Customer Reviews

A Year in Chocolate: Four Seasons of Unforgettable Desserts

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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.

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.

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!

Chocolate cookbook maven Alice Medrich's premise in A YEAR IN CHOCOLATE: FOUR SEASONS OF UNFORGETTABLE DESSERTS is that we should cook and eat different chocolate desserts at different times of the year. In the fall, where this collection of 54 recipes begins, the author suggests adding chocolate to the classic pecan pie-- but not too much-- and gingerbread and cranberry bread pudding. Winter is "a grand excuse to abandon restraint in favor of the richest, deepest, and darkest chocolate of all." I couldn't agree more. Chocolate truffles, chocolate souffles, very rich hot chocolate and "The Ultimate Flourless Chocolate Cake" make appearances. A word about that recipe. I have baked it twice. It falls into my quick and easy category. If you can melt semi-sweet butter in a double boiler, you are pretty much home free. You do not even have to separate the eight (8) eggs required to make this baby rise. The finished product has the beautiful, delicious consistency somewhere between a mousse and a brownie and is one of the best chocolate desserts I've ever baked. Ms. Medrich maintains that she lightens up in springtime, adding Passover and Easter goodies as well as a white chocolate-lemon cheesecake if you find white chocolate light. I do not. In sultry summer she includes recipes that are cold or frozen, along with fruit, and a chocolate pound cake. I suppose you might get a cool breeze from the ocean, should you take that heavy dessert to the beach.

Ms. Medrich discusses how to measure both dry and liquid ingredients, how to measure flour, how to melt chocolate, along with other tips to make sure that you get perfect results every time. Set out and measure all your ingredients before you start the recipe, for example.

After all is said and done, I was not convinced that you can put chocolate recipes nicely into the seasons of the year.I suspect that Ms. Medrich just wanted an excuse to write another chocolate dessert cookbook. That works for me.

I was given this chocolate cookbook for my birthday and love it! I have only made a few recipes, but my favorite is the fastest fudge cake and frosting. I've made this particular recipe at all times of the year and it is the best! Other recipes have come out equally tasty. I purchased a copy for my daughter-in-law. If you love chocolate, you should love this cookbook.