Dorie Greenspan introduces home cooks to the simple sweets the French make at