Customer Reviews

Elegantly Easy Creme Brulee : & Other Custard Desserts

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book de-mystifies how to create these beautiful, elegant, and palate-pleasing desserts, which are easier to make than most people think.

The dessert recipes very easy to understand; directions are clear and unambiguous. There are plenty of things that can go wrong when making creme brulee, but Puente's recipes are simple enough for most anyone to make, and elegant enough to impress the elitist snob at your dinner party. The pictures are spectacular enough to make your mouth water at the site(nothing I hate more than a cookbook without pictures!)

From classic creme brulee to (my new favorite) Bananas Foster creme brulee, this book has a creme brulee recipe for any occasion.

My only gripe (and thus, deduction of one star) is the size. It's a very dainty book - for a dainty dessert - but is very small and hardbound which is impractical in the kitchen.

The most popular dessert in New Orleans (after bread pudding) is creme brulee custard. I have to admit that I had absolutely no idea what was in it or how it was made until I saw the author of this book on the Howie Mandel Show. After viewing the show, I found the book and the little butane torch at Williams-Sonoma, and the same evening, I made my first batch. I was amazed at how easy it was. There is one flaw in the book however and that is that Ms. Puente doesn't adjust cooking times for deeper set ramekins. Where she said my custard should be set in "40 to 50 minutes" actually took more like 60 to 70 minutes, perhaps even longer. For this, I deduct a point in my rating of this book. Other than that, everything else was perfect, including her opinion that using plain old white sugar makes a good topping.

Tom Simmons Sr., New Orleans

I must admit to being a custard fan - custard and junket custard were among my earliest successes so think 7 or 8 years old. This cookbook greatly expands my custard-based repertoire, especially since dessert cookbooks rarely enter my collection. This collection of recipes includes detailed instructions to the extent that a novice cook could easily begin here. It also provides alternatives. For example, it provides two distinct ways to make "classic" creme brulee. This is followed by 5 pages of variations: Dutch Apple, Bananas Foster, Amaretto Peach, White Russian, Mississippi Mud ...

Similarly, a base recipe for Milk Chocolate Caramel Creme Brulee is followed with variations such as Butterscoth Caramel or Orange Carmel. There are beautiful photos of versions such as Lavender Flower Creme Brulee and Goat Cheese Creme Brulee with Papay Sauce. Want a variation on bread pudding? try Croissant Pudding with Whiskey Sauce. Like your food hot? try Ginger Chile Creme Brulee.

In short, this small volume has everything you would expect and a fair number of real surprises ... and, more surprising, the suprises work!

Saw Debbie Puente on Howie Mandel Show and Martin Short Show, I'd bought the book but hadn't tried the recipes. After seeing how easy it looked, I tried to make creme brulee myself. I not only succeeded, I got rave reviews. For a non-cook, this is amazing. The trite expression is true, "If I can do it, anyone can." (And even the fat-free variety tastes fantastic.)

I'm not sure which is more beautiful: The recipes, the full color pictures, or the married mother of three boys who is the author of Elegantly Easy Creme Brulee and other Custard Desserts. Debbie Puente has put together 70 of her favorite recipes of creme brulee variations that are not just for dessert.

Recipes include: Eggless Creme Caramel; Roasted Red Bell Pepper Creme Brulee; Roasted Sweet Garlic Creme Brulee; Ginger Chili Creme Brulee; Sweet Corn Creme Brulee; Stacked Banana Creme Brulee Tostada with Cajeta; White Chocolate-Macadamia Nut Creme Brulee; Chocolate Mint Creme Brulee and Classic Creme Brulee. Some non-creme brulee recipes include: Rice Pudding Arroz Duce Style; Apple Brandy Custard Sauce; Croissant Pudding with Whiskey Sauce; Graham Craker Chocolate Cups and Easy Chocolate Bowls.

I have only two problems with this book. The first is that it has broken my cardinal rule by having a few of the recipes require turning of the page to get to the final parts and there are just not enough recipes. The recipes are easy to follow and have all ingredients readily available at most food stores. The book contains several pages of tips and techniques as well as pages of basic information to get even the novice cook to be able to make these wonderful creations. The mouthwatering photographs by Brian Leatart and Rob Outwater enhance this small book to where I think I gained 5 pounds just looking through it.

