Simply Sensational Desserts: 140 Classics for the Home Baker from New York's Famous Patisserie and Bistro

I am highly impressed with this book. There are too many cookbooks on the market written by chefs that advertise their own restaurants, or require highly expensive and inaccessible ingredients, or with recipes that require a whole weekend to construct just for visual effects, or all of the above. Francois Payard truly understands the needs and resources of a home cook. So far, I have tried 5 dessert soups (mango soup with gingered raspberries is my favorite, and it caused a standing ovation from my family and guests), a few cookies (coconut tuiles are sooo simple and sooo delicious), 4 cakes ( the Chocolate Pudding Cake is the simplest cake in its category across several cookbooks, and fantastic in terms of flavor and impressive in terms of presentation; Gateau Alexandra caused deep envy of my husband's male friends :)), and 4 tarts, all of which turned out delicious and quite original. I appreciate that the author gives one recipe for tart dough which works for several of the sweet tarts (there are variations for some other tarts). I already had 6 lemon tarts/pies/cakes in my cooking repertoire, but Payard's lemon tart is just unbelievably flavorful, tasty, beautiful, and so simple! Mediterranean Swiss Chard tart is very original, takes little time to make (you can make several batches of tart dough once and use a prepared in advance batch), and is versatile - try it with other nuts, or golden raisins, or soak raisins in Amaretto instead of rum, or use dried cherries instead of raisins and soak them in Kirsch instead of rum. Hazelnut Tart with Chocolate Chantilly Cream also gives an ubelievable return on investment: it tastes great and looks very sophisticated for the actual time required to make it. It is somewhat rich, so I had to preceed it with a lighter entree when serving it as a dinner dessert course. There are recipes for warm souffles and for frozen souffles, which gives a good representation for one book. The photographs are beautiful. Not only is this book very practical, but it will also make a great gift. I believe that this book is worth every penny and I recommend it very highly. Bravo, Francois Payard!

Awsome book. The best Parisian desserts are yours to make. Some recipes may be a little difficult for the beginning baker, but the explanations are very detailled and should get you through the most difficult cake. Not since leaving Paris 15 years ago, have I found a book that captured so well the essence of French Pastry. I made the Opera several times, which is the most painstaking recipe in the book, but with equal success every time, and fabulous compliments from my guests. A chapter about basic pastry crusts, creams and sauces is also very helpful, and then, the variations are yours to create. Since buying this book for myself, I must have given 6 or 7 away as presents to friends with different baking abilities. All love it. If it's the only baking book you purchase, let it be this one

I have over 200 cookbook, many of them on desserts and baking. I was greatly suprised that a french pastry chef could write such a wonderfully simple dessert book, putting fabulous classic french desserts in the easy reach of the most basic american baker. This will certainly be a dessert book that I intent on turning to often. Payard did an outstanding job streamlining his desserts to very easy workable recipes. I was suprised that he would use frozen puff pastry, canned pears. Wow. Bravo!

So far I have tried the Banana Bread, Apple Bread and warm Apricot Souffle. They have been relatively easy to put together and delicious

Fabulous pictures, easy-to-follow recipes create simple yet sophisticated desserts that look and taste wonderful. I started off with the Apricot/Almond/Raspberry Tart and the Pear/Almond Tart (Tarte Bourdloue), and had terrific results the very first time. Skip the junk food and save your calories for "the real thing"...your guests and family will love you!