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Customer Review
Reviewed in the United States on November 9, 2022
Saffitz is an excellent teacher in video formats, which is why I purchased this (expensive) book. Her teaching orientation continues here, as she offers many helpful hints about technique or products that, even as an experienced cook and baker, I have not seen before. My criticisms are three: first, while she tells us in each recipe how far ahead the dessert can be made, it appears that while most can be refrigerated, they cannot be wrapped and frozen in advance by the nature of the recipes. This is a shame, as most of the time if we are serving dessert, we’re cooking dinner, too. Secondly, the font, font size, and use of light-colored ink for each recipe’s tips will make this a challenge for many readers to read comfortably. This is too bad, because the use of white space and bold fonts in the actual recipe steps very much helps clarity. Finally, a personal reaction to the aesthetic of the full page photos of each recipe: there is a lot of brown throughout and most desserts are staged with dark shadowed backgrounds. This is clearly intentional, but to my eye, it’s depressing, and I am not experiencing the joy I would have hoped when leafing through this new work. Cooks in some areas of the US will find it hard to find some of the non-negotiable ingredients here, like fresh quince, kumquats, chestnuts, or even black sesame seeds. Overall, recipes are unusual, the writer’s voice present and reassuring, and, despite the challenges noted here, I look forward to working with this book.