I love creme brulee, but I was a bit dissapointed with this book. I was also disspointed by the author, Mrs. Debbie Puente, since I love her other book, Elegantly Easy Liquor Desserts.

First of all, the book is very small in size, making it very unpractical. The layout of the book is difficult as well, being that there are only two chapters; The Basics and the Recipes.

In the Basics Mrs. Puente goes over cooking methods for creme brulee, ingredients, equipment and techniques. This is all listed in the table of contents, which is more like an index.

In the Recipes chapter, Mrs. Puente starts with two traditional creme brulee recipes, one for baked, and one for stirred.

There is then six fruit recipes, which are just variations of her classic creme brulee recipe. She then has twelve liquor variations, but I hardly count them as seperate recipes either, since again, it's just added different type of liquors to the classic recipes. All of the different variations are listed seperatly in the table of contents, making it even more like an index.

The book goes on like that, with apparently no logic to the order of the recipes, making it quite confusing for finding a specific one. Each recipe is listed seperatly in the table of contents, along with any additional recipes needed, i.e. crusts and sauces.

Some recipes included are; Lavedar Creme Brulee, Eggnog Creme Brulee, and Lemon Custard Creme Brulee.

There are also some savory recipes, including Sweet Corn Creme Brulee and Garlic Creme Brulee. There is also a recipe for Ginger Chile Creme Brulee, which is mixed in with the savory recipes, although Mrs. Puente's description of it is sweet, it only makes it more confusing to find it mixed in with the savory recipes.

The book abruptly ends with the last recipe, and lacks an index. I believe it would of been better to have the book seperated into chapters; i.e. the basics, classic creme brulee and variations, sweet recipes, savory recipes, accompiements, and a chapter for misc recipes, like the Chocolate and Blackberry Tart and Crossiant Pudding.

The recipes themselves are good, but the layout of the book makes it difficult to use. There are a few nice photos as well, luckily the ones for the more complicated recipes, like the Stacked Banana Creme Brulee Tostada, are included.

If you LOVE Creme Brulee and want to make it yourself - this is a great cookbook! This book is very small - and fits nicely on my cookbook shelf.

The recipes: From the classic creme brulee to the more exotic recipes including Fruit or Liqueur variations of creme brulee. I've already tried the classic recipe and it is wonderful.

There are some other "unique" creme brulee recipes, but that just opens the door to try new and creative ways of making creme brulee (example: Sweet Corn creme brulee or the Red Bell Pepper Creme Brulee).

The book also includes a section on cooking methods, equipment needed, ingredients, etc to make it easier for the novice.

Overall a great book and a great gift for a Creme Brulee lover! If you buy it as a gift - you may want to include other items to go with it such as the Williams Sonoma Creme Brulee kit complete with the torch and small dishes for serving. I believe you can buy all those separately on Amazon.com as well.

This is a magnificent display of creme brulee shown in rare form! Beautiful as well as artful displays of the most elegant dessert on the face of the earth! Delicious is not the word for it. Debbie may not have created the dessert, however she will be responsible for a renewed popularity. Just the photos alone are reason enough to purchase this lovely book. Regarding it being a must have cookbook, it definately ranks with the famous Cake Bible or even LaRousses Gastronomiqe. I also highly recommend her first book, Deceptively Simple, if you can find it (isbn 0-9653010-0-1). Not as fancy a production but packed with punch! A staple for any kitchen library!

Thank heaven for Ms. Puente and her idea to share with the world the secrets of creme brulee. I love this book, have made many of the recipes, and will tell as many people as I can about it. Why pay $8-$11 dollars for it in a fancy restaurant when for the same money, you can buy her book off amazon and make it yourself? Buy this book if you love creme brulee.

Every time we go out to dinner my parents order creme brulee for dessert. It is there favorite dessert. I only guessed that there might be a book on about how to make this. I was so happy to find it. I bought this book for them as a present. It is a very pretty book and the pictures are pretty too. My dad made two of the recipes so far and both of them were sooooooo good. The book is very pretty.