Customer Reviews

A Passion for Ice Cream: 95 Recipes for Fabulous Desserts

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The book had so much promise, but I find it to be disappointing in several ways, alas. The recipes I've tried have been delicious, and the instructions accompanying those recipes are fairly clear and authoritative, although the discussions and instructions don't rise to the level of a cooking teaching tool, as would, for example, anything by Julia Child, Marcella Hazan, Jacques Pepin, or any of the King Arthur Flour baking cookbooks, all of which really teach one new skills while providing wonderful recipes. In this case, I was already pretty experienced at making ice cream before I bought the book. Were I a tyro, I don't think this book would be the best introduction, although of course there is nothing like plunging in and trying.

My biggest disappointment, though, is the organization of the book: ice cream recipes are "bundled" with their accompanying cookies, garnishes, and the like; instead of a group of recipes for chocolate ice cream, for example, we have a group of recipes for ice cream sandwiches, with ice cream of any of several different flavor families. One has to dig around in the index at the back of the book to find, say, recipes for chocolate ice cream. I would much prefer to have an index or table of ice cream recipes, by flavor and page number, right up front -- I don't want to spend so much time looking for the flavor I want.

My next disappointment is that the text is printed in a graphically attractive and most stylish but virtually illegible size and color. My middle-aged eyes struggle desperately to read the book, even with my reading glasses on, and I surely can't prop the book 18-20" back from my utensils, to read as I work without changing position, as I like to do with my cookbooks. This is a case in which the author and editorial team seemed to have chosen (admittedly very attractive) style over function. The book IS very attractive, and the photographs are lovely -- but I would gladly sacrifice some beauty in favor of being able to read the recipes and discussions more easily.

My final disappointment is in the complexity and elaborateness of most of the "dessert packages," for lack of a better word. Making the ice cream or sorbet and its accoutrements is, in most cases, a tremendously labor-intensive exercise. I have opted for using some of the creative and delicious ice cream recipes and figuring out my own much simpler and easier garnishes and accompaniments. I work a demanding job and have a house to run. I love to cook, but can't devote as much time to making an ice cream sandwich, for example, as these recipes require. So I use less of the book than I'd wish.

Over all, Ms. Luchetti's sense of style and taste are impressive, and she seems superbly knowledgeable about frozen desserts. And many of the ice cream recipes are lovely. But I had hoped that this would be a book I would pull from the shelf much more often than I will, in fact, because the book is so difficult to use.

Early on in the introduction pages the author blows off Gelato, "I'll leave it to the Italians". She mostly ignores custdard based ice creams to concentrate on "American Ice Cream", spell that Philadelphia style ice cream. Well, okay. to each their own. Then she includes recipies for cookies, cakes, etc., which have nothing to do with my ice cream maker.

I think ice cream lovers are better off buying the Williams-Sonoma book. If you want a reprise on the old Cooks Ilustrated ice cream book look into the latest Cooks Illustrated Best Recipies book. It has a great synopsis of their original book, it is far less expensive than the $99 used book sellers are asking for the original on Amazon and offers some great food recipies as well.

James Droste
Texas

"A Passion for Ice Cream" is not simply a book of recipes for ice cream itself, although it might be easy to mistake it for that from the title alone. Instead it's book of ice cream desserts (and other frozen desserts). For instance, you'll find caramelized apple and butter pecan ice cream sundaes, chocolate-covered-pretzel ice cream ball fondue, chocolate-coated cocoa nib florentines and orange ice-cream sandwiches, black mission fig and raspberry parfaits, chocolate banana baked Alaskas, mango soup with coconut sherbet and strawberry sorbet, and warm blueberry filo stacks with Grand Marnier ice cream. As you can see, these aren't simple "mix, put it in the ice cream maker, and forget it" recipes. This is not a negative--sometimes it's a ton of fun to make such elaborate and beautiful desserts--but you should know what you're getting yourself into before you decide to buy this book.

