Customer Reviews

Sweet Serendipity: Delightful Desserts and Devilish Dish

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I love to read intros to good cookbooks, they reveal what one will find therein. This one is no exception. It was begun as an exception: new concept of fun, indulgent dessert hangout within gift shop botique, with high class.

This was quickly grasped by customer base of the famous who liked the scene and made it theirs and everyone else who wanted their frozen/hot dessert drinks and rich, whipcreamed topped dessert plates.

Now, the rest of us who haven't made the scene firsthand can have the treats in our own confines. Neat treats they are, i.e. The Manor Born Banana Cake with Coffee Buttercream; Mississippi Mud Cake; Summerhouse Cake; Nutty Ned's Walnut Bars; Lemon Ice Box Pie (great story here of first cooks' obtaining free fur coat saving labels from key ingredient condensed milk labels); Schrafft's Tutti Frutti Chiffon Pie; and their infamous "Frrrrozzzen Hot Chocolate". This is fun to eat/drink/slurp stuff!!!

This is fun collection. The stories and favorite seats of famous and rest of stories are as good as recipes. Not that difficult of technique or ingredients, one can find much "serendipity" with these! For chochoholics, check out Marcel Desaulniers wonderful books!

One of three co-founders says it well: "It's a cozy place where dream-sized desserts and ice cream parlor whimsy lull you into a fantasy of another day and age."

I'm an avid cook book collector. I tend to look for the ones that stand out from the rest... the ones that have a bit more in them then just recipies. This is definitley one of those books. If I could, I'd give it 10 stars.

The book is filled with wonderful little recipes that everyone should have. They aren't spectacular. They aren't professional grade. They aren't the kind of recipe that it will take 2 weeks to locate the ingredients and another 6 hours to create the dessert. But that is exactly what seredipity is all about. If you know anything about the actual store/shop/restaurant...they never were into the harder-then-heck kind of recipes. They took simple things, and gave them a style all their own. And all of New York...and eventually the rest of the world...loved it!

The recipes are definitley "yummy." Every single one. The pictures are to die for. Every single one. :) I brought this book to work and had a 1/2 a dozen people ask me when i was making "this" or when I was making "that"...then they'd point to a picture and drool. :)

....but as I began with, this book has more than just recipies in it. It has seredipity's history....written by one of the owners himself. A very interesting read. And it's not just a 1/2 of a page long. It's lengthy. The book is worth it's price just for this read. On almost every page there is a 'snippit' or 'story' from Serendipities history. Feel good stories. Hollywood-siting stories. Stories that will make you want to go to the actual location if you have never been there.

Did you know that Robin Williams brough a little girl who was dying of a life-threatening disease to Serendipity...treated her to lunch....and kept her laughing for hours on end? This book tells you things like that. Did you know that the owners wouldn't even give the recipe of Frozzzen Hot Chocolate to the First Lady? The book tells you that story too.

And,yes .....the book does include the infamous 'Frozzzen Hot Chocolate' recipe that they have become famous for. No, it doesn't tell you exactly what kind of chocolate they use (they'd go out of business if they gave it up!)....but it gives you a start. Use your own chocoalte kind-of recipe. It also includes variations of the hot-chocoalte recipe. Very fun.

If you are a cook cook collector this book is a must for your shelf. Put it right next to your entertaining books from Williams-Sonoma. :) If you have a friend that is a collector and you are trying to find a book that will stand out from all of the other ones that they own......Stop looking...THIS IS IT! I promise! :)

When I grew up in New York, Serendipity was a special occasion destination. I only went there a couple of times, but -- like everyone else -- I fell in love with the "frozen hot chocolate," the funky ambiance, and the eclectic gift shop. (They had pet rocks for sale before it became a fad. For all I know, the fad _started_ at the restaurant.) So I was primed to enjoy Serendipity's cookbook.

You don't have to know anything about the place, though, because the book will bring you up to speed. Serendipity, billed as restaurant and general store, opened in 1954 and, while it serves entrees too, it's most famous for its desserts. That's all you find here -- along with charming text about the restaurant's history, plus anecdoates about and testimonials from all sorts of famous patrons (such as James Lipton, Alec Baldwin, Ron Howard, Yoko Ono). In a lot of cookbooks, the name-dropping can be annoying or precious, but here the stories are really fun. (For example, a fan asked the man standing next to her, "Oooh, is that Meg Ryan?" The unrecognized Dennis Quaid said yes, it was.)

Ultimately, though, this is a cookbook with over 100 cakes and desserts, all beautifully photographed. To my mild surprise, these are all very good recipes... but they aren't amazing. Sure, there's the famous frozen hot chocolate (which is depressingly simple; the secret ingredient is instant hot chocolate mix!). But for the most part, this is a set of perfectly adequate recipes for carrot cake, chocolate blackout cake, bourbon-pecan balls, pecan pie. The pecan pie, for example, has predictable ingredients -- just eggs, sugar, corn syrup, pecans, pie crust -- not even molasses or a drop of booze as a variation. I found a few unusual items, such as a rose wedding cake (made with real edible roses), and humble pie (which I don't think I've seen elsewhere).

Somehow, with all that funkiness and history, I expected more... though I'm not sure what, because a pecan pie is a pecan pie. Perhaps I should take this as a lesson in what good presentation can accomplish.

Even if it has little that's magical, though, Sweet Serendipity is a fine collection of dessert recipes. They have clear instructions, they're all in the "things people will love" category, and the pictures are great. This would be a *perfect* gift for a young cook for whom an "every dessert in the world" would be overkill, or for yourself, if you want a dose of holiday-dessert inspiration that you can read in the living room as well as in the kitchen.

I am an avid dessert person--I judge restaurants cookbooks etc. all based on the desserts, and this one definitely 'takes the cake' the recipes are easy--the food outstanding. Highly recommend!

I bought this for a gift and ended up reading every page! Very interesting story along with a delicious cookbook!

If you like rich and delicious desserts, this is the book for you. I have already made several recipes from this book and they all turned out great! I think you need to experiment with different chocolates and hot cocoa mixes that suit your taste (for the frozen hot chocolate recipe). The cheesecake is absolutely perfect. It's rich, tastes like restaurant quality, and has a terrifc nutty crust. There are also little stories that make this an interesting book to go through.

What great desserts. After having visited this awesome cafe, I had to purchase the book.

The desserts are fabulous and I am so greatful the Stephen finally decided to share the frrozen hot chocolate recipe.

This is an awesome cookbook! Having recently traveled to NY and getting to experience Serendipity first hand (where my hubby said the Frrrozen Hot Chocolate was worth the trip alone) I returned home and decided to get the cookbook. I was not disappointed in the slightest! I made the carrot cake and cheesecake recipes for my friend's birthday, and all the guests raved. Everyone said it was the best they had ever had, and my "non sweet eating" friends went back for seconds! I can't wait to try the rest of the recipes!