Alice Medrich's Cookies and Brownies [Hardcover]

Alice Medrich (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1999

Now, both serious "foodies" and fair-weather cooks alike can savor the considerable talents of the woman whose name has become synonymous with dessert -- rich, elegant, chocolate dessert! Alice Medrich's mouthwatering recipes for everything from chocolate decadence cookies to espresso swirl brownies to snicker doodles will appeal to all readers in search of the sweet hereafter. Scrumptious, addictive, and delightful, Medrich's cookies and brownies are rivaled only by the simplicity of her recipes.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In Alice Medrich's Cookies and Brownies, the goal is perfect results. For Medrich, a playful perfectionist who writes with wit, perfection includes big flavors, "noisy textures" that crunch and crackle, and lots of chocolate. Achieving it requires paying attention to details, such as using unsifted, bleached, all-purpose flour, measured so a cup weighs close to five ounces. Other meticulously detailed advice helps you make evenly baked cookies that are tender and rich, not dry or tough.

There are about 50 recipes in this book. Each is a gem, from the most buttery shortbread (using melted butter is a key) to the most sophisticated, barely sweet chocolate-chunk cookie, truly tangy lemon wafers, and incredibly easy Almond Macaroons. For killer brownies, Medrich offers a new technique she calls the Steve Ritual. Guaranteed to make the outside crustier and the inside creamier, it involves a pan of ice water. Beyond cookie recipes, Medrich includes a doubly peanutty filling for sandwich cookies and a careful guide to chocolate-dipping your favorite cookies and biscotti.

Luscious color photos and enchanting line drawings illustrate this articulate, one-of-a-kind cookie book. --Dana Jacobi

From Library Journal

Almost an embarrassment of riches for dessert lovers, here are new books from four talented bakers. Gand and her husband, Rick Tramonto, are the pastry chef and chef, respectively, of their two popular Chicago restaurants, Brasserie T and Tru. Their first book, American Brasserie, included some of Gand's delicious desserts, and now they offer a generous collection of almost 175 recipes, from Millionaire's Shortbread to Sweet-Hot White Pepper Ice Cream. The writing style is slightly precious (e.g., "Butter is a true aristocratAand a modest one"), but the recipe instructions are clear and the headnotes informative. For all baking collections. Medrich, the well-known author of Cocolat and Chocolate and the Art of Low-Fat Desserts, now presents 50 delicious recipes for favorite cookies and brownies, many of them shown in mouth-watering full-page color photographs. There's a good introduction, and each chapter opens with "Here's What I Learned," a brief but informative collection of clever tips. Many of the recipes are classics, and all of them seem irresistible. An essential purchase. Purdy's A Piece of Cake and As Easy as Pie have become classics, and her two recent low-fat cookbooks, including Let Them Eat Cake, have been very popular. Her new book features recipes for all sorts of homey desserts and other baked goods, from Old-Fashioned Chocolate Pudding to Blue Ribbon Cherry Pie to Sour Cream Spice Cake. The recipe instructions are detailed and thorough, and there are many thoughtful technique tips and other useful hints, as well as variations. For all baking collections. Wilson is a baker and food writer, and her specialty is wedding cakes, the topic of her first cookbook (The Wedding Cake Book). Unlike her extravagant wedding cakes, a number of the desserts in her new book are fairly simple, although many of them feature a "Bake It to the Limit" version, an optional final step for a more elaborate presentation or variation. (The cake recipes, perhaps not surprisingly, are far more complicated than the other desserts.) With recipes for sweets like Chocolate Peanut Butter Tart and Sour Cherry Bars, this is recommended for most baking collections.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Warner Books; 1ST edition (October 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446523828
• ISBN-13: 978-0446523820
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 7.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #347,094 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars These I will make!, November 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Alice Medrich's Cookies and Brownies (Hardcover)

I bought this book, and when I got it I have to admit that I was suprised at the small size and number of recipes(about 50). I was glad that I had bought the book at a discount because I do not think that I would have paid full price for the book. Then I went through the book and I was extremely pleased at the attention to detail and the ways she came up with to make traditional favorites even better. This is not a cookie encyclopedia with a million recipes for mediocre lumps of baked dough, but a selection of favorites that are absolutely delicious. I can imagine making EVERY recipe in this book, and that I cannot say about any cookbook I own but this one. The book itself has pictures of almost every cookie and it is printed on high quality paper, so this book will not fall apart in a few years.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Got Milk?, May 16, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Alice Medrich's Cookies and Brownies (Hardcover)

The other book I have by Medrich, Chocolate and the Art of Low Fat Desserts, made me want to award her the Nobel Prize, so I had great expectations for this book. I was surprised at how small it was and wondered at the price. Then I made the Snickerdoodles. I have been in search of the perfect Snickerdoodle recipe, and my quest has come to an end. They were ethereal; melt in your-mouth, almost light texture, yet delectably buttery. I hate to confess that in one evening, I ate all of the ones from the first sheet out of the oven. I am almost afraid to try another recipe, but at the same time I can hardly wait!

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing!, December 3, 2000

By 

Jean Brown (Falls of Rough, KY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Alice Medrich's Cookies and Brownies (Hardcover)

I've been cooking for many years, during the time I was raising my sons I must have baked thousands of chocolate chip cookies, very good chocolate chip cookies I thought. Until now, I just made some using the recipe and technique from Alice Medrich's Cookies and Brownies, what wonderful cookies they are, soft and chewy in the middle with crip brown edges, the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever tasted. If the other recipes are this good then the book is a miracle...this one recipe though makes the book priceless. If you love to bake then treat yourself to Alice Medrich's Cookies and Brownies.