Customer Reviews

The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I don't usually write reviews but I have to in this case because Fleming's book has exceeded my expectations. I got it as a Christmas gift, and have since made about half a dozen of the recipes for a dessert party I had for my birthday last month. They were all superb, and while some were a little more complicated than others, all were definitely worth it. The party was a huge success, mostly due to Fleming's desserts, which disappeared before any of the others I made. From this book I made the panna cottas (almost too easy), chocolate caramel tarts (they were a lot of work but such a hit), caremelized pineapple (easy), maple flan (turned out perfect), chocolate brownie cookies (a cinch), and goat cheesecake with candied kumquats (very easy, gorgeous). I recommend this book to anyone who loves making desserts and isn't a complete beginner.

I love this restaurant & have always loved the desserts. I was skeptical about buying the book because most restaurant cookbooks I have purchased never have my favorite recipes from the restaurant. This one has them all & then some!!! My favorite is the warm chocolate ganache cake!!! This cookbook is great & the recipes are easy enough to follow!

Wow! I have never eaten at Gramercy Tavern, but have been reading about Claudia Fleming for years in food magazines. And I've always thought her recipes looked yummy, but this book tops everything else! It is amazing, really creative. Her combinations are so clever, like mixing lemon verbena and raspberries in a meringue cake or roasting pears with chestnut honey. I own a lot of other dessert books, but this is easily going to be my favorite. I have poured over every page and each recipe looks better than the last. Chocolate malted custards?! YUM! I've only made the cashew chocolate chip cookies so far but they are perfect. I'll make the buttermilk panna cotta next. The photos are beautiful too, and the recipes themselves are easy to follow and have fun serving suggestions. I just love this book!

This book is so inventive and intoxicating. The recipes are unlike ones you see in other cookbooks. This is truly a prize pastry chef's peek into the recipes that made her famous and lauded. This is a definite buy for someone who is somewhat skilled in the pastry department or for someone who wants to learn the next level of desserts, beyond chocolate chip cookies and brownies.

I bought this book because I have been a fan of Claudia Fleming's ever since I first ate at Gramercy Tavern. Her desserts are absolutely astounding. Even if you never eat there, you will be able to approach the experience if you cook from this book.
The book has the high quality I expected. It is beautiful enough to sit on your coffee table, with gorgeous photography and print. But you really will cook from it and enjoy the results, because the recipes are precise, well-written and obviously are aimed for someone who's going to be cooking at home.
The person who would most enjoy this book compared to other dessert books is probably the knowledgable dessert/pastry cook who's way beyond chocolate chip cookies, but Fleming conveys her enthusiasm for desserts of all kinds.
Some other special touches: the recipes are organized by flavor ("tropical fruits"; "stone fruits"; "cheese, milk, and cream"; ) not by "cakes", "cookies" etc. There are wine pairing suggestions. And there's a section on "composed" desserts made up of recipes earlier in the book.
Open your mind and your tastebuds to a special book from a special pastry chef!

One of the best pastry book! I have made half the recepies on the book. My favorite are cornmeal-nut biscotti the espresso-orange panna cotta and the chocolate caramel tarts.Very easy to follow you will realy enjoy this book!

I am a professional Italian pastry chef; this book is the one I use the most at work. I take recipes here and there and figure out if there is a way to make them Italian. This book is very valuable to me because every recipe works perfectly. In a restaurant, we don't have time to re-make something that doesn't come out correctly. I never have to worry about the recipes being off or having to adjust anything to make them come out right. The greatest thing about the book is that she wrote it in the order of the seasons, which comes in very handy for me. She explains everything in such an eloquent yet simple manner... I highly recommend this book to anyone that likes to make their own desserts. I have read a ton of dessert cookbooks and this one has impressed me the most. The buttermilk panna cotta is fantastic, along with the goat cheese mascarpone cheesecake.

LOVE this cookbook. Fleming is a genius at marrying flavor and form. I've made the Cherry Cheesecake Tart with a Red Wine Glaze several times, substituting strawberries for cherries and other variations, and I just love it. I made it for my Wine Club when we tried Syrahs and I used one for the glaze. A knock-out. Such an elegant dish -- one of so many that really wow. The tart's texture is just beautiful and it carries the flavor perfectly.

I'm dying to make the Tamarind-Glazed Mango Napoleons.

This is a really innovative and imaginative cookbook. Delicious, modern combinations and techniques. Highly recommended. GREAT gift, because the recipient will have to make you something delicious!

In the recipe for the Lemon Lime Souffle Tart (Pp. 79-80) the ingredients for the filling call for 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons of sugar but the directions only give instructions for 10 tablespoons of the sugar (5 used in Step 5 and 5 used in Step 7). There is no accounting for when to use the remaining sugar which sits lonely in its bowl. If you follow the directions step by step sequentially, all you will have is wasted time, energy, and a mess to clean up along with a baked crust that yearns to be filled. Claudia Fleming, Melissa Clark and Random House should be ashamed that they couldn't bother proofreading this book, or at the least posting a notice with sale with a correction.

I've tried two of the chocolate recipes in this book so far and both turned out so-so. The Chocolate and Vanilla Creme Brulee was disappointing to say the least. The description of the dessert said that by freezing the bottom chocolate custard layer, it would be a "hidden surprise" under the vanilla layer above. Wrong. Once you poured in the vanilla custard, the chocolate layer below instantly melts and becomes marbled with the vanilla. No surprise layer at all. Taste was OK but the two layered effect which was what I believe the chef was aiming for, just didn't come through. Won't make this again. I then tried the chocolate caramel tart. The caramel was easy enough to make but the pastry just kept breaking up whenI tried to roll it out. You just couldn't roll it out smoothly and cut out rounds without the pastry breaking into small pieces. I was almost distraught as this was supposed to be a dessert I was bringing to a friend's house. Thankfully I remembered a similar recipe in Saveur and according to that recipe, you should just press the tart dough into the pan (I opted to make one large tart instead of little ones by that stage). Once I did that, everything else fell into place. The dessert tasted good but the pastry really is a nightmare. I feel the chef doesn't give you complete instructions in her recipes and some steps are misleading especially if you are not an experienced baker. Will try more recipes to see if the rest of the book is like that (hopefully not) but beginner bakers must BEWARE!