Small-Batch Baking for Chocolate Lovers: Recipes for Cookies, Cakes, Pie, Tarts, Muffins and Scones.  Debby Maugans.  Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press.  $21.99.  (340p)  ISBN: 978-0-312-61224-5

The best things come in small packages.  In the case of “Small-Batch Baking for Chocolate Lovers,” the best chocolate things come in small packages.  Author Debby Maugans perfected the art of baking for one or two people in her first book, “Small Batch Baking.”  Realizing that the average recipe produced a larger quantity of the end product than a single person, or couple may want to eat, or be able to finish she revised recipes so that the serving sizes were more appropriate for one or two people.  A pretty smart idea in and of itself.

Being the professed chocoholic she is, Maugans saw a need for a small-batch cookbook for chocolate lovers.  And thank goodness she did!  In the introduction to the book she explains that her go-to dessert choice is always something with chocolate.  I couldn’t agree more.  Out at a restaurant I always go for chocolate desserts over any others.  Often I won’t have a dessert if there is nothing with chocolate in it.  I, too, love chocolate and I know that I’m not alone.  This is a book I’ll use often.

Smartly so, Maugans begins the book with a chapter called “Small-Batch Chocolate Baking Know-How” which explains everything you need to know to start small-batch baking.  From the equipment needed, to ingredients and measuring techniques, to storage of ingredients, it’s all spelled out.  Then the fun really begins.  The chapters unfold from cakes and cupcakes; to pies, tarts, and cheesecakes; to puddings and soufflés; to muffins, scones, shortcakes, and loaves; to desserts that are “better with chocolate”; to holiday desserts, and finally liquid pleasures.  I’d say the gamut of possibilities is well-covered.  I knew Maugans was a serious chocolate lover in the chapter titled “Better with Chocolate” in which she takes desserts that are normally not made with chocolate and adds it.  Cinnamon rolls with chocolate rolled up with the nuts and cinnamon sugar.  Baklava with chocolate in the nut filling.

A good chocolate chip cookie recipe is worth its weight in gold — I mean, chocolate.  Maugans’ recipe for “Simply the Best Small-Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies” is so good it might be the best small or large batch recipe around.  Soft, gooey, super-chocolatey deliciousness, (yield 8 cookies).   And I learned not to dip the measuring cup into the flour canister but to spoon the flour into the measuring cup and then level it off.  I’ve been doing it wrong all these years.  Other recipes I tried and loved were Classic Chocolate Cake, (yield 2 cakes, or 4 cupcakes); Chocolate Decadence Cheesecakes (yield 2 cheesecakes); Ultimate Brownies (yield 3 brownies), and Whole Wheat Chocolate Banana Bread (Maugans is right, chocolate added to banana bread is a revelation) (yield 1 loaf, 4 or 5 slices).  There are plenty more I want to try including several recipes for ice cream cakes.  One comment re the yields, Maugans uses recycled tin cans such as 8 oz., 14.5 oz., and 15 oz. tomato sauce, or bean cans in the cakes recipes hence the yield of 2 small, single-serving sized cakes.  She has a few other tricks like this to make small-batch baking work.

If you live alone, or are a couple, and don’t want to make desserts that yield enough for a family of six — and you love chocolate — then “Small-Batch Baking for Chocolate Lovers” is for you.  Actually, I’d say it’s for anyone who wants to reduce the size of their desserts, or dessert intake.  With only eight chocolate chip cookies there will be none leftover to tempt a middle-of-the-night craving.

Happy small-batch baking!

100 Miles Shout Outs! Local events, mini-reviews, and mentions of things happening in the world of food:

#1 – Honest Cooking ~ I’m now a Contributing Writer to the new online food magazine Honest Cooking.  My most recent story is “L.A. – Return of the Neighborhood Butcher.” I’ll be writing several pieces a month about the L.A. food scene.

#2 – Los Angeles ~ Sunday, May 15, 1 pm – 5 pm, ~ Taste of the Eastside 2011, an all-star regional tasting event with a diverse array of Eastside restaurants at Barnsdall Art Park.

