A Year in Chocolate: Four Seasons of Unforgettable Desserts [Hardcover]

Alice Medrich (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 24, 2001

Over the past 20 years, Alice Medrich's name has become synonymous with dessert. In A YEAR IN CHOCOLATE, Medrich shares her baking secrets for creating delectable chocolate desserts with all the best each season has to offer. Readers will learn how to prepare scrumptious holiday desserts from the easiest Christmas yule log to the most festive Fourth of July ice cream sundaes. Medrich also includes such seasonal treats as Hot Chocolate Souffles, Boardwalk Bananas and Chocolate Latkes, as well as little hints and tips that turn ordinary chocolate into an extraordinary culinary experience.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Medrich has written several other cookbooks, but chocolate is her real love, and she returns once again to it here. She had originally intended this to be a holiday cookbook but decided that that idea was too limiting, so she instead categorizes her recipes by season: "robust flavors" for fall (Chocolate Cranberry Bread Pudding), rich and indulgent treats for winter's chill (Very Rich Hot Chocolate), "celebratory" sweets for spring (Apricot Orange Wedding Cakes), and fruit and frozen desserts for summer (Independence Day Sundaes). There are full-page color photographs throughout and useful sections on "Dressing Up Desserts," as well as coverage of ingredients, equipment, and special techniques. For all baking collections.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

To its devotees, chocolate knows no season. Yet Alice Medrich takes just about everyone's favorite sweet and traces its uses through the changing seasons to create A Year in Chocolate. The skilled promoter of all forms of the cacao bean shows how to harmonize chocolate best with each quarter's prime produce. Fall brings figs to be drizzled with chocolate ganache. Winter holds Christmas cookies. For Easter, chocolate combines with rice cereal for an egg-shaped version of a popular candy bar. And summer's bounty offers ice cream sundaes. Chocoholics scarcely need an excuse to indulge their appetites, but others may find new taste dimensions in Medrich's more elaborate creations, such as Hazelnut Chocolate Meringue with blackberries. Chocolate Cream Puffs with Spun Sugar demand both culinary and artistic talent for success. Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Warner Books; First Edition edition (October 24, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446526649
• ISBN-13: 978-0446526647
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 8.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #648,677 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice but...., October 26, 2001

By 

glouise (Upstate New York United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Year in Chocolate: Four Seasons of Unforgettable Desserts (Hardcover)

Let me start by saying that I have never prepared any recipe of Alice Medrich's that was not all that she promised. This book is no exception. It has some nice recipes and a lovey selection of desserts. My only problem was that I was expecting more. It is a small volume, like her cookie book. I would recommend the book as a gift to a novice but if you are expecting the grandeur of Cocolat you will be disappointed. It is cute and even the common recipes have some kind of flare. For $18.00 it is a nice book, I do not think I would pay the full $26.00 for it.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another good one from Alice Medrich, November 28, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: A Year in Chocolate: Four Seasons of Unforgettable Desserts (Hardcover)

Alice Medrich is one of my favourite chocolate cookbook authors, and this one is another winner. Her recipes are all very carefully tested and if you follow her instructions you will be very pleased with the results. There is a range of simple to complex recipes, and all of the ones I've tried taste wonderful. The Breakfast Valentines are unassuming looking, but taste great! The Winter Solstice Cookies look and taste spectacular. I'm making them as my contribution to a Christmas cookie exchange. The Chocolate Cranberry Bread Pudding is wonderful "comfort food" and would be perfect for a holiday brunch. The Mocha Marjolaine looks very complicated, but is relatively simple to make, a nut meringue cake and a ganache. The ganache is divided, with part whipped for the filling and the rest used as a glaze. You will really impress company! These recipes are all in the winter section - I'm looking forward to spring, summer and fall to keep trying more of the recipes.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Attractive but no award-winner, November 1, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: A Year in Chocolate: Four Seasons of Unforgettable Desserts (Hardcover)

Again, Alice Medrich offers a catchy concept, meticulously researched recipes, informative tips and techniques, and eye-catching visuals... but this former devotee is left with my appetite unsatisfied. Just as with her last book "Cookies and Brownies", Alice seems tight-fisted with the number of recipes offered (some seem recycled from her previous books). Also, while the photography and food styling are lavish as always, the design goes over the top with soft-focus artsy-ness that's more fitting to a coffee-table artbook than a cookbook. I can't always make out what the photos are intended to show. Finally, it's odd that the bookjacket identifies Alice as a columnist for the San Francisco Examiner when (as far as I know) she hasn't published there for nearly a year. (I look for Alice's contributions to foodie magazines, etc., but haven't seen much at all in the last few years.) All told, this book is another attractive if not brilliant effort. Let's hope there's more fulfilling inspirational juice in the future!