Instant Gratification: No-Hassle Desserts in Just About No Time [Hardcover]

Lauren Chattman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 16, 2000

Good news: Lack of time is no longer an excuse for not making dessert. Pastry chef and busy mom Lauren Chattman offers 110 foolproof desserts that can be put together in less than fifteen minutes.

These amazing desserts are created by someone who truly understands what it means to cook against the clock. Using quality ingredients and the best of convenience foods, Lauren shares her favorite professional tips and shortcuts, like how to turn wonton wrappers into sweet and crisp "shortcakes" and using crumb cursts instead of time-consuming pastry doughs for pies.

"Instant Gratification" features streamlined, refined versions of beloved classics: Plum Brown Betty, Blueberry-Walnut Crisp, and warm brownies and ice cream. When a spoonful of comfort food is in order, you'll find succor with Banana-Caramel Bread Pudding, Tea-Infused Panna Cotta, and Buttery Butterscotch Pudding. Company coming? In the blink of an eye, you can whip up Champagne Sabayon with Blackberries or Flourless Chocolate-Almond Cake. Bake sale tomorrow? Throw together some almost-instant Deluxe Four-Layer Bars. And when your sweet tooth really demands immediate satisfaction, there's an entire chapter with sweets that can be made and on the table in less than a quarter of an hour.

Every recipe features an equipment list so that no time will be lost fiddling in the kitchen looking for the right utensil. "Instant Gratification" is all about delicious desserts--and this book shows that it doesn't take long to make them.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Instant Gratification is dangerous. The very notion of creating a dessert, from scratch, in 15 minutes or less is itself fantastically appealing. But when the recipes are as tempting as those that Lauren Chattman, a pastry chef, has devised in this clever collection of 110 quick desserts, then anyone who cares about their waistline should run far, far away. Chattman knows too well what she is doing and the shortcuts she creates--say, for a silky peanut butter pie made with a chocolate wafer crust or a chocolate mousse cake made with only three ingredients--never stint on the quality of ingredients. So when she suggests cake flour for a finer-crumbed quick cake, Pernigotti cocoa powder for its full chocolate flavor in a custard, and Dufour puff pastry for its buttery flake in a turnover, smart readers will heed her advice. Recipes that take 15 minutes or less are always attractive to beginners, but advanced cooks pressed for time will appreciate the intuitive way Chattman goes about paring down more complicated desserts to their essentials, isolating what makes them taste great and bringing them to the fore. Her explanation for the Sautéed Brown Sugar Bananas over Coconut Ice Cream explains her method perfectly: "One day when I was making some filling for banana tarts, I tasted the sautéed bananas. I halted my tart-making immediately and decided instead to use the bananas as an ice cream topping." --Sumi Hahn Almquist

From Publishers Weekly

Already author of two collections of high-quality "quick" recipes, Cool Kitchen and Just Add Water, here Chattman succeeds in proving that "there are many ways to make a great dessert in 15 minutes or less." Shunning typical convenience foods, she relies on fresh ingredientsAfrom spices (in Vanilla Bean Cheesecake) to homemade puff pastry. Happy to pull out the waffle iron, electric mixer or food processor, she hardly uses the microwave at all. Her time-saving methods are clever and practical: Crumb crusts substitute for rolled pastry in Maple Pecan Tart and Peanut Butter Pie; baked, sugared wonton squares become "Shortcakes" with plums and cream, and eggroll wrappers turn into Orange Marmalade "Crepes" with Warm Strawberries and Sour Cream. To save time, homey cakes like Warm Gingerbread Squares are unfrosted, and simple but flavorful drop cookies (Chocolate Meringue Kisses and Homemade Vanilla Wafers) displace those that need to be rolled and cut. Chattman keeps the number of ingredients short and sweetAjust three for her Easiest, Best Chocolate Mousse Cake, four in billowing Apricot Souffl?s. Directions are precise and each step is timed to the minute; her desserts really do take only 15 minutes to makeAthough baking and cooling times can add up to three hours. (June)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 230 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Cookbooks (May 16, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688169104
• ISBN-13: 978-0688169107
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 8.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,765,711 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

A former pastry chef, Lauren Chattman is the author of nine cookbooks and co-author of numerous other books, including Dessert University with former White House pastry chef Roland Mesnier. Her recipes have appeared in Food & Wine, Bon Appetit, Cook's Illustrated, The New York Times, and Redbook, among others. She lives in Sag Harbor, New York with her husband and two daughters.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lots of easy, quick recipes, November 6, 2000

By 

Duaa Anwar "Dressage rider/ Author" (Cairo, Egypt) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Instant Gratification: No-Hassle Desserts in Just About No Time (Hardcover)

This is a family dessert book designed and written for the home cook. The ingredients are easy to find and the recipes are simple and straight forward. Some of these recipes can actually be prepared in 10 mins and the results can actually be quite impressive. However, they call for a lot of sour and heavy cream, which are quite high in fat, and some call for a lot of butter as well. I was also disappointed by the lack of photography; I always like to see a picture of the finished product before attempting to try a recipe. The only photos you'll find in this book are on the cover.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Truly instant gratification", May 18, 2000

By 

Deborah Levine, M.D. (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Instant Gratification: No-Hassle Desserts in Just About No Time (Hardcover)

A wonderful cookbook! I read the New York Times review for this book and placed my order immediately. My appetite was whetted by the scrumptious mexican chocolate pudding that I made the very night of the book's arrival. Although some of the recipes may not be prepared in the fifteen minutes estimated by the author, the recipes are quick, easy and delicious. The format of the book allows for fun dessert-making and more importantly, fun eating. Enjoy!

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Gratification!, July 20, 2000

By 

Paul Paul - See all my reviews

This review is from: Instant Gratification: No-Hassle Desserts in Just About No Time (Hardcover)

I often begin to think about making dessert too late and wind up just serving ice cream. But this book really makes quick dessert making easy! A minimal amount of ingredients are needed -- most are probably already in your pantry -- and they can be made just before dinner or even while the family is eating the main course. Great taste for miminal effort. And great ideas for doing new recipes with seasonal fruit. The apple or peach pizza is a real winner in my house!