My Status:  Enjoying the gradual arrival of spring in So Cal and the new spring produce: artichokes, asparagus, and the tail end of winter produce: amazing citrus, kale, collard greens.  Continuing to blog, cook, and eat.

Upcoming Posts: More on my great-grandmother’s garden, and my California childhood.  A visit and tour of Ojai Valley citrus grower Friend’s Ranch. More The Local Reports. Cookbook Reviews: Heartland: The Cookbook by Judith Fertig, and Goat: Meat, Milk, Cheese by Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough.

A dining room at Gaulthier, London, England.

Jill is American but lives in London with her British husband, Malcolm.  We met in 2003 at a dinner held by our Italian friend, Patrizia in an Umbrian hill town.  We became fast friends, and are still very close despite the distance that separates us.  Both Jill and Malcolm enjoy good food, and eating well.  That only solidified the friendship.  I’ve had the pleasure of being at table with Jill and Malcolm in Los Angeles, London and Italy.  Every once in awhile Jill sends me notes, emails, of somewhere she and Malcolm have just been, of the things they ate.  The way she writes about the dishes is like culinary poetry to me.  This is partially due to the way the British write about ingredients, and their use of differing words for the same ingredients we use in the U.S. but it’s primarily Jill’s way of describing a dish that is so captivating.

Jill is a novelist and book editor by trade so she is well-versed in English; she also has a writer’s ear for language.  She and Malcolm recently celebrated a birthday by going out to a couple of London restaurants.   Here in her own words where they went after a visit to an art gallery:

“We had a snackette at Clarke’s before going on to visit Ham House and Garden, south of the river — a nearly intact 17th century historic house.  From there, we walked along the river to Petersham Nurseries, where, oh my, the food was good!  I started with a rose prosecco, then had homemade linguine with meltingly soft cherry tomatoes and black olives, a soupçon of lemon.  The main course was new season’s garlic sliced in cross sections (so it looked like marble) and served with torpedo onions and soft, gooey caprina cheese — like mascarpone.  For pudding I had lemon possett with rhubarb and Malcolm had a blood orange and lemon tart.”

So my questions to the above are: What are torpedo onions?  What is lemon possett?  I haven’t looked up the answers.  I’m not sure I want or need to know.  They sound so exotic.  I also haven’t heard of caprina cheese but it also sounds amazing.  And I already know that pudding means dessert.

The next day Jill went to lunch at Gauthier in SoHo, and this is what she ate:

“I had watercress velouté to start, then duck egg, followed by a cheese selection. Very, very good, and all hosted in a Georgian townhouse in Soho.”

Several years back she and Malcolm were in Rome:

“I must tell you about a meal Malcolm and I had in Rome8 today.  First we went to a gelato place by the Pantheon where I had rose and dark, dark chocolate ice cream.  A marvel, I’m telling you.  At lunch I had pasta (two different types because I couldn’t decide — the nice waiter said he’d get them to make both for me, only one serving) with a citrus and nut sauce, and the more interesting one was with a grape sauce.  Lemon, wine, grape, no garlic or onion.  Malcolm had a pasta with — get this — fig, cinnamon and a clove sauce.  It was truly wonderful.  I had rice pudding with blackberries for dessert and Malcolm had baked yellow plums with a kind of marzipan custard.  The coffee came in tall espresso cups with tiny lids on them.  A religious experience, to be sure.”

*The restaurant in Rome is Ristorante Trattoria.

So tell me, dear readers, don’t her words of food make you want to taste every last morsel?  They do me.  I think I’ll keep on saving these, who knows one day there may even be a book.

100 Miles Shout Outs! Local events, mini-reviews, and mentions of things happening in the world of food:

#1 – Honest Cooking ~ I’m now a Contributing Writer to the new online food magazine Honest Cooking.  My most recent story is “L.A. – Return of the Neighborhood Butcher.” I’ll be writing several pieces a month about the L.A. food scene.

