Product Description

Does the thought of baking a cake conjure up a nightmare vision of a 15-ft layer cake, scrolled and fluted with decorations fit for a king?  If the word “dessert” just throws you into a cold sweat, the inside scoop on desserts is: they’re actually simple to make. And with the right help...well, just a piece of cake.

In the end, desserts are no harder to make than entrées. And with Desserts For Dummies, you’ll cut even a Wedding Cake recipe down to size, flip Crepes Suzette with aplomb, and throw together a batch of Chocolate Truffles your local chocolatier will envy. And with this handy, down-to-earth guide from a leading pastry chef and a former New York Times restaurant critic, you’ll discover the proper way to read a dessert recipe, organize your ingredients, and also how to:

• Think like a sweet chef—including basic tips on measuring, weighing, presenting, gauging cooking time, and pairing desse rts with meals
• Stock a pantry, and use leftovers creatively (such as caramel and meringue)
• Set up a kitchen—including tips on counter height and ovens
• Select the right cooking tools and how to use them

Before you know it, you’ll start creating desserts that you’ve only dreamed of, like:

• Pies and tarts—including Mom’s Apple Pie, Banana Cream Pie, Raspberry Tart, and Linzertorte
• Puff pastry, cream puffs, and éclairs—Classic Puff Pastry, Profiteroles, Napoleons, and Eclairs
• Crepes and blinis—including Crepes Suzette and Chocolate Blinis with Diced Bananas
• Custards and puddings—including Zabaglione, Vanilla Pastry Cream, Traditional Bread Pudding, and Rice Pudding
• Homemade cakes—including Whipped Cream Layer Cake, Classic Chocolate Mousse Layer Cake, and Yellow Chiffon Cake with Chocolate Frosting

With over 130 delicious recipes to choose from, plus sixteen pages of color photos, a summary cheatsheet of baking essentials, black-and-white how-to illustrations, and humorous cartoons along the way, Desserts For Dummies brings the world of delicious, elegant desserts right to your kitchen. And a little magic into the lives of your friends and family.

---

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #109093 in Books
• Published on: 1997-09-22
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 9.20" h x 1.00" w x 7.30" l, 1.70 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 424 pages

From Amazon.com
You're no dummy to salivate at the thought of Baked Chocolate Pillows, Fallen Chocolate Soufflé, or Mom's Apple Pie. Following the easy, breezy format of the Dummies series, pastry chef Bill Yosses, who spent a decade at the four-star Bouley Restaurant in New York City, takes you through these recipes and 130 more in Desserts for Dummies. The book is cowritten by Bryan Miller, once the restaurant critic for the New York Times. The 16 pages of color photographs in this book are alluring, but a few more illustrations in black and white would help, particularly accompanying the recipes for making puff pastry and strudel dough. You'll dive easily into recipes such as Toasted Coconut Frozen Soufflé and English Trifle, which is made from scratch starting with instructions for sponge cake. Yosses and Miller also offer information on ingredients and techniques to enlarge your repertoire and improve your skills. Dessert making is the most precise form of cooking, and Desserts for Dummies is appropriately less frantic and more direct than other volumes in the Dummies cooking series.

From the Back Cover
"The recipes for ‘Dummies’ are so delicious I felt compelled to eat the book." —Robert Klein, Actor and Comedian "Chef Yosses and Mr. Miller will help anyone who is afraid of baking." — Markus Farbinger, Professor and Team Leader for Curriculum and Instruction in Baking Pastry Arts, The Culinary Institute of America

Includes More Than 130 Dessert Recipes Complete With Color Photos and Illustrations!

Need a quick way to dress up a meal? Do you find yourself craving a homemade dessert but don't think you have the time to make one after work? Would you like to be able to decorate a cake and have it look like it came from a bakery? Don't sweat it! With all the tips, techniques, and amazing recipes in Desserts For Dummies^™, you'll find just what you need to make delicious desserts guaranteed to impress your family and friends. Let These Icons Guide You!

• Highlights information about everybody's favorite ingredients
• Identifies must-know techniques for dessert-making
• Gives tips on how to make an ordinary dessert extraordinary

Inside, you'll discover how to:

• Give in to your chocolate cravings — with a chapter for choc-a-holics!
• Make ice cream, sorbet, and other frozen desserts in your own kitchen
• Find the essential elements of dessert-making such as pie crusts, puddings, sauces, and more
• Use fillings, frosting, and decorations to turn a basic cake into a masterpiece
• Whip up impressive (and intimidating) desserts such as soufflés, tarts, and mousses
• Create quick, easy, delicious desserts on a moment's notice
• Dress up your creations with secret tips and techniques from the pros!
• Reduce the fat — but not the flavor — in almost any dessert recipe

About the Author
About the Authors Bill Yosses is a former pastry chef at the four-star Bouley Restaurant in Manhattan. Currently, he is also the pastry chef at Bouley Bakery, teaches dessert making and baking at the New School for Culinary Arts in Manhattan, and is a visiting instructor at Greystone, the Napa Valley branch of the Culinary Institute of America. He has trained at a number of top bakeries and restaurants in Paris, including Fauchon, La Maison du Chocolat, and Le Notre Pastry School. Bryan Miller is a former New York Times restaurant critic and feature writer and coauthor of IDG Books Worldwide's Cooking For Dummies?(TM). He has also written eight other books, including four editions of The New York Times Guide to Restaurants, The Seafood Cookbook, Classic to Contemporary, Cuisine Rapide, and A Chef's Tale. Miller is the recipient of The James Beard Who's Who Food and Beverage Award, which recognizes outstanding food and wine achievement.