewers think that is a negative. Actually, it isn't negative. There are plenty of recipes you can make with ingredients you can get easily. As a bonus, if you ever do get your hands on exotic ingredients, you'll already know what to do with them. Proper guidance is included for European and North American measures.
   
   In a world that has too many half-researched cook books, I think it is important to give proper credit to authors who take the trouble to craft their book with great care. These authors have.



4. The reason I bought this book was because of a section at the end of the book: The Chemistry of Ices. It gives the proper ratio of ingredients to successfully create your own recipes. Using these measurement, I have been able to invent my own ice creams (with spectacular results, I might add).
   
   It upsets me that this book has gotten such bad reviews, because every recipe I have tried from it has been absolutely delicious. While some of the ingredients may be difficult to find in the U.S., the book has over 200 recipes so there's plenty of recipes with easily accessible ingredients to choose from. The espresso ice cream and the ultimate chocolate ice cream were like samples of heaven in my mouth.
   
   It's an amazing book, and everyone who has sampled the results of these recipes has raved about them, so PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE if you're considering buying this book disregard those (rather close-minded) negative reviews and buy it. You won't be disappointed.



5. If anything, this book provides too much information and the recipes are a little complicated (probably due to the columns of numbers making it international). The layout also wasn't thought out as well as it should have been... example, my favorite recipe for ginger ice cream references the sugar syrup recipe on another page which then references a chart to get the amount of sugar syrup you need on yet another page (if you don't want to do the math yourself). The book requires patience and isn't for the recreational ice cream maker who wants a recipe for strawberry ice cream.
   
   However, that said the recipes are fabulous and truly gourmet. I get rave reviews whenever I make the ginger ice cream and it is my most requested recipe I make. There are so many recipes and techniques to try, I will never want for another frozen desserts cookbook. This is the definitive guide for those cooks with patience and devotion to technique.

5 comments about Pure Chocolate: Divine Desserts and Sweets from the Creator of Fran's Chocolates.

1. The recipes in this book are very clearly written and easy to follow, with stunningly delicious results. She has helpful hints, such as the one prefacing her recipe for chocolate madeleines: "the molds must be filled exactly so that all the little cookies are ready to come out of the oven at the exact same time." Try the Princess Pudding recipe and you'll never want to buy instant pudding again. I also love the fact that she goes over how to handle chocolate, how to buy the right kind for dessert making, even how to remove chocolate stains from clothing. I don't usually make dessert unless it's from some prepackaged box, so finding a chocolate dessert cookbook that took some of the mystery out of making tarts, puddings, cookies, even ice cream, has been a really fun learning experience.



2. Fran's passion for chocolate definitely shows throughout the book. I have made three of the recipes (so far) and all have been big successes. The chocolate cake torte was divine as were the truffles and base for hot chocolate (or just spoon eating out of the bowl in my case). The book is very precise and the recipes appear to be well tested for the home cook. I even tempered chocolate for the first time with success following her directions clearly detailed in the book. The only fault I can find is that not every recipe has a picture which would be inspiring and helpful, though many of the recipes do have pictures. It is a beautiful book and should be on every chocolate lover's cookbook rack or living room table. I find myself returning to her book for fail safe recipes even over the Chocolate Bible and The Art of Chocolate.



3. Wow, wow, and wow!!!! I don't even know where to start with this incredible encyclopedia of chocolate!!! But as I am rarely without words regarding chocolate, let me begin!!
   
   Fran bigelow knows her stuff........there are no two ways about it. She did not become a powerhouse by accident. She has worked hard for all the success that has come her way, and she has passed her love for this venue of gastronomic pleasure on to you, if you choose to take it.
   
   Without getting too chemistry-like in her teaching, she tells you all about chocolate and how it wants to be handled. You can try to do it on yor own, but face it, chocolate can be very tempermental, and if you don't know the subtle complexities of its makeup, you will loose time and money. She will guide you if you just take the time to learn from one of the Masters.
   
   The book contents are:
   
   Introduction
   Everything you need to know about chocolate
   Amazing cookies and brownies
   Tortes, with and without flour (for celiacs & gluten-sensitive)
   Elegant tarts
   Celebration cakes and holiday specialties
   Sumptuous cheesecakes, puddings, and custards
   Chilled spectaculars
   Silken dessert sauces
   Five beverages and a snack
   Truffles and other fine chocolates
   Building blocks
   Sources
   Index
   
   Just for the sake of an example of what anyone can do, I tried the cake on page 107 called "La Reverie". Holy cow!! You would of thought that I had studied at the Cordon Bleu; it was fabulous and soooo not hard to make. Plus you will make so many new friends that you never knew you had.
   
   She's the best and that's because she is a great teacher and the recipes don't require a degree in chemistry, architecure, or design. Go ahead and try it..........



4. i really love this book. everytime i am in need of inspiration, i turn to this book. all the recipes in this book come out fantastic.
   my culinary instructor, Kim Smith, was the one who made each item to be photographed.. shes mentioned in the first couple pages!
   i love fran, shes my hero. ive only met her once, but i've been to her shops lots of times. best chocolate in seattle.
   
   buy this book! its awesome!
   and visit franschocolates.com



5. By the time that I bought the ingredients for one of the recipes I had spent more money than if I had gone to her shop and bought the dessert. Beautiful book with enjoyable details from Fran like her inspirations. Makes a lovely coffee table book.