#2 – Saturday, April 23, 11 am – 6 pm ~ The 2nd 8th Annual Grilled Cheese Invitational, a grilled cheese cooking competition.  You cook.  Judges vote.  Everybody wins!

#3 – Sunday, May 15, 1 pm – 5 pm, ~ Taste of the Eastside 2011, an all-star regional tasting event with a diverse array of Eastside restaurants at Barnsdall Art Park.

My Status:  Enjoying the gradual arrival of spring in So Cal and the new spring produce: artichokes, asparagus, and the tail end of winter produce: amazing citrus, kale, collard greens.  Continuing to blog, cook, and eat.

Upcoming Posts: More on my great-grandmother’s garden, and my California childhood.  A visit and tour of Ojai Valley citrus grower Friend’s Ranch. More The Local Reports. Cookbook Reviews: Small-Batch Baking for Chocolate Lovers by Debby Maugans.

Sean Sullivan, author of Spectacularly Delicious.

New York-based food blogger, Sean Sullivan writes the food blog Spectacularly Delicious.  Sean can really cook.  No, I mean REALLY cook.  He cans; he makes jams, jellies, preserves, and chutneys; he bakes; he makes sausages from scratch; he goes out in the morning on Long Island and forages for sea beans, or whitebait and then serves them that night.  Together if he can.  At a dinner party for ten.  Sean is a self-taught cook.  And his enthusiasm for cooking, eating and food is infectious.  One of the many pleasures I’ve had since starting this blog has been meeting new and interesting people.  Sean is among that group.  We met this past August in Seattle at the International Food Bloggers Conference.  Once he introduced himself that was it.  Friends for life.

I love his blog.  He searches for, and finds the most retro, cool and interesting recipes that he can.  Most of the time he’ll take a classic, or even one that never made it to classic status, and put his own spin on it.  One never quite knows what each new blog post will bring.  As Sean states so well: “The mission of Spectacularly Delicious is to share my life long collection of show-stopping recipes and culinary presentations that will amaze and astound.”  Sean sees dinner as theater and entertain he does.

He Had Me at Pomegranates

I think it was last fall when Sean wrote a blog post titled “A Spectacular Celebration of Pomegranates!“  The POM people asked Sean to throw a dinner party using pomegranates.  So not only does he create a pomegranate centric menu, he creates this amazing pomegranate centerpiece, and records a step-by-step instructional video that he posts on You Tube.  I am stopping you right here, dear reader.  You have to watch Sean make this centerpiece before reading on: How To Make A Pomegranate Centerpiece.   I mean I can cook just fine; I throw a pretty mean dinner party but whip up a center piece that easily?  I don’t think so.

Photo credit: Sean Sullivan.

The Spectacular Origins

Sean grew up with four brothers in an Irish Catholic household in St. Louis, Missouri.  He tells a story of how his mother made a deal with the milkman who helped her get a cafeteria-style stainless steel dispenser that held five gallons of milk supplying the five growing boys with cold milk on tap.  Sean’s parents loved to entertain and did so on a grand scale, (clam bakes, pig roasts, a nine foot pizza once), and it rubbed off on all the boys.  When Sean was in college he started cooking for himself, poorly at first.  While working in restaurants as a student, and for New York City caterers after college, his food interests escalated and his cooking skills improved.  As a young man Sean worked in entertainment traveling to Japan, Mexico and Europe where he picked up more recipes, and cooking tips.  His home-canning passion began when he started frequenting the Union Square Farmers’ Market in Manhattan.  He currently holds a marketing position with House Beautiful which also provides material for his cooking interests.

St. Patrick's Day sausages by Sean Sullivan. Photo credit: Sean Sullivan.

