The Ultimate Candy Book: More than 700 Quick and Easy, Soft and Chewy, Hard and Crunchy Sweets and Treats [Paperback]

Bruce Weinstein (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 3, 2000

Bruce Weinstein, author of The Ultimate Ice Cream Book, has the answer with this collection of confections. Try his rich chocolate truffles or any one of a dozen variations; sweet, chewy caramel with almonds or coconut; buttery pralines with crunchy pecans; or light-as-air divinity, nougat, and marshmallow.

Craft your own candy Christmas ornaments to hang on your tree, pipe chocolate spiderwebs for a scary Halloween touch, or whip up meringue kisses for your honey on Valentine's Day. Bruce even offers step-by-step instructions for creating your own homemade versions of classic favorites like peanut butter cups, gummy bears, and chewing gum.

If you have a sweet tooth or know someone who does, The Ultimate Candy Book -- filled with hundreds of year-round treats and gift-giving ideas -- is ultimately satisfying.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Weinstein's book, in the same style as his Ultimate Ice Cream Book, offers 100 or so basic recipes for delectable candies plus variations on the themeDmany recipes, in fact, include close to a dozen versions in all. The candies are organized into the three general categories of the subtitle and range from Fudge-in-a-Minute to Turkish Taffy (in grape, peach, and even fig flavors) to Hazelnut Brittle. There's even a recipe for homemade chewing gum. With its abundance of recipes, this is a good companion to Carole Bloom's several less-ambitious candy-making titles (e.g., Truffles, Candies, & Confections, Crossing Pr., 1996).
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

If desserts aren't sweet enough or not ready quickly enough, candy provides instant gratification. Bruce Weinstein's The Ultimate Candy Book rushes to the rescue with recipes for all sorts of favorite homemade candies as well as directions for reproducing favorite commercial candies in the home kitchen. Weinstein makes plain the simple method of combining pecans, caramel, and chocolate into homemade turtles. His chocolate matzo makes the deprivations of the Passover season much more bearable. Some unexpected treats appear here, such as coconut snowballs: crisp coconut coating the outside of balls of contrastingly moist, chewy coconut. What's unusual is that they're served straight from the deep freeze. Brad Hooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Cookbooks (October 3, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688175104
• ISBN-13: 978-0688175108
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #96,723 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

One of America's premier food experts, Bruce Weinstein's training began at Johnson and Wales Culinary Institute. He then worked as an advertising creative director specializing in food and drink clients such as Lea and Perrins, Bols, Bacardi, and José Cuervo. This culinary/creative expertise led to his first book, Frozen Drinks With or Without the Buzz (Clarkson Potter, 1997).

The Ultimate Ice Cream Book soon followed in 1999, published by Morrow, and has sold over 250,000 copies to date. The ice cream title was the impetus for his best-selling "ultimate" series that now includes The Ultimate Party Drink Book (2000), The Ultimate Candy Book (2000), The Ultimate Shrimp Book (2002), The Ultimate Brownie Book (2002), The Ultimate Potato Book (2003), The Ultimate Muffin Book (2004), The Ultimate Chocolate Cookie Book (2004), The Ultimate Frozen Dessert Book (2005), and The Ultimate Peanut Butter Book (2005).

In March, 2007, HarperCollins brought out his magnum opus: The Ultimate Cook Book: 900 New Recipes, Thousands of Ideas. Chosen as a main selection of the Book of the Month Club this title has been touted by the likes of Jacques Pepin and Bette Midler. January 2009 saw the publication of Pizza: Grill It, Bake It, Love It, followed by Cooking Know-How, a technique driven cookbook by John Wiley in April, 2009. This book won the Gourmand International Cook Book award for best American cook book in the easy recipe category.

Along the way, other titles include Cooking for Two (2004), a new way to cook for American's burgeoning small households, as well as Grilling Essentials (2002) for the Cooking Club of America, The Stonewall Kitchen Cookbook (2001), and Dr. Phil's Weight Loss Solution Cookbook (2004).

In 2010 Bruce will have three new books published. Stewart Tabori, and Chang will publish Ham: An Obsession With The Hind Quarter in March then publish Bruce's first knitting book, Knits Men Want, in April. In May Simon & Schuster will publish REAL FOOD HAS CURVES - a 7-step plan to get off processed food.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good recipes, bad for the beginner..., January 28, 2003

By 

"kovert" (Purcellville, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ultimate Candy Book: More than 700 Quick and Easy, Soft and Chewy, Hard and Crunchy Sweets and Treats (Paperback)

I purchased this book as one my first to learn about the art of candymaking, before I really made much.

I got it, read through it and found the recipes looked tasty but were seemed to assume some degree of expertise despire the attempts to lay out the basics early in the book.

I ended up setting it aside in favor of other books to help me learn the art.

Now that I'm more familiar with "the art", I've gone back to this book and made a handful of the recipes with extreme success.

In short, a good book for your collection, but not the place to start.

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars TONS of recipes to satisfy any appetite but no photos, June 2, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Ultimate Candy Book: More than 700 Quick and Easy, Soft and Chewy, Hard and Crunchy Sweets and Treats (Paperback)

The author provides alot of valuable information on what kinds of ingredients to use and what kinds of tools to use. He's included MANY clear, concise recipes. Unfortunately, there are no photos at all; there are only simple black and white drawings here and there. If you can get past the lack of photos and can do with imagining how your candy would look like, buy this book.

46 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An evil book. Should be banned., April 6, 2001

By 

Joanna Daneman (Middletown, DE USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Ultimate Candy Book: More than 700 Quick and Easy, Soft and Chewy, Hard and Crunchy Sweets and Treats (Paperback)

Not only are there traditional homemade favorites here like divinity, but you can reproduce commercial treats like caramel turtles and chocolate cherries. Only much better.

Since a lot of commercial candy tastes full of additives, chemicals and too much high-fructose corn syrup, it's great to have recipes to make your own.

Only problem is that these are TOO good. So make them as gifts and wrap them up before too much damage can be done. Or wear a hockey mask a la Hannibal Lecter. This book is evil. These are just too good. You've been warned.