When it comes to actual performance, the recipes exhibited the quality of testing I'm accustomed to from Chronicle Books. I never found a confusing set of directions or obvious error. Two of the recipes from this book found immediate places in our stable of favorites--the brown sugar ice cream in its chocolate cake roulade (with warm coffee caramel sauce!) is a bit messy, but so incredibly delicious that no one will care. The white chocolate ice cream (destined to float in espresso according to the recipe, but I enjoy it plain, or in coffee or hot chocolate...) is one of the best white chocolate ice creams I've ever had. The only sour note was a Cafe Viennese frozen yogurt shake; it was so tart we had to add sweetened cocoa powder in noticeable quantities to make it enjoyable. And while it's good enough that we finished it, I don't think we'd make it again.

Ultimately, while you'll want to make sure you're up to the kind of in-depth recipes in this book before buying it, it's a high-quality cookbook that produces delicious results. I look forward to making yet more recipes out of it!

Yes, I am a cookbook junkie, I own over 250+ cookbooks. Passion for Ice Cream ranks right up there among the best cookbooks I have purchased. I commend Ms. Luchetti for realizing how important pictures of the final product are for those of us who like to see the end results. The pictures in this book are absolutely beautiful! I'm having a difficult time figuring out which recipe I want to try next! This cookbook has really grabbed my attention and I really can't put it down (except for sleep). I'm sure I'm going to be day-dreaming at work on which recipe to try next. I also like the combinations in the book on ice creams and cookies, crepes, chocolate, & toppings. Ms. Luchetti is very creative with flavors however, the cookbook inspires you to create your own as well! I also have to say I originally purchased this book for its sorbets and now it appears my favorites are the ice creams. The quality of this book made me purchase A Passion for Desserts and 4-Star Desserts... I can't wait for them to arrive. Bravo Ms. Luchetti! Simply perfect!

I bought this book several years ago and quite honestly never looked at it until... I recently purchased an Ice cream maker. I eagerly reached for this book only to realize it has very little to do with ice cream. The recipes are desserts that are accompanied by ice cream. I was disappointed to say the least. Don't purchase this book if you are looking for interesting ice cream flavor recipes.

I confess. The first thing that I did after I picked up this book was head for an ice cream shop just to get a fix so that I could get through it. Just sitting there spooning in a bit of ice cream while reading about ice cream is about as close to nirvana that I can imagine. Except that it would be even better if the ice cream were home made.

I don't know why, but home made ice cream is almost always better than what you get at even the best ice cream shops. I've been making ice cream as long as I can remember, and that's a pretty long time. This is the first cook book that I've seen that is ice cream, ice cream and only ice cream. Well, let me expand that a little, there are indeed other things here, but they are ice cream related, i.e. ice cream sandwitches, ice cream floats, shakes, sundaes -- things like that. And after all, you can't expect to live by ice cream alone.

What I really liked: All the different flavors, all the different dishes.

Complaint: the type is too small for my old eyes. BUT getting a kid to read it and feel part of the process is too much fun to be missed.

Author Emily Luchetti combines her passion for ice cream with the vivid photos of Sheri Giblin to create a masterful book that explores the world of gourmet ice cream desserts. Each dessert is intended to be made using a hand-crank ice cream maker and comes out tasting like Rum Raisin Ice Cream Sandwiches, Apricot Sherbet Cake or Pistachio.

Even the casual coffee table book reader will enjoy spending a few hours diving into the pages of Passion for Ice Cream. And, if you're an adventurous cook, by all means, try a recipe or two.
Chocolate Zoom Magazine
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I have all of Emily Luchetti's books and this one is just as amazing as the rest. The Ginger Ice Cream is amazing. Luchetti is an absolute goddess of desserts. Creative, beautiful and beyond delicious!! You can never go wrong with her cookbooks.

The photos are beautiful and the ideas are great, but a lot of the recipes couldn't possibly have been tested. The coconut ice cream recipe makes a completely bland (only 2 tablespoons of sugar are called for and all the coconut products in the recipe are unsweetened), rock hard ice cream, even when made with a professional machine.

FINALLY! An ice cream cookbook that offers more ideas than just scooping ice cream into a bowl and adding some sauce. The cookbook is creative, informative and offers options from serving ice cream at a backyard BBQ or for an elegant dinner party. I have all of Emily Luchetti's cookbooks. Her ingenious ability to pair different flavors together sets her apart from other chefs. Start with these recipes you and your friends will love them: gingersnap lemon ice cream sandwiches, fudge cookie and mint chip ice cream sandwiches and s'more ice cream cake.