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

New York, NY Broadway Books, 1999. Hardcover First Edition [1999]; First Printing indicated. First Edition [1999]; First Printing indicated. Very Near Fine in Near Fine DJ: Both book and DJ show only minute indications of use. The Book shows barely discernible spine lean; else flawless; the binding remains perfectly secure; text clean. The DJ shows a half-inch closed tear at the top of the front panel; the price has not been clipped; mylar-protected. Overall, very close to 'As New'. NOT a Remainder, Book-Club, or Ex-Library. 4to. 256pp. Fifty full-color photographs and 140 classic Desserts for the Home Baker. Decorated Endpapers. Hardback with DJ. 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 five 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), four 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 four 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 six 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!