Gale Gand

Gale Gand is a pastry chef well known to lucky people in the Chicago area. (Chef Gand has been recognized as Outstanding Pastry Chef of the Year by The James Beard Foundation and by Bon Appetite magazine and has been inducted into the Chicago Chefs Hall of Fame.) What I like best about her is that her recipes are very, very simple, requiring not many ingredients and not many steps. If you are a dessert person, and especially a chocoholic, this book is worth it for the pictures alone!

Of show more course, the recipes are great, and she provides background info as well. In the chocolate section for example (the book reverses - one half devoted to chocolate and one to vanilla), you can read about the history of the cacao bean (and even how to pronounce it - ka-kow for the tree or its beans, and ko-ko for the products from them). She gives background on how to buy chocolate and how to work with it. The vanilla section has analogous information, which is especially useful because there are a lot of products out there purporting to be “vanilla extract,” and she tells you how to evaluate them.

And what about the recipes? I haven’t tried them all, but I’ve even enjoyed just reading them and imagining. My favorites (so far) are “Best-Ever Fudgy Brownies,” “Hot Chocolate Pudding,” “Lemon-Vanilla Pound Cake,” and “Individual Lemon-Vanilla Pudding Cakes.” And again, they are short and easy.

Before each recipe she provides a short anecdote about how it, such as the fudge she made for a restaurant opened by Oprah, or why she uses vinegar in her chocolate cupcakes.

My only question to her would be why she occasionally includes corn syrup in her recipes, like for hot fudge sauce. (This book is from 2006 - it might be that she no longer advocates its use.) And then there are her unrealistic comments like “The [hot fudge] sauce keeps in the fridge for up to 3 weeks.” Ha ha! As if hot fudge sauce would ever last that long in my house!

Otherwise, this is a cookbook to savor - for the pictures, the recipes, and of course, the actual results of following her quick and easy directions.

She has quite a few other cookbooks as well - you can see them on her website, here. show less

I love this cookbook. Not least of all because it recommends a complementary drink to go with each recipe. It also doesn't hurt that it's nothing but yummy desserts, arranged by ingredient - so you can, for instance, say, "I have a lot of butter. What can I do with it?" There are also holiday recipes included in a special section in this book. Everything I've ever made from this book has turned out well, and was scarfed up quickly by family and friends - always a good sign.

This is a wonderful collection of recipes that makes it easy to take on entertaining first thing in the morning. The recipes have an elegance fitting for special occasion celebrations but are simple to make, and many of the dishes in the book can easily be enjoyed any morning of the week. Like her other books, Gand gives great guidance, tips and lots of personal stories in the recipe introductions that make the book friendly and personal.
The variety of recipes cover the expected pancakes, show more waffles, muffins and omelets, but all have interesting variations that add a little inspiration beyond the expected. In addition to the standard brunch elements there are some really interesting dishes like Goat Cheese Cake with Slow-Cooked Quince, Bacon-Scallion Scones (I have made these twice. Fantastically delicious!), and Watermelon Gazpacho that has cubed cucumber, bell pepper, and pomegranate seeds in it.
It is a beautifully printed and photographed book that is enjoyable to simply flip through, but I find myself making something from the book every few days because the recipes are very do-able on a whim. Everything I have made I have really enjoyed. show less

This book, subtitled “100 Fantastic Recipes for the Weekend’s Best Meal” has short and uncomplicated recipes, yet they turn out great. The author, who is an award-winning chef and - here’s the important part - “recognized as Outstanding Pastry Chef of the Year by The James Beard Foundation” really surprised me. I expected recipes from a chef to involve hundreds of ingredients and thousands of hours. Instead, these are simple, and yet as good as can be.

Some of my favorites are: show more Gooey Camembert In a Box With Cranberry-Black Pepper Compote, Cheesy Cheddar Grits, Quick Pear Streusel Coffee Cake, Salmon, Scallion, and Goat Cheese Frittata, and of course, the Cheese and Tomato Galette.

She even includes a recipe for Gougères. I had them the first time at a winery tasting room, where I ate almost the whole basket. They are incredibly good. Her recipe uses garlic, which I would probably omit, so I am including for you a recipe that is almost identical but also omits it.

Most of the book's recipes are shown with beautiful photographs by Ben Fink.

If you check the author’s website, you will find that she now has a new book out, Lunch! and that she also posts some recipes and photos online, so you can get a taste of what she is about. She even includes a recipe from Brunch!, “Almond Cabbala French Toast.”

Evaluation: In spite of loving to eat, I don’t like to cook or, especially, to clean up. This book is not taxing in either way. If I can make these successfully, I think anyone can! show less