Customer Reviews

Williams-Sonoma The Best of Kitchen Library: Desserts (The Best of the Kitchen Library)

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

 

 

I make desserts professionally, and have a multitude of dessert cookbooks. Out of more than 25 books I already own that focus on desserts, this one is the best for helping bakers of all levels of experience to create beautiful, specialty desserts. If you're looking for directions for a Cool-Whip based pie, or detailed explanations of baking chemistry, this book doesn't have that. What it does have is more than 100 recipes that will look and taste as though they came from a specialty bakery. The directions for each recipe are very, very straightforward, and even novice bakers will know what to do. At the same time, the recipes are brief enough not to annoy the already-experienced baker, and for professionals or semi-professionals, you will love that almost all of the ingredient lists include cup measurements, but also *weight* measurements, for those who prefer to scale amounts. There is a beautiful photograph accompanying every recipe, and I appreciate that the pictures show some of the desserts with a piece missing, so you can see what the layers of a cake will look like inside, how runny (or not) a fruit dessert might be, etc. Most of the recipes include ingredients I already have in my pantry, and even though I live in a very rural area and have a terribly stocked local grocery, all of the ingredients have been readily available at the store. No obscure ingredients--nice!

With many dessert cookbooks, I leaf through and add a tiny Post-It Note on recipes I'd like to sample. With this book, it would be easier if I had just flagged the ones to skip! Seriously, there are that many I'd like to try. So far I have made the Warm Pear Cake with Walnut Caramel Topping (yum), the Pecan Caramel Cheesecake (no-bake filling, and double-yum!), and the Honey Nectarine Cheesecake (sorry, but this one we didn't like at all). Though we've loved most of the recipes tried so far, by far the best is the Coconut Cheesecake (baked filling). It is to die for, though like all recipes, I made a few changes after trying it the first time. Changes I made: Add 1/2 teaspoon coconut flavoring to the filling, for a tiny extra punch of flavor, add 1 tablespoon extra cream to the bittersweet chocolate glaze on the top, so it's not quite so firm, and bake in a 10" springform pan rather than a 9", because this is one beautifully tall cheesecake! It was great as written, but the changes made it suit my needs completely.

If you need a dessert that will make guests say, "WOW!", this is the book you need. I would have gladly paid ten times more for this book, and if something happened to it, I'd buy another copy right away. Have fun!

I have made 2 recipes from this book - orange pound cake and chocolate decadence. They turn out delicious and look exactly like the pictures. I am one of those who need pictures as reference points. I really appreciate the details given in the recipes (i.e. beat til ... it looks like ...; approximately ... 5 mins ...) as I am still a novice baker. I also have Nigella Lawson's recipe book ... the recipes here are easier and for my own experience, the results turn out better. I only give it 4 stars as another review pointed out, this books has a lot of frozen desserts that require the use of ice cream maker which are not as important for me who like to bake. However, for those who love ALL desserts, this is a very pretty and easy to follow cookbook.

I've had this cookbook for over a year now and have had the opportunity to make lots of various things from it (although I still haven't tried any of its ice cream recipes, due mainly to the fact that I don't own an ice cream maker, though!) and let me just say -- fantastic! I LOVE this cookbook~! Everything turns out so yummy; there are fantastic pictures for every recipe; the language is clear, concise, and easily understandable; it's sectioned off nicely (e.g. cupcakes, cakes, & cheesecakes vs. frozen desserts vs. custards, mousses, & puddings vs. cookies, bars, & confections, etc. etc.).

But for me, the most awesome thing about this book are the two sections in the back titled "Basic Recipes & Techniques" and the "Glossary," where you'll find how-to's on everything from making basic pie crusts to chocolate glaze to vanilla sugar. You'll also be taught how to do those little things that amateurs such as myself are clueless about, like how to properly chop and toast nuts or make whipped cream or zest an orange! (Yes, all super easy once you know how, I admit.) Or it'll let you know just what the difference is between unsweetened, bittersweet, milk, and semisweet chocolates. It tells you about spices, and how to make creme fraiche, and let's you know how to properly pit a stone fruit (like a peach or plum), etc. etc. etc.!! And all of this is just in the last How-To sections of the book, and doesn't include anything from the actual myriad of recipes themselves!

I don't usually take the time to write reviews on Amazon, and I've certainly never wrote one as long as this before, but when I saw that only three people had rated this cookbook and that it had an average of 3 1/2 stars, I just felt like I had to step in and do it some justice. :) So trust me, if you're in the market for a good, versatile dessert cookbook, this one rocks.

I was hoping this book would have a similar selection from the small, but amazing "Desserts : Collection" book from WS. The desserts listed in this book are pretty good, but of the ~150 recipes, only a small percentage of those are really appealing. About 1/3 of the book is dedicated to frozen and fruit desserts. Traditional desserts, such as cakes, cookies, pies, tarts, custards, mouses, and cheesecakes are given little coverage in comparison. While the recipes for the sorbets and ice creams do look good, you must have an ice cream maker/freezer to make them. Compared to the "Desserts : Collection" WS book, which only had about 40 recipes, this one misses the mark in my opinion. It isn't a bad choice for someone looking to make unique fruity or frozen desserts, but for traditional dessert making and preparation, you may have to look elsewhere. I picked up this book for less than Amazon retail, so it wasn't a bad purchase, but for the money, there are better books out there.

I purchased this cookbook several years ago and have tried 10-15 recipes so far. Each one has been delicious! My favorites are the biscotti and the blueberry cheesecake pie - I get a lot of requests for those two recipes. I have a ton of recipe books, this is one that I use whenever I need to make dessert. Highly recommended!

I let my 13 year old daughter pick the first dessert from this book and she chose the Peanutbutter Cheesecake. While the picture looked good - peanutbutter? In cheesecake? My husband and I turned our nose up at the thought and were pretty sure we would not be eating it, but let me tell ya...it was freaken good! I can't wait to make more desserts from this book. The pictures are beautiful and my finished product was pretty darn close to the photo. I weighed my ingredents instead of measuring them and the results were fantastic. I only gave this book a four star rating instead of a five because I have not made any other recipes from it, but I highly recommend this one.