carpecookie's Reviews
Cookbook Reviews
2 books reviewed. Showing 1 to 2Sort by: Rating | Title 
Baking: From My Home to Yours
By Dorie Greenspan
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt - 2006
All the recipes I have tested from this book are excellent. The Lenox biscotti, the 15-minute magic Amaretti Torte are especially notable for their outstanding flavour and ease of preparation.
The only thing that would improve the book is if weight measurements were included (either metric or imperial) instead of cups. Also, it's important to read her instructions for measuring since the author uses a scoop/dip and sweep method for filling her measuring cups with flour instead of a spoon & sweep method. This makes a big difference when making the recipes.
I have decided to weigh all my ingredients as I measure them the first time and then write them directly in the book so in future I can go directly to the scale instead of using the measuring cups again. It also makes it much easier when multiplying the recipe to make much larger batches (eg. biscotti for 250 people for a restaurant's garden party).
MACARONS
By CLAIRE DAMON, AKIKO IDA
MARABOUT (ÉDITIONS) - 2000
I was disappointed with this book. I bought it based on the fact that Claire Damon (Paris pastry chef/baker) was listed as the author. This is not true. The real author is Jose Maréchal, and while the book is ok, it's not what I thought I was buying. It didn't help that there was a 2-month delay when I pre-ordered it on Amazon.
This book does give instructions in french to make macarons, both the shells and the fillings, but no new information that I didn't already have in other cookbooks.
For a single-subject book, this might be ok if you have never made macarons before and don't have any other books with recipes for them, but I can't recommend the purchase.