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94 of 99 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Somersize Desserts, November 6, 2001
This review is from: Somersize Desserts (Hardcover)
I have been Somersizing since January of this year, and have seen incredible results. I bought all three of Suzanne's books and would recommened them to you all. The recipes are easy and clear and are delicious and satisfying. The desserts are sinfully wonderful. The best part is knowing you can eat them and still lose the weight. I therefore was excited to hear of this new book, just filled with desserts, yet after looking through the book I was left disappointed. Some of the recipes you can not substitute her Somersweet product with saccharin, which could be a problem if you can not afford to buy Somersweet. There are not many Level One desserts, unless you enjoy her cheesecake, which she gives two new variations. I understand that to make a dessert fit into the Somersize program can be difficult, but compared to her other projects I feel this one falls short. I would though recommend this book to all who Somersize or those who are trying to maintain their weight.
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49 of 49 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Delicious but Expensive Desserts!, December 19, 2001
This review is from: Somersize Desserts (Hardcover)
Somercize Desserts is a slim volume of 30 desserts accompanied by sumptious photographs! These are not diet desserts. They are made with full fat cream cheese, heavy cream, egg yolks, and chocolate. However, if the desserts are eaten according to the Sommercize rules of food combining you can enjoy them and lose weight! If they are eaten whenever, you could gain weight. The rules of combining are explained in Suzannes other books, Eat Great Lose Weight, Eat Cheat and Lose and Get Skinny on Fabulous Food. The rules are not explained in the Somercize Desserts book. She does however indicate, to those familiar with Somercizing which desserts are Level One and which are Level Two. The book includes both new treats and desserts previously published in her other books. Most of the recipes include a sugar substitute Suzanne has developed called SommerSweet. She also gives substitutions using real sugar or saccharin. The SommerSweet product is available from her website and is quite pricey. Two small cans with shipping runs $24 plus. One of the recipes in her book is for Truffles. She also sells the Truffles at her website for around $20 plus shipping. I purchased the Truffles from her site and enjoyed them. My husband who appreciates very fine chocolate found them to have an aftertaste. No one felt they were as good as a real truffle with sugar. But you can't have it all I guess. I decided to make the truffles with her book and found the recipe easy to follow but the end result was not as tasty as the ones she sells. Aside from the Sommersweet, other recipes call for ingredients including whole vanilla bean, wonton skins, phyllo dough, and whole wheat PASTRY flour. These items are not always easy to find. In addition one recipe calls for a springform pan and several call for an ice cream maker. By the time I purchased her book, the springform pan and the ingredients to make the chocolate layer cake, I figure I had about $75 invested! Other recipes in the book include, peach sorbet (ice cream maker needed) orange souffle, decaf coffee granita, creme brulee, steamed chocolate pudding, and asian napoleons. The directions are easy to follow and the ingredients are clearly listed along with the serving size. Fats, fiber, calories, and carbohydrate information is not included. Book lies flat for cooking ease. The book is lovely with the tempting color photographs and the recipes I have tried all turned out well. BUT considering the hard to find ingredients and the fact that the book contains only 30 recipes, its one pricey piece of cake!
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62 of 64 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Sweet Enough?, January 3, 2002
This review is from: Somersize Desserts (Hardcover)
I have been following the Somersize Plan for 13 weeks, and while I have not lost much weight (about 10 lbs), I haven't had the blood sugar swings and digestion woes that were normal for me. My mother, stepfather and husband have all lost weight with this plan, and I feel that it is a good lifetime plan for those of us who have insulin resistance problems. While I have enjoyed many of the recipes in this dessert book and the other Somersize books, I have found some of the recipes to be lacking in flavor or sweetness. The Somersweet equivalents to sugar do not seem correct to my tastebuds, especially after baking, making it even more expensive to sweeten desserts with this sweetener. Only after combining Somersweet and Splenda in these recipes can I get the sweetness that I would expect from using sugar. Another problem with the Somersweet, is that it causes a burnt aftertaste when it is baked, as in creme brulee or cakes. The longer that the sweetener is baked, the more likely I will have the aftertaste. My husband, who happens to be a chef, and I do not notice the aftertaste when we use Splenda instead. Now, the vanilla ice cream recipe was wonderful with the combined sweeteners, and better than the premium brands, but I doubled the vanilla and tripled the sweetener. I've learned that my tastes, and the tastes of my friends and family, require much more sweetness than these recipes have, so I've tripled the sweetener called for in all of the ones I've tried. Therefore, I removed 2 stars from my rating of this dessert book, mainly due to the unsweet taste of the recipes as written. After all, who wants dessert recipes that aren't sweet enough?
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