Product Description

In the tradition of The Black Family Reunion Cookbook, Celebrating Our Mothers' Kitchens, and A Gracious Plenty, The Church Ladies' Divine Desserts brings together more than two hundred recipes, culled from local, church, and family cookbooks. But this book is much more than a compilation of recipes for decadent (or divine) sweets. It honors church ladies, those revered African-American women who have contributed immeasurably to their churches as teachers, mentors, keepers of tradition, and as culinary experts.

A homemade dessert is more than just a sweet finale to a meal in the African-American kitchen. It is a way to demonstrate special affection while underscoring the bounty of God's blessing on the home. And no one more than a church lady is aware of the power of a fine chocolate confection or a down-home bread pudding prepared with love and served with respect.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1241053 in Books
• Published on: 2002-12-19
• Released on: 2003-01-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

From Amazon.com
The African American church-going experience is richly defined through the recipes and stories collected in Brenda Rhodes Miller's The Church Ladies' Divine Desserts: Heavenly Recipes and Sweet Recollections. Throughout the book, Miller introduces us to many church ladies and shares their sweet yet significant contributions to their neighborhood churches and communities.

The phrase "church social" is equivalent to homemade and the recipes are of the sort one would expect to find on the tables at a church social or bake sale, ranging from Pineapple Upside-Down Cake to Sweet Potato Pie. Boxed cake mixes are forbidden with this crowd and Miller even includes a story of one church lady from her childhood who was quite comfortable sending individuals back home if they had brought "store-bought" baked goods to a gathering.

The stories and church-lady bios make for pleasant reading, and the recipes in this book are great to have on hand the next time you're asked to bring dessert to a social gathering. Whether you need a tasty and tart fresh lime pie or a chocolate brownie recipe that requires more effort than just adding water, The Church Ladies' Divine Desserts is a welcome and comforting resource, full of rich flavor as well as history. --Teresa Simanton

From Library Journal
The "church ladies" are the loyal women the author describes as "the movers and shakers in the congregation," the ones responsible in many African American churches for making sure things run smoothly. Miller, a contributor to The Black Family Reunion Cookbook and the wife of a Baptist preacher in Washington, DC, has collected recipes and reminiscences from "church ladies" all over the country. Her text is informative and engaging, and the stories of many of these special churchwomen are often moving. The more than 200 recipes include old-fashioned sweets like Floating Island, perennial favorites such as Strawberry Shortcake, and unusual desserts like Caribbean Bread Pudding. For most collections.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Those spectacularly hatted African American women who contribute so mightily to their communities through service from their churches are celebrated again in Brenda Rhodes Miller's The Church Ladies' Divine Desserts. Along with recipes for tea cakes, buttermilk pie, bread pudding, and ambrosia, essays recount church life and lore in the nurturing church circles. Recipes are generally simple to execute, but Sweet Potato Pecan Pie takes a dessert staple to a more sophisticated level, and Floating Island re-creates a classic French offering. Photos of the stately and always elegantly dressed and coifed church women surrounded by their offspring offer hope that these churches' noble traditions will survive to inspire a new generation. Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Good one...
I liked the pictures and the author's comments. The recipes are plain and simple. This is an interesting and easy to follow cookbook. Good price.

Feel Good All Over...
Even though this is a cookbook, it is too cute for words! I love, love, love the concept! I have finished the book already and haven't cooked a thing! Must have in any library! Just makes you feel good all over.

Yummy!
Brenda Rhodes Miller's The Church Ladies' Divine Desserts: Heavenly Recipes and Sweet Recollections is an excellent cookbook and a beautiful tribute to the wonderful ladies who keep our churches going. The cakes are out of this world delicious! I've been working my way through it much to the delight of my hungry friends and family.

Kimberley Lindsay Wilson, author of 11 Things Mama Should Have Told You About Men