Caramel: Recipes for Deliciously Gooey Desserts

Peggy Cullen has done her homework, and we get to be the benefactors of that work. It's lovely. Delicious recipes.

No one I've ever met. This cookbook is full of recipes that will be a hit with a caramel lover or anyone you make them for. There is a lot of good information about the making of caramel that demystifies the process. The best part of the cookbook , is all the recipes that incorporate caramel(a very easy sticky bun recipe) or add caramel to something more unexpected(caramel dipped marshmallows). This is a very well-designed cookbook- my only complaint is that I wish it was longer.

I have Peggy Cullen's cookie book (Got Milk?) and have read (and saved) her articles for Martha Stewart Living and Food & Wine magazine, among others. I knew of her candy recipes so I was expecting the caramel book to be just as easy, with her familiar and friendly voice. This book absolutely simplifies what had seemed like a challenging process - turning sugar into caramel (in its various forms) without burning, crystallizing or otherwise ruining pots of expensive ingredients. I went from having about 30% success with other cookbooks to no-fail. The recipes range from basic to expert. I love her nut brittles. Tart Tatin is a delicious and simple classic. The Pumpkin Spice Layer Cake is a fantastic addition to Thanksgiving and a huge hit at parties. I make pots of caramel sauce to dress up even a plain dessert - and everyone swoons. Try the super fast sticky buns. The madcaps are addictive. Next up, I've been hungry to try the Caramel Hazelnut tart. Cullen's book has even given me the confidence to take liberties - variations on caramelized apples, adding extra salt, even caramelizing without a thermometer! This is the book I most frequently give as a gift to friends who love cooking; especially after they have enjoyed something I made from one of Cullen's recipes and asked how they can learn to do the same. Get this book.

When I found out there was a caramel cookbook from Chronicle Books, I immediately got a copy. One of my favorite flavors combined with one of my favorite cookbook publishers--how could I go wrong? As usual, Chronicle did not disappoint; cookbook author Peggy Cullen and food photographer Maren Caruso have served up one of the most decadent cookbooks since Marcel Desaulniers' Death by Chocolate series. Caramelizing sugar can be tough. It can burn in seconds. It can seize up. However, I saw an episode of Alton Brown's TV show "Good Eats" that dealt with the subject. Alton and food scientist Shirley O. Corriher explained lots of science about sugar crystals, the upshot of which is: include a little light corn syrup and your caramel won't seize up. That simple. I checked right away, and the caramel recipe here calls for a few drops of lemon juice or a little light corn syrup; I was satisfied that the author knew her stuff. I headed for recipes that looked like challenges--ones I was a bit dubious about. I inherently love caramel, so this cookbook has an unfair advantage when being judged. The nut brittle (I'm not overly fond of nuts nor the sickly-sweetness of most brittles) bowled me over; I couldn't stop eating it. The pears poached in port wine sauce (I'm not thrilled about the taste of alcohol either) were delicious. Recipes range from the elegant (fresh figs with caramel and creme fraiche) to the simple (caramel popcorn), time-consuming (chocolate-caramel crunch cake) to quick (caramel dessert sauce). There are classics like creme caramel, creme brulee, buttercrunch toffee, and nut praline. There are also plenty of things I haven't seen in other cookbooks, like caramelized banana split-second sundae, caramel-roasted strawberry shortcakes, and chocolate souffle roulade with caramel whipped cream. (And oh, the caramel peach-bottom babycakes are wonderful!) I can't think of a single negative thing to say about this cookbook. Cooks who aren't confident in the kitchen and prefer to keep things simple would find many of the recipes too complex, but even they could play with things like the nut brittle, caramel sauce and caramel popcorn. Some people might not be thrilled by the price-to-number of recipes ratio (roughly 50 recipes not including variations and decorations), but this book has a value that the flat number of recipes can't convey. Cullen demystifies caramel and turns it into something doable--even easy for more experienced cooks. And that's pure, luxurious, delectable magic.