Customer Reviews

The All-American Dessert Book

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

`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.

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.

The recipes are varied and beautifully photographed. The instructions are clear and the writing is fun. So far I have made the caramels and the chocolate chip cookies. Next on my to-do list are the homemade marshmallows, the ice creams and the kettle corn. There are also lovely pies and cakes. This is a very thorough book and would make a great wedding or holiday gift.

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.

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!

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.

I agree with all the other reviewers: this cookbook is thorough, comprehensive, even fascinating as it goes over and beyond a usual recipe book by providing a bit of history and cultural background, which is great.
However, I cannot understand authors and publishers who offer cookbooks without a picture for each recipe. This is how readers know what to expect: how it should look like in the end, whether they are likely to try preparing and enjoy it. This book has one picture for every 3 to 4 recipes, which is not enough for me. This is why I knocked off one star. And if you are going to be stingy about pictures because they are expensive, may I suggest cramming two or three products in each picture?

I'm not what you call an "avid baker/cook," but I thoroughly enjoyed and 'understood' this cookbook. Something that is rare for me indeed. I especially love the section on the pie dough - who would have thought that so many options on pie dough are out there! The author lays out very detailed, very plain speaking instructions on how to cook. And there are a TON of great recipes in here. I actually baked a lemon meringue pie using this book. Something I would never in a million years would have thought of doing without the clearly written instructions in this book.

I highly recommend this book to the average cook, the above average cook and everyone in between! Loved it.

Recipes with fancy ingredients that you never heard of seem to be missing and I, for one, don't miss those recipes. This is a good, solid collection of good things that have comprehensive instructions that ought to insure success for just about anyone. It gives the "from scratch" basics. The book is fun to read, too, as author Nancy Baggett includes bits of history and personal commentary as it goes along, and the pictures make me wish I had something fresh from the oven waiting for me this minute.

I love this book because everything I make turns out perfectly. My grandfather is very critical of recipes and declared the apple pie the best he's had. I love it!