Customer Reviews

Sweets: Soul Food Desserts and Memories

5 star:		(54)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This isn't just a cookbook, it's a national treasure! Over the last few years I have purchased numerous cookbooks that center around Southern cooking or Soul Food. This one tops them all. From cover to cover it is a joy to read. The photographs are awesome. This book took a great deal of time to write. Perhaps 100 years. The recipes date back that long. It is a story of families, American families, that we all need to read, enjoy and praise. The recipes are wonderful, homey, comforting, easy to make. I LOVE this book! If you buy only one cookbook this year, Patty Pinner's book is THE one! Thank you Ms. Pinner for sharing your incredible family with the world. I am overwhelmed.

I got this book & read it cover to cover. I have over 250 cookbooks, and I am a snob when it comes to good cookbooks. Out of all my cookbook, I'd say that this is in the the top 5. It takes me back home to KY, and my grandmother kitchen. And reminds me of all the wonderful food that we ate at home & at the church revivals. All the women would try to out cook each other. The recipies in this book, are almost word for word & step for step what I remember watching my grandmother & the other ladies I grew up watching cook. Patty, you call this Soul food cooking. But to me & everyone raised in the south. It's just really good/great home cooking. I'd love it if you came out with a cookbook on veggies & meats etc. Bless your heart for writing this book. I thought I lost the chance to make several of the dishes listed in your cookbook. I lost my grandmother, and her recipies with her. I'd only remember some of them. So now, I have them back, and I've already started using your cookbook. Amazon will only let me give you 5 stars. But if I could I'd give you 100. Yes people the book is that good. I cook on the side for a living, so I know what I'm talking about!!!!

I am so happy that I stumbled across this book when searching for a southern dessert cook book. I couldn't wait to get it in the mail and quickly went through it to try the first recipe that stood out. I made the down home bred pudding and it was fantastic!!

Instead of using regular rum, I used hazelnut liquer and it turned out much better than I could have expected. I also tweaked the measurements here and there because my family loves a "wet" bread pudding.

So needlesstosay, I've been asked to make this for Thanksgiving as the main dessert! I can't wait to try the rest of the recipes. If they are any where close to this one, I'm sure they will all taste amazing!!

I never thought about buying, nor using, a cookbook until I received this book for Christmas. Well, the book wasn't exactly given to me; however, it was a gift to my mom. Nevertheless, I have not put it down for long since. I have already baked the Caramel cake, and although it was a big hit, this cooking time for the icing was off a bit, or I needed to increase the fire a bit. Still, this book is more than just a cookbook; the photos are priceless. Some of the recipes are for desserts that I have never heard of, and some for desserts that I have tasted once, but never seen them again. I love this book, and I really enjoy looking at the photos, reading the stories, and pondering over what to bake next. The only thing missing is pictures of the dishes.

Memories! The cover of the paperback edition has a strawberry, pink, cake on the cover. The minute I saw the cover I was taken in and once I opened the book to a random page and got a glance of the recipes inside, I was immediately transported back to my childhood and my family. Standing there in the bookstore, I immediately wanted to run home and begin baking these delectable desserts. I bought the book and I love the recipes and its contents. Ms. Patty Piner needs to take things a step further and write a Novel. I adored reading the stories about her family. The feeling I get reading it is just as fantastic as the recipes!
By far, the best and most complete soul food dessert book I've ever seen.
All of her "Ainties, Uncles and Cudn's" brought those stories to life.
I will be getting the hardcover version of this book as well as purchasing it for gift giving! Update: Made the "MY-MY'S" cake and it was delicious! Moist, tasty, makes a great birthday cake. The frosting given with the cake was also unique and tasty, albeit, labor intensive as some of the recipes are, but I think that's what gives the book its charm. (After all, they lacked modern appliances). I also tried the recipe with my own version of vanilla frosting, umm good! I've made this cake 3x in less than a month.

I own a lot a cookbooks and have even written one of my own, but I have never seen anything quite like Sweets. The family stories were so captivating I could not quite reading them. What a truely unique and beautiful family Ms. Pinner is blessed with. In addition to the book being absolutely charming, the recipes are good too! I'm going to give a copy to my best friend for her birthday nex month.

This magnificent book is a peek into comfort food that is also a family treasure.I have tried the buttermilk pie and oatmeal cookies with excellent results and look forward to trying them all. The recipes are not usually found where I live so my friends are blown away by some of the flavors, eg the buttermilk pie!

Thoroughly enjoyable reading and baking! Patty spins a yarn as well as she stirs-up a cake batter. The recipes are delicious and virtually fool-proof. The stories are heart-warming, and nostalgic. This cook-book / family album is well written, and lavishly illustrated. The stories are reminiscent of the ones I used to hear sitting around my grandma's kitchen table. If the recipes don't hook you, the stories will! I found myself laughing out loud at the antics of Patty's "aunts" as they vied to out-do each other at the family gatherings. Patty has put together a golden treasury of her families' prized desert recipes, and told some pretty good stories about them along the way. "Sweets" is a truly unique protrait of a small-town family who made their deserts the "crowning point" of the family dinner.

P.S. This is the one you'll want to set out when company's coming!

This is a beautiful book and would be a great gift for anybody interested in soul food desserts. The history of Pinner's family, having moved from MS to MI, is also a great read for anyone whose family moved from the south to the midwest, east or west coast in the 40s or 50s.

Good old family recipes that we all can relate to with the family history and old wisetales. Looking forward to more from Patty Pinner. Thanks Allison B.