"Like many people, I believe that you should always save room for dessert," says Karen Barker. Inspired by this sumptuous collection of more than 160 easy-to-follow dessert recipes, you may decide to skip dinner altogether and head straight for the sweet stuff. Drawing on years of professional experience as well as memories of cooking and baking from her Brooklyn childhood, Barker invites us to cook alongside an experienced mentor. Starting with the fundamentals, she offers advice on selecting key ingredients, suggestions for essential kitchen equipment, and even tips on ways to fit dessert-making into the busiest of schedules. Her recipes begin with pastry doughs, sauces, and special toppings that serve as building blocks for other desserts and provide a foundation for home cooks eager to improve their skills. Chapters on pies, fruit desserts, custards, cakes, ice creams, cookies, and breakfast-like desserts feature familiar favorites with a twist, such as key lime coconut pie with rum cream, deep-dish brown sugar plum cobbler, dark chocolate Peppermint Pattie cake, and cornmeal vanilla bean shortbreads. Sweet Stuff offers something irresistible for everyone.
About the Author :
Karen Barker is the 2003 winner of the Best Pastry Chef Award from the James Beard Foundation and 1999 winner of Bon Appetit's American Food and Entertaining Award for Best Pastry Chef. She and husband Ben Barker own and operate Magnolia Grill in Durham, North Carolina, and are coauthors of Not Afraid of Flavor; Recipes from Magnolla Grill.
Review :
"A diverse and balanced selection of [Barker's] favorite American desserts. She enthusiastically introduces home cooks to the basics . . . with clear, unintimidating directions and copious suggestions for variations. . . . By altering just a few ingredients or adding an unusual spice, Barker creates out-of-the-ordinary twists on classics. . . . The book will satisfy any sweet tooth." -- Publishers Weekly
"Clear and concise recipes that are also mouthwateringly tempting. . . . It isn't often that an award-winning pastry chef produces a fine book for home baking, but Karen Barker has admirably succeeded in doing so. . . . This lovely book [has] . . . a warm, friendly tone that never intimidates and always spells out all the information you need to be successful with the recipes. . . . This is definitely a book to pick up right away -- you won't regret it." -- Cookbook Digest
"Filled with tempting recipes." -- Newsday
"In Sweet Stuff, James Beard Award-winning pastry chef Karen Barker shares the secrets behind her luscious desserts. Like any good teacher, Barker starts with the essentials . . . and works her way up to more elaborate creations." -- Bon Appétit
"Karen Barker believes one should always save room for dessert. And this . . . chef gives us plenty of reasons to share her belief, whether we're dining in her restaurant or perusing her delectable recipes. . . .With Karen's careful advice on ingredients and technique, it's easy to tackle any of Sweet Stuff's 160-plus recipes." -- Chapel Hill Magazine
"Karen Barker has assembled an amazing array of delectable desserts." -- KLIATT
"Karen Barker is one of the country's best working bakers. . . . Keep an eye out (and an oven preheated) for her deep-dish brown-sugar plum cobbler, maple bourbon sweet potato pie and peach cobbler with cornmeal cream biscuits and more bourbon -- remember, we're down South." -- New York Times Book Review
"This new collection of [Barker's] delicious desserts is sure to bring joy to any home baker. . . . For all baking collections." -- Library Journal
"Try Barker's chocolate shortcake. . . . Oh, man, it's good." -- Candy Sagan, Washington Post
"Unpretentious, deceptively simple-sounding, unfailingly delectable desserts." -- New York Times
