Butter Sugar Flour Eggs: Whimsical Irresistible Desserts [Hardcover]

Gale Gand (Author), Rick Tramonto (Author), Julia Moskin (Author)

Book Description

Release date: September 28, 1999

Anyone who has so much as made a batch of cookies knows that this is where it all begins. Butter lends flavor and richness, sugar adds sweetness and melting textures, flour provides substance, and eggs bring it all together. Afterwards, the baker can allow flavor to take over: chocolate, citrus, fruit, nuts, cheese, and spices complete the dessert-making roster. Chapter by chapter, pastry chef extraordinaire Gale Gand and her husband, star chef Rick Tramonto -- with writer Julia Moskin -- explain each basic ingredient and each flavor's personality and follow up with some fabulous recipes. The unique result is a festive and fun cookbook that reads more like a dessert menu than a catalog of techniques. And what a menu! Here are over 175 fanciful, delicious treats, including signature desserts like Not-Your-Usual Lemon Meringue Pie and Root Beer-Vanilla Parfait, classics such as Brown Derby Grapefruit Cake and Brooklyn Blackout Cake, and soon-to-be favorites like Raspberry-Stuffed French Toast and Banana Strudel with Ginger-Molasses Ice Cream. There is a chapter on light-hearted holiday creations, including Halloween Boo!scotti and Pumpkin Pie to Be Thankful For, and a chapter full of drink recipes -- perfect accompaniments to these desserts and great on their own. In Butter Sugar Flour Eggs, all the ingredients are present for creating the most scrumptious, mouthwatering delights you have ever tasted. Or baked!

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Some people look in a pastry case and see sinful excess; others see delectable taste treats. The authors of Butter Sugar Flour Eggs see ingredients. They have named their book "after the first and most important elements of any dessert recipe.... Butter brings flavor and richness; Sugar lends sweetness and melting textures; Flour provides substance; and Eggs bring it all together. Afterward the flavorings take over: Chocolate, Citrus, Fruit, Nuts, Cheese, and Spice complete the dessert making pantry." Most desserts, the authors allow, have one strong characteristic flavor, or one strong characteristic texture that sings louder than anything else. It's how the authors have ordered the recipes in Butter Sugar Flour Eggs, a clever idea.

So, in Butter, you'll find the likes of Millionaire's Shortbread, while in Sugar, you'll find Brown Sugar Shortbread. In Eggs you'll be tempted by Mango Flan on Chocolate, but in Flour it's more likely going to be Chocolate Chip Pancakes. And that's just to get you started. Because there are chapters for all the basic flavorings, too (Oranges Simmered in Red Wine, Brooklyn Blackout Cake, Nectarine Beignets, Roasted Pecan Ice Cream, Montrachet Cheesecake, Moist Ginger Cake with Orange Icing). And then because holidays tend to pull out all the stops, there's a separate chapter for them as well. Ever get in trouble for playing with your dessert? With Butter Sugar Flour Eggs Gale Gand, Rick Tramonto, and Julia Moskin give you permission to do just that. --Schuyler Ingle

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: 288 pages
• Publisher: Clarkson Potter; First Edition edition (September 28, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0609604201
• ISBN-13: 978-0609604205
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 0.9 x 9.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #83,116 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 48 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Butter Sugar Flour Eggs:Whimsical Irresistible Desserts November 23, 1999

By I. Pinkney

Format:Hardcover

No one in the world of baking understands the '4 basic food groups' - butter, sugar, flour and eggs - like Gale Gand. After a lifetime of collecting dessert cookbooks, this one now has the place of honor, IN the kitchen, not ON the shelf!

The recipes are thoughtful and easy to follow and the results delicious and fun...an unbeatable combination.

AND, can we talk about he BLACKOUT CAKE! It appears that Gale has cracked the code and figured out the secrets of this legendery New York icon. For that alone, buy the book!

This book is a must-have and a must-give.

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Tiramisu is the BEST I've ever tasted! January 19, 2000

By Janet McCuistion

Format:Hardcover

My husband and I ended up buying a copy of this book for each other for Christmas. It was a good thing we had two copies in the house for a while because neither of us wanted to put it down. Tiramisu is my all-time favorite dessert and I have tried many recipes and variations--both at home and dining out. I made the Tiramisu in this book for a New Year's Eve party and it was BY FAR the most incredibly wonderful piece of tiramisu I have ever had. It was time consuming, but well worth the effort! The other recipes look equally wonderful and I can't wait to try them!

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Best dessert cookbook on the market April 8, 2000

By jim and melissa davidson

Format:Hardcover

This is easily the best dessert cookbook we've ever run across. With everything from traditional long-standing favorites to "nouveau" modern day treats - all of which are easy to follow and very approachable, even for a beginner. Great anecdotes accompany each recipe, which detail the history or creation of the dessert, or provide helpful tips on the preparation. Excellent book - a must for any dessert lover.