Great Gingerbread [Paperback]

Sara Perry (Author), Frankie Frankeny (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1997

Get ready for a renaissance of gingerbread! From the holiday classics -- candy-covered houses and gingerbread men -- to delicious waffles, biscotti, cookies, and cakes, Great Gingerbread offers a delectable new take on an age-old favorite -- just in time for the most festive time of year. But gingerbread is a great idea all year round. The beloved combination of ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg that creates gingerbread's distinctive flavor can be used to make all kinds of irresistible treats: for a modern take on the classic cookie, Chocolate-Dipped Gingerbread Biscotti with tea on a spring afternoon; to make the most of summer fruit, a Peach Blueberry Crumble and Gingerbread Crisp; or for a lazy autumn brunch, Gingerbread Scones with Orange Honey Butter, or Gingerbread Pancakes with Golden Pear Compote and Maple Cream. Illustrated with ravishing color photographs, Great Gingerbread is brimming with delicious ideas to brighten any day of the year.

Editorial Reviews

Review

From: House & Garden

The beauty of gingerbread and of this book is the way they mix the sweet with a touch of spice--the recipe for Tigertail Val's Sweet Gingerbread, for instance, includes coffee and cognac. Add a little lore, like ginger's utility as a thirteenth-century "nobleman's antacid," and you have a delectable dish indeed. The author's answer to overdecorated (you might say, tasteless) gingerbread houses is her recollection of one from her childhood that looked like Bing Crosby's mansion in Beverly Hills-- including its pool of aqua sheet-gelatin--and her homespun Lickety Split Log Cabin.

About the Author

Sara Perry is the author of The Complete Tea Book, Summertime Treats, Christmastime Treats, and Great Gingerbread, all from Chronicle Books. She lives in Portland, Oregon.

Frankie Frankeny is a San Francisco-based photographer whose work has illustrated many books, including Wookiee Cookies (0-8118-2184-6) and The Christmas Cookie Book (0-8118-3095-0).

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (September 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811816133
• ISBN-13: 978-0811816137
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,181,329 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for Christmas or Any Occasion, May 17, 2007

By 

CB (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Great Gingerbread (Paperback)

First of all, I think the previous review was too harsh, since it says in the product description that this is gingerbread recipes, and it is not for houses, and that reviewer was dissapointed that it did not have patterns, even though it does have one. If you want a gingerbread house cookbook, by all means, go and buy a gingerbread house book, but don't buy this one for a house, you won't find much help here.

That being said, I love cookbooks that focus on one main ingrediant or base flavor. This book is obviously all gingerbread, and what a great book it is!

It is divided into several chapters;

Great Gingerbread - Which does not contain any recipes, but is a chapter devoted to tips and the main ingrediants in gingerbread.
Gingerbread Classics - Basic gingerbread recipes, six included.
Morning Delights - Gingerbread recipes suitable for breakfast and brunch dishes, six included.
Cookies and Snaps - Self-explanatory, ten recipes included.
Gingerbread Desserts & Cakes - Self-explanatory title again, ten recipes, varying from cakes to cheesecakes, to tarts and crisps.
Gingerbread Accompaniments - Butters and jams to spread on your gingerbread, twelve recipes included, as well as three ice cream recipes.
Gingerbread Houses - Five recipes for dough and icing for gingerbread houses, as well as a pattern. Nothing fancy, but a good basic recipe.

Overall, I really like this book. I always enjoy holiday foods, so this was a must to add to my collection. For the list price, it is very reasonable. The color photos, which I like in cookbooks, are very nice.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Tigertail Val's Gingerbread, December 24, 2009

By 

Thomas W. Utterback "noisycrow" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Great Gingerbread (Paperback)

This book is worth it for one recipe alone - Tigertail Val's Gingerbread. I have made this several times (switching in rum for the cognac), and have not found a person who did not truly love it. I can only give four stars because I must admit that I have not tried any of the other recipes; but if they are all on par with that one recipe, this book will be a real treasure.

7 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great gingerbread, October 7, 2005

By 

Marina J. Thompson "redhad52" (Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Great Gingerbread (Paperback)

The book is full of all recipes to do with gingerbread. I thought the book had more gingerbread houses in it and I was not happy because it didnt. Only recipes for different kinds of gingerbread. There are no patterns in this book. So I was a bit dissapointed.