Moosewood Restaurant Book of Desserts

I wondered, what does it mean for a vegetarian restaurant to publish a dessert cookbook? I mean, most desserts don't have meat in them, so ... Well, the answer is: it's wonderful! The same creativity that is a feature of the other Moosewood Restaurant cookbooks is clearly on display in the Book of Desserts. If you've seen their other books, particularly "Sundays at Moosewood", you know that the group pulls influences from cultures all over the world. This book is no different, in that the desserts exhibit that similar multi-cultural style, with spices (some of which are pretty surprising!) and flavors from all over. All the while, the Moosewoodies (I hope it's okay to call them that!) stay true to their own style, and keep the recipes true to their home cultures as well. I highly recommend it -- especially for party planning (making desserts for parties).

I love a cookbook that is more than just a collection of recipes. The recipes in this cookbook all start with some background about where the recipe came from, how it can be used, and other ideas for how to serve it. This makes the book fun to browse through. Also, the book is well-organized and well indexed. There's even an ingredients index so you can look in your pantry and pick a dessert based on what you have on hand. The variety of recipes is good: some are easy, some are more complicated, some are good for kids, some are fancy for adults. I've tried several things from each chapter of the book and everything has turned out well. Basics are included, such as a flawless pie crust recipe, as well as more unusual desserts such as Pink Chiffon Cake. Another bonus is the multicultural aspect of the book. There are several recipes from the Middle East, and some from Italy, Greece, too. These Mediterranean desserts tend to be less sweet than what our US taste buds usually like, and I've found them great for informal suppers and luncheons. (By the way, the name "Moosewood" in this cookbook does not mean "healthy"! There's plenty of sugar and other good stuff in these recipes!) I make desserts only when entertaining, so I usually have to take the risk of trying new recipes with guests, but with this cookbook I never have any worry about whether it will be a hit or not. This book has proven itself to be a Dessert Bible for me!

I have several dessert cookbooks, all with great recipes, most costing considerably more than this one. In spite of that, when I am looking for a recipe, this is the cookbook that usually comes through for me. I have made cakes, muffins, coffee cakes, cookies, pies, and other assorted sweets, all with rave reviews. The recipes are tailored for the home cook, so they are easy to prepare, but amazingly there is no loss of quality. You can get fancy if you want (the chocolate cake with chocolate ganache is quite impressive) but most of the recipes are quite simple. No great color photos, but the price more than makes up for that.

If you love to bake you'll love this cookbook! Most appreciated is the prep time, baking time, and equipment needed section for each recipe. Easy to read recipes and the results are to die for! The peanut butter cupcakes with cream cheese icing are the BEST we've ever tasted!

I bought this book a week ago and have already tested half a dozen desserts from it and plan to make dozens more(I am a home-based professional baker selling to restuarants in my area). The instructions were well written, and included accurate estimates of preparation time. The desserts were easy to prepare, yet had a moderate elegance (not a fancy pastry generally, but definitely classy). Each of the desserts came out exceptionally well, was tasty as well as attractive, and received excellent reviews from my "taste testers" (the family). The variety included was excellent, and while some chocolate recipes were included, it was nice to see some refreshing alternatives. The discussion of ingredients in the glossary is very educational for the home baker, and the inclusion of storage instructions and keeping time for the individual desserts within the body of the recipe helpful. One of the best that Moosewood has put out.