Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1676404 in Books
• Published on: 1999-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 192 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
If you are tired of the same old desserts, and if you have ready access to a wide variety of fresh sweet herbs (various basils, lemon thyme, tarragon, lavender, anise, hyssop and the like), Desserts from an Herb Garden will have you experimenting away in the kitchen in no time. The trick is the herbs. Author Sharon Kebschull Barrett says right up front that, except for lavender, all the herbs she uses in her recipes are fresh, and there's no point in trying to substitute dried. Fortunately, there are a number of recipes that call for sweet basil and for mint, two herbs that most stores carry fresh. Try the Apple-Basil Cake or the Blueberry-Mint Layer Cake or the Mint Julep Truffles.

If those recipes catch your attention, you may find yourself putting in a small herb garden or investing in window boxes and pots big enough to hold several herbs. Barrett gives her thoughts on the growing and cultivation of herbs. She notes that any herbs she grows indoors are always milder than the ones she grows outdoors. And this leads to a basic rule of thumb: Taste your herbs before you use them.

The book is divided into sections on Cookies and Candies; Cakes of All Kinds; Pies, Tarts, and Tortes; Crisps, Cobblers, Custards, and Puddings; Frozen Desserts and Plated Desserts. The flavours Barrett combines may challenge your previous conceptions of dessert--look inside for Cinnamon Basil Polenta Cookies, Cilantro Peach Cobbler, Chocolate-Lime BreadPudding, and more. Desserts from an Herb Garden may well be a portal to a whole new world where the garden and the kitchen meet to spin fantasies of flavour. --Schuyler Ingle, Amazon.com

From the Publisher
As seen in New York magazine-a fresh way to liven up dessert
"Sharon Barrett's use of savory herbs with sweet desserts is utterly beguiling....These recipes give many familiar favorites a bright twist, and I can't wait to give them a try. If you've been wondering what else to do with the herbs in your garden, as I have, this book will certainly provide some very original answers." --Deborah Madison, author of THE SAVORY WAY and VEGETARIAN COOKING FOR EVERYONE

"You won't find a more delectable way to dress up ice cream or angel-food cake than {Sharon Barrett's} recipe for plums roasted with thyme, taken from {her} forthcoming book, Desserts from an Herb Garden." --New York Magazine, Foods of Summer Issue, May 24, 1999

Anyone who's ordered dessert at a fine restaurant this summer knows the newest trend in the food world is to bring herbs and sweet flavors together. The only cookbook devoted to this exciting new palate is dessert chef Sharon Kebschull Barrett's DESSERTS FROM AN HERB GARDEN. Fresh, lively, and infused with a passion for baking, gardening, and enjoying great desserts, this cookbook is sure to bring new delights to your dessert plates.

From the Author
Herbs take desserts to another level of flavor.
I never knew oregano was such a popular herb, but invariably "Oregano in desserts?" is the reaction I get when I tell people what my book is about. No, it's not that weird -- no oregano in this book, just sweet herbs that add flair to common flavors.

I got started with sweet herbs through my baking catering business, Dessert First. After one fabulous attempt at combining rosemary and lemon in a cake, the light dawned: Why wasn't I trying herbs in more of my desserts?

From lemon and rosemary, I moved to basil with blueberries. Success led me to tarragon with chocolate, sage and thyme with apples, all kinds of mint with chocolate and fruit, and lavender with cherries.

Those combinations aren't as unusual as they may sound. In many of my recipes, your diners probably won't be able to identify the herb used; especially with the more unusual herbs, I've aimed for a subtle flavor that enhances the dessert. This is food with interesting flavors that step out of the ordinary but shy away from the bizarre.

Like so many gardeners, I find herbs the perfect impulse buy -- but too often, I had no idea what to do with an herb once I bought it. And experimentation takes time and usually a failure or two; just figuring out the amount of an herb to use often takes me a few tries. Desserts from an Herb Garden will save you that effort and frustration.

And if you don't have a garden overflowing with herbs, you'll still find a lot here you can make. Try desserts with mint, basil, tarragon, rosemary, or thyme -- all herbs that are now available in many grocery stores, or easy to grow in a small window pot.

As you'll see from the recipes, my tastes run all over the map. I love complex, architectural desserts in high-end restaurants. I also love homely cobblers and my mother's lemon meringue pie, which starts with a box of pudding. This book reflects all my tastes, from a simple sorbet based on a bag of frozen fruit, to a four-ingredient shortbread, to a spectacular napoleon of white chocolate, lavender and blueberries. Simple or sophisticated, time-consuming or quick -- there should be something here for whatever mood strikes you.

Customer Reviews

Give me your tired taste buds, your poor palate...
This collection of recipes is more than a "cookbook." Ms Barrett is also a gentle teacher whose knowledge of the garden as well as the kitchen makes her book interesting and eminently readable. Oh, and do fresh herbs make a more exciting dessert? Cilantro Peach Cobbler! Ole, ya'll!!

Easy to read, unique recipes using available garden herbs.
This book is a treasure of unusual tastes and ideas in simple, well written recipes that even a beginning chef can master. Each recipe is described in mouth-watering language inviting the reader to venture on into its production. The recipes that I have tried have been simple to follow and have turned out as I expected. These are really different tastes for your palate - a welcome change from standard dessert fare, and a delight to everyone. If you are not currently growing herbs, this book will spur you on to consider this possibility - even in a window garden - yet the book takes into account what herbs are available routinely in the supermarket for readers who are not ready to grow their food. If you are looking for some unique desserts to try, this book is a MUST! We can only hope the author is working on other "courses" using herbs for her future offerings.