5 comments about Mollie Katzen's Vegetable Heaven: Over 200 Recipes for Uncommon Soups, Tasty Bites, Side Dishes, and Too Many Desserts.

1. I love Mollie Katzen's earliest cookbooks - Moosewood and Enchanted Broccoli Forest. Dishes I make from those are relatively easy and very tasty. I have tried a lot of recipes in this cookbook and I have been very disappointed. They just...don't taste as good. I have served some dishes from this cookbook which have remained uneaten on the table. On the other hand, when I use the other two, people usually enjoy the food, and ask me for the recipes. I have learned my lesson, and I don't use it anymore. If you actually want to buy a cookbook which is a useful source of recipes, I do not recommend this one.



2. This book is a delight, introducing new and exciting ingredients e.g. Quinoa and unusual vege's to my cooking. Mollie has changed her cooking format (I think it comes with age) since the days of "Enchanted Broccoli Forest" and "Moosewood Cook Book", she displays more of a purest cooking form today. It is certainly packed with receipes to test any vegetable's limited, and as always the flavours are exciting and suprising to the pallet. Mollie has made me receive many compliments from friends and family over the years using her receipes and I will continue to do so.



3. In this book's introduction, Mollie Katzen explains how she has evolved as a chef to cook and eat lighter, vegetable based meals. As a huge fan of the original moosewood cookbook, I have likewise evolved in my eating and cooking habits and find Vegetable Heaven to be a delightful and essential compliment to her previous books. As always, the majority of recipes I have tried from this book are delicious - my favorite being the lentils with carmelized onions! The book also includes time tables for cooking and preparation time which are very useful in recipe selection. Many of the recipes are easy and quick to prepare, and have few ingredients. Katzen continues to deliver the best vegetarian recipes around. Vegans will find this book more useful than other, more dairy heavy books of Katzen's (although only roughly four dessert recipes are vegan).



4. Mollie Katzen's Vegetable Heaven has many interesting recipes but the recipe I like best is the Mexican Chocolate Cake with Mocha Buttercream. I used Ghiradelli chocolate chips for the chocolate and used Saigon cinnamon.
   
   The recipe didn't say whether the butter was salted or unsalted so I took my chances and used unsalted butter for the cake and the buttercream. To make the buttercream even more delicious brew the coffee three times to get a rich deep flavor. I used ¼ cup ground coffee with ½ cup water. In this way you get a much more intense coffee flavor that blends well with the cocoa powder.
   
   In this book you will also find delicious recipes for appetizers, salads, beans, grains, pasta, condiments and sauces. Some of the recipes that look especially interesting include:
   
   Watermelon Sparkler
   Lentil Soup
   Mushroom-Barley Risotto
   Pizzettas
   Summer Fruit Salsa
   Cherry Upside-Down Gingerbread
   
   To be honest, making the chocolate cake trashed my entire kitchen. However I was so happy to have found such a delicious recipe I didn't mind the clean-up. The cake also freezes well.
   
   ~The Rebecca Review



5. Can't wait to try all of the recipes in here.
   I'm a meat-cutter's daughter with very little natural inclination with vegetables other than good ol' broccoli and brussel sprouts. I'm looking forward to really making vegetables the center focus, with Mollie (my grandmother's and daughter's name) the teacher!

5 comments about Sweet and Natural: More Than 120 Sugar-Free and Dairy-Free Desserts.

1. I love this cookbook. It has great information on all types of sweeteners and goes through many different types of oils and flours too. The main ingredients she uses in this book for sweeteners are brown rice syrup, barley malt syrup and some have maple syrup. It is pretty easy to find the ingredients and the directions are easy to follow although I am a fairly experienced baker so I do "add lib" when I cook and find that the end result has been great. I made the lemon cake with the sauce but minus the lemon tofu cream because I have a slight allergy to soy. Tofu is definately a required taste and she uses very little in this book and it can easily be omitted.
   She does use carob in some recipes so if you do not like carob you can just use cocoa powder or non dairy tropical source chocolate chips. There are quite a few color photos too.
   I look forward to making more recipes from this book and the book is worth buying just for the eye opening info she provides on chemicals and how some of our ingredients are processed. It really motivates you to try to find a more natural alternative.



2. If you are cutting back on sugar and missing dessert this book is an excellent introduction. With easy to follow receipes that even beginners can cook. And even the more advanced can use this as a jumping off point.



3. Meredith McCarty has succeeded in providing us with a guide to healthy dessert making while being very conscientious of a totally vegan lifestyle. Everything we've tasted from the recipes in this book have been delicious and straighforward to make. The book's also packed full of explanations of how certain ingredients won't work, gives suggestions on ones that will and offers gorgeous pictures of the finished product.
   
   I highly recommend this to all vegans looking for desserts to serve family and friends alike!



4. Pretty good book if you need to eliminate foods with sugar and dairy. It has pretty good recipes that even kids will like.



5. If you are looking for a wonderful natural cookbook with yummy recipes...congrats...you found it. I have been using this book over and over. Even my co workers love most of the things I bake. I love to bake and I have MANY cookbooks...some natural, some regular...but this one is the best. I love the use of something other than white flour, sugars, and dairy. As I have said...It is YUMMAROO!