Crisps, Cobblers, Custards & Creams

March 21, 2016
Anderson (From a Southern Oven) here covers the world of desserts beyond cookies, cakes, and candy. After reading the “Pudding Primer” and information on equipment and tools, readers are well prepared to delve into recipes, including the tried-and-true cherry cobbler, chocolate mousse, rice pudding, classic baked custard, and chocolate bread pudding. Regional and international flavors shine in the capirotada, a bread pudding from New Mexico made with white bread, raisins, and cheese, and the pudim molotov, a Portuguese meringue baked in a cake pan. The author delves into the history of sweets with the “Tipsy Parson,” an 18th-century dessert made with wine-soaked bread, and includes some savory selections, such as a green tomato and corn bread crisp. A call to friends for recipes yields gems such as “Bill Smith’s Butterscotch Pudding.” A final chapter titled “Sauces & Toppings” provides a gluten-free streusel topping, among many others. This is a delightful and well written title from a veteran author.

February 15, 2016

In her latest cookbook, James Beard Award-winning author Anderson (A Love Affair with Southern Cooking) turns her attention to unsung and lesser-known delights of the dessert repertoire. She includes the titular crisps and cobblers, but these are outnumbered by creamy-textured desserts such as puddings (baked, steamed, and simmered), custards, creams, and trifles. Readers who love spoonable sweets will enjoy Anderson's updated recipes, which range from British, Portuguese, and Italian favorites (sticky toffee puddings, river of gold flan, zuppa Inglese) to traditional American classics (Indian pudding). Anderson supplements these with recipes for sauces and toppings, such as hard sauce, mock Devonshire cream, butter-crumb streusel, and gluten-free granola topping. VERDICT An excellent and thorough treatment of pudding-like desserts, this cookbook will pair well with titles such as Clio Goodman's Puddin'.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2016
James Beard Cookbook Hall of Fame member Anderson is back with a new book, this time about classic desserts that have never gone out of style. Dedicated to all lovers of crisps & cobblers, custards & creams, it offers dozens of luxurious recipes fitting those categories. The book celebrates seasonal desserts like red, white, and blueberry corn-bread cobbler and wild-persimmon pudding. And it embraces the vast ethnic diversity of these dishes in everything from Indian kheer (rice pudding) to Portuguese sericaia (cinnamon-dusted, baked custard) to German rote gruze (red-berry pudding). Anderson also takes care to include a variety of dessert sauces and toppings, as well as recommended cookware. Whether readers are looking for a way to utilize seasonal fruit, seeking an old-fashioned dessert recipe or desiring something more modern, Anderson's latest cookbook is worthy of attention and will be a delightful addition to most public-library collections.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)