Liberace, Elvis, Phyllis Diller, and The Famous Airline Cookbook

Sean is a prolific blogger posting on average twice a week.  Each post has a nice often very funny story and always includes a recipe.  He spends his weekends at his Long Island house cooking, photographing and videotaping the upcoming week’s recipes.  Often a dinner party is thrown.  His partner Steve assists as sous-chef, videographer and official taster.  There are many posts I’ve enjoyed reading but the Qantas Barramundi Macadamia: Gourmet Recipe post really made me giggle because it’s inspired by “The Famous Airline Cookbook.”  Sean found this cookbook full of recipes from the world’s airlines.  I actually do remember when airline food wasn’t horrible with Air France being more than edible.  To me the book and the recipe sums up what Sean does so well.  Finding the old, retro, très chic foods of bygone days brushing them off then adding a new patina to them.  What could be more fun that that?

Liberace's Nusstorte by Sean Sullivan. Photo credit: Sean Sullivan.

Liberace cooked!  Who knew?  He also wrote cookbooks: “Liberace Cooks! Recipes from His Seven Dining Rooms.”  In a recent blog post Sean re-purposes Liberace’s Scampi Prosciutto.  How ’50s Las Vegas does that sound? In Sean’s version he uses German speck instead of prosciutto, and serves it with couscous instead of egg noodles.  The giggle to this post is the You Tube video Sean tacks on to the end: Liberace and Phyllis Diller on The Liberace Show from 1969.  For the Elvis connection Sean writes about a young Alabama entrepreneur who came up with Fat Elvis Ice Cream which contains bananas, bacon, brown sugar and peanut butter.

I always learn something new with each Spectacularly Delicious post whether it be a tidbit of gossip, a cookbook I’ve never heard of, or how to cook, can, or preserve an unfamiliar ingredient.  Spectacularly Delicious is a swell read, Sean is an accomplished cook and raconteur, and a delightful friend.

100 Miles Shout Outs! Local events, mini-reviews, and mentions of things happening in the world of food:

#1 – A Menu of Parisian Bistro Classics at Le Saint Amour, Culver City, CA.  Consulting chef Walter Manzke offers a different Parisian bistro dish every night of the week (Sunday is Poulet Frit for example) at Le Saint Amour.  If you like classic French food like I do then get thee to Le Saint Amour for a plat du jour, or for something delicious off their full menu.  Bon appétit!

#2 – Saturday, April 16 & Sunday, April 17, 2011, 11 am – 8 pm (Sat.), 11 am – 7 pm (Sun.) ~ Artisanal L.A. where nearly 100 local, artisanal and handmade vendors showcase their wares.  Support your local crafts persons, vendors and businesses.

My Status:  Enjoying the gradual arrival of spring in So Cal and the last of the lovely winter produce: amazing citrus, kale, broccoli, collard greens, fennel.  Continuing to blog, cook, and eat.

Upcoming Posts: More on my great-grandmother’s garden, and my California childhood.  A visit and tour of Ojai Valley citrus grower Friend’s Ranch. More The Local Reports. Cookbook Reviews: Small-Batch Baking for Chocolate Lovers by Debby Maugans.

Bon Appétit Desserts: The Cookbook for All Things Sweet and Wonderful.  Barbara Fairchild.  Andrews McMeel Publishing.  $40.00. (680p)  ISBN: 978-0-7407-9352-3

I like books a lot.  All types of books.  I really, really like reference books.  The comfort of all those facts, and answers so close at hand.  But I love, love, love cookbooks.  I’m a cookbook collector.  I have so many that my other half thinks I have a problem and need to enter a 12-step program.  Single topic cookbooks are at the top of the list for me.  (I just bought ‘Salted’ by Mark Bitterman, 312 pages on nothing but salt!)  I like having cookbooks on my bookshelves that I can refer to, that I can pull from a shelf when I’m looking for information or a recipe.  When I received Bon Appétit Desserts for review it made sense.  A whole book, a huge book actually (680 pages), devoted solely to desserts.  Every dessert you’ve ever heard of, every dessert you could ever want or need to make.  All in one book.  My kind of book.

