Customer Reviews

The Olives Dessert Table: Spectacular Restaurant Desserts You Can Make at Home

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After eating at Olives many times, I have always wanted to know who the pasrty chef is and some of the great recipes. Now I have them! I tried the Ginger Crinkles and they were as good as I remember them when I had them at Olives. Butterscotch pudding dessert and served it last night, what a hit. Thank you for such a great book.

I love Olives Restaurant, and own two other cookbooks by Todd English. I guess you could call me a foodie--I love to keep up with the local food scene. I received this book as a Christmas gift, and was delighted by the delicious sounding recipes, and gorgeous photographs. Most of the recipes are rather involved, however,so be prepared to spend some time in the kitchen. Todd English does explain that many of these recipes can be made without the accompanying sauces, tuiles, etc, and he puts a star after the components that are good enough to stand on their own. I made the lemon cake(it took me all afternoon) but the result was delicious! I would save this recipe for a special occasion because the amount of butter, eggs, and lemons that this recipe calls for is astonishing. Not for the cholesterol concious!

I found this cookbook to be intriguing. There are recipes that are simple enough for everyday fare and then there are those that are complex and perfect for the ooh aah desserts. The pictures are wonderful and help in visualizing what the finished product will look like. The recipes are concise and easy to follow even those like the chocolate bombe and all its steps.

This is my FAVORITE dessert cookbook. Every single thing I have made from this cookbook has turned out amazing. I love that all the recipes have multiple parts to them so I can choose just to make Banana Bread for Breakfast or I can make White Chocolate Banana Bread Pudding with Caramel Semi Fredo and Boozy Caramel Sauce (my favorite recipie so far) for a dinner party. The cookbook also gives beautiful pictures and lots of details to make sure that you do it right. Be careful though- I am now the required to make the dessert every Thanksgiving!

One thing that I have appreciated from English's cookbooks overall is that he doesn't shy away from including the restaurants' most popular dishes. He also provides recipes that taste like exact replicas of what you've enjoyed in the restaurant. This cookbook is no exception. If you've loved the dessert at Olives you are sure to find lots of sweets in here that you remember.

The only thing to keep in mind is that many of the desserts featured in this book are plated desserts that require many components. This is neither a positive or negative, but does limit the occasions on which they can be served. I don't mind taking the time to make extra components, but when a dessert has to be plated to be fully assembled it does make it really hard to bring the dessert along to a dinner party or pot luck.

Overall this dessert book is fantastic and everything you would expect from Todd English. I highly recommend it as well as his other books like The Figs Table: More Than 100 Recipes for Pizzas, Pastas, Salads, and Desserts.

This book is a real winner. It has the right combination of taste that is just right (not too sweet, nor tart) the flavors compliment each other wonderfully. I have made several of the recipes here and they have all turned out wonderful. I have my share of dessert books and not all are great, or even good. But this one... My goodness. And if you were to judge a dessert book by how well their banana bread is, this will come out on top all of the time. How they did it, I have no idea. Probably one of only a few dessert books you will ever need.

The only problem I have witht this book is its structure... Not novice friendly. The recipes are kind of long but does not require superb skill... the text seems a bit mumble jumbled. But if you read carefully and plan ahead, mis en place, you will enjoy great desserts. And so will co workers as I have just witnessed today.

Enjoy!

This book was very easy to use. I have a small restaurant and the desserts have become my responsibility. Recipes are very easy to follow and most of the ingredients are accessable in smaller communities. I have made several of the desserts from this book and served them with great reviews.

This is the 2nd cookbook we have ordered -- we literally used the first one until it fell apart! The recipes are concise and while a little tricky if you aren't a great baker . . . the results are definitely worth the effort!

I bought this book last year,at first I did not want to try any yet because i don't see the pic how it should come out! Until couple months later, I try with the banana cake recipe which I saw the picture. And that's it, it is simple to follow the explaination and after finish---taste great. I have to try another even I don't see picture but I believe now that it will come out fine.

Great pictures and recipes that can be used in many different ways. It is a real book for real cooks