The book was edited by recently resigned Bon Appétit Editor-in-Chief, Barbara Fairchild.  In her introduction she writes about how while growing up her family had dessert after every dinner, something sweet was included in her lunch, and how her mother always served a sweet of some kind whenever company dropped by.  I like that.  To me it reveals the sentiment behind this book.  Desserts and sweets as part of the eating process.  The 600 recipes in the book are culled from Bon Appétit’s extensive archives; never-before-published recipes are also included.  Well-known cooks, bakers, and pastry chefs (like Dorie Greenspan, Sherry Yard, and Susan Feniger), and Bon Appétit staff and writers also contributed to the book.  If that’s not enough the book also has the Bon Appétit pedigree.

It’s truly a reference-cookbook — the first three chapters are ‘The Desserts Pantry’; ‘Equipment: The Basics’; ‘Techniques: The Basics,’ at the back of the book are ‘Online & Mail-Order Sources,’ and ‘Metric Conversions & Equivalents.’  Everything needed to make desserts with skill and aplomb.  The rest of the book is all about the recipes.  It has, in addition to the standard and expected American-style desserts, many of the classics: fools, crepes, Linzertortes, napoleons, cannolis, crème brûlées, éclairs, panna cottas, tiramisùs, pavolovas and more.  I was thrilled to see a recipe for bûche de Noël!  Short and to-the-point head notes are followed by well-organized recipes.  A whisk rating system showing the level of difficulty (1 to 4 whisks) is included with each recipe.  An easy reference ‘Index of Whisk Ratings’ at the back of the book allows for quick decisions on which recipe to try.  Food photographer, Con Poulo’s fifty gorgeous photos are sprinkled unobtrusively throughout.  Recipe testing on a book of this size could take months but of the recipes I was able to try all worked beautifully.

I am thrilled to have this book.  There are several people on my Christmas list who may be receiving their own copy.  I can’t recommend it highly enough.  It should be part of every cook’s library especially those who love to make desserts.

My Status:  It’s been cold!  Our winter has arrived.  Time for winter-cold weather cooking.  Maybe something from Julia Child, or Dorie Greenspan’s new cookbook ‘Around My French Table,’ or a warming holiday dessert from ‘Bon Appétit Desserts.’

News! I’m published!! My recipe ‘Chef Wally’s Baked Papaya’ was selected to be in the cookbook: ‘Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook: 100 Great Recipes, Photographs, and Voices.’  You may order it here.  I am thrilled.

Upcoming Posts: a write up on Jennifer Piette and Erik Stenberg’s local, sustainable grocery delivery service Out of the Box Collective.  More on my great-grandmother’s garden, and my California childhood.  Cookbook Reviews: The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook by Rachel Saunders.

Cider Beans, Wild Greens, and Dandelion Jelly: Recipes from Southern Appalachia.  Joan E. Aller.  Andrews McMeel Publishing.  $27.99.  (224p)  ISBN: 978-0-7407-7958-9

My mother gets very upset with me when I call our family ‘white trash.’  Despite her protestations I think her side of the family is as white trash as my father’s side.  And I know he was white trash.  He called himself white trash with pride.  He and his four siblings were born in Oklaholma City and lived their early years in poverty.  Life improved slowly once my grandmother brought her brood much like The Grapes of Wrath out to California in 1940.  But the white trash qualities never did quite disappear.  I follow in his footsteps and proudly identify as white trash myself.  You’d think with that background I’d be more familiar with southern cooking but my parent’s divorce left me living with my mother and her family who were more northern in heritage.  My mother does talk about the food my father’s mother used to make: navy beans and ham hocks, collard greens in bacon fat, and cornbread.  Food I didn’t eat much of growing up.

As I made my way through Cider Beans, Wild Greens, and Dandelion Jelly I was reminded of my paternal grandmother and the food I knew she cooked.  Southern Appalachia and the people who live there are in kind to where my father came from, to the food and customs.  Distant eastern cousins I’d venture to say.  I found this book comforting in many ways.  It is not a book of high cuisine; in fact I think I can correctly say it’s all about low cuisine and that’s a good thing.  Author, Joan E. Aller, a transplant to southern Appalachia fell in love with the place once she was there.  Wanting to preserve a lifestyle that she saw quickly changing she set about collecting the best recipes southern Appalachia had to offer by traveling around the area and gathering up recipes, stories and histories from the area’s inns, hotels, bed and breakfasts, restaurants, taverns and cafes.  The book is a lovely compendium of the simple yet hearty and heartwarming food of the region.  Full of beautiful color photography and a written history of the region, this is a book to pick up and read often.  Dishes like ‘High Country Breakfast Casserole’ served at The Buffalo Tavern Bed and Breakfast to ‘Appalachian Cider Beans’ (a personal favorite) come with an explanation, a story, before the recipe begins.  To wit cider beans are traditionally served at the local gas station which become de facto social centers.  Locals gather at the closest gas station, eat, and catch up on area news.

The recipes I tested all worked just fine; they were straight-forward and easy to make.  A few of my favorite dishes were the ‘Pork Chops Southern-Style,’ ‘Corn Pone, Tennessee-Style,’ ‘Grilled Okra with Pine Nuts’ and the ‘Appalachian Cider Beans.’  A fun chapter in the book is ‘Beverages’ where recipes for ‘Southern Sweet Tea,’ ‘Mammy Williams’s Dandelion Wine’ and ‘Southern Milk Punch’ (vanilla ice cream and bourbon!) can be found.  The final chapter is ‘Country Store’ and has recipes for pickles, relishes, jellies and jams.  A whole lot of good southern cooking is delightfully packed into the pages of Cider Beans, Wild Greens, and Dandelion Jelly. If you are looking for some good southern comfort food grab this book and start cooking.  You won’t be disappointed.

Shout Outs! Fun, Cool, Interesting, Worthy Things Going on Around Town…

Magnolia Bakery (Los Angeles) ~ Purchase a Pink Ribbon Cupcake, (or several!) from Magnolia Bakery during the month of October.  Proceeds go to the Susan G. Komen Foundation for Breast Cancer Research.  www.magnoliabakery.com

Los Angeles Magazine ~ The Food Event: From the Vine 2010 ~ Sunday, October 24, 2010, 1 pm to 4 pm, Saddlerock Ranch, Malibu, California.  The 5th annual culinary extravaganza hosted by Los Angeles Magazine featuring celebrity chefs, top restaurants and wine tasting.  I’ll be there.  Hope to see you.  www.losangelesmagazine/thefoodevent

Artisanal L.A. ~ A weekend of shopping, tasting, workshops, and hanging out with local artisans.  A celebration of L.A.’s finest local handmade artisanal edibles.  October 23 & 24, 11 am to 4 pm.   I’ll be there (Saturday, 10/23), will you?  http://artisanalla.com/

Out of the Box Collective (Los Angeles) ~ A brand new business that home-delivers boxes of local, sustainably produced groceries.  The food items used in the boxes are sourced from artisans and farmers in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties.  Boxes contain meat, dairy, produce, bread, conserves, and regional specialties.  They have a Thanksgiving Feast Box available for the upcoming holiday that will supply you with all the ingredients and a few suggested recipes if you don’t have the time to shop but still want to cook.  Come check them out the Artisan L.A. event on 10/23 & 24 (see above for info).  www.outoftheboxcollective.com

My Status:  Fall weather has arrived to SoCal.  Cool, wet even rainy.  More cooking, eating and blogging on the horizon as always.

News! I am now published!! My recipe ‘Chef Wally’s Baked Papaya’ was selected to be in the cookbook: ‘Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook: 100 Great Recipes, Photographs, and Voices,’ published on October 19, 2010.  You may pre-order it here.  I am thrilled.

Upcoming Posts: Cookbook Reviews ~Mary Mac’s Tea Room: 65 Years of Recipes from Atlanta’s Favorite Dining Room by John Ferrell; The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook by Rachel Saunders.

Spice Dreams: Flavored Ice Creams and Other Frozen Treats.  Sara Engram and Katie Luber with Nancy Meadows and Kimberly Toqe.  Andrews McMeel Publishing.  $16.99  (86p)  ISBN: 978-0-7407-8016-5

Spices and herbs as flavor agents came to me late in life.  Growing up in a typical American household where the occasional Taco Night, or a meal out at the local Chinese restaurant was about as close as I got to anything resembling an exotic spice or herb.  Even then the word ’spice’ often referred to the La Victoria hot sauce we put on our tacos.  The idea that there was a whole world of flavors out there, and even other cultures that cooked with them was a surprise to my palette.

Like cardamom for example.  I first tasted the flowery, layered loveliness of this spice in Indian food on a trip to London at age 17.  I have loved Indian food — and cardamom — ever since.  Years later I ate a whole lot of Indian food when I was a film student at New York University.  On East 6th Street in New York’s East Village there is a block of cheap Indian restaurants where I could get multi-course meals for a few dollars.  It was splendid.  Living in New York, and traveling occasionally, I ate more and more non-European and non-American cuisines.  I loved them all.  The incredible flavors that emerged from these exotic dishes.

Authors Sara Engram and Katie Luber own an organic spice company, The Seasoned Palate.  They know their spices and herbs.  They recently wrote a book, ‘The Spice Kitchen,’ which I love and also reviewed.  Now they have published a companion book of sorts: ‘Spice Dreams: Flavored Ice Creams and Other Frozen Desserts’ — all about herb and spice-infused ice creams and frozen desserts.  Their methods combine all-natural ingredients with herbs and spices both fresh and dried to great success.  Now back to that cardamom.  The first ice cream I made from the book was Cardamom-Mint Ice Cream and, wow, was it amazing.  That flowery, layered loveliness I referred to earlier in combination with the peppermint extract called for in the recipe: did I say ‘wow’ yet?  Add to the experience the creamy coldness of the ice cream — full-on bliss.  We had friends over and we devoured the entire 1 1/2 quarts.

The book is divided into four sections: Ice Creams; Sorbets and Frozen Yogurts; Sandwiches, Sundaes, and Such; Syrups, Sauces, Toppings, and Other Goodies.  I tried several recipes and all worked extremely well.  The book is easy to follow and well structured.  Household favorites are Dark Chocolate-Anise Ice Cream, Mango Sorbet with Cumin and Cinnamon, and the highly unusual Basil Ice Cream (eat this one with fresh berries!).  We also liked the Pink Grapefruit-Tarragon Sorbet.  Of the syrups and sauces I made a favorite was the Ancho-Lime Syrup that we poured over the Mango Sorbet with Cumin and Cinnamon.  These frozen desserts couldn’t be more fun to make and eat.  What makes them so unusual is the savory-sweet flavor combinations: mango and cumin; grapefruit and tarragon; ancho chile and mango (a popular Latin American flavor combination  — sweet fruit and hot chile).

Friendly and playful (they refer to their ice cream as ’spice cream’) Engram and Luber not only add to the trend of combining herbs and spices with sweets, they take it to another level.  They also encourage the reader to experiment and come up with their own combinations; to use the recipes in the book as templates.  I am fairly new to making ice cream at home and I wish I hadn’t waited so long.  The experience of making and eating homemade ice cream is far superior to buying it commercially.  Go get an ice cream maker if you don’t have one.  Buy this book and let the magic unfold.  You won’t be sorry.

KCET Top 10 List: I wrote this piece for LA-based PBS station, KCET ~ ‘Walking and Eating in Atwater Village: A Top 10′

Coming Up: International Food Bloggers Conference (IFBC), August 27 – 29, 2010, Seattle Washington.  So much fun last year that I’ll be attending again this year.  Are you?

Upcoming Posts: Cookbook Reviews: Steak and Friends: At Home with Rick Tramonto by Rick Tramonto; Cider Beans, Wild Greens, and Dandelion Jelly by Joan E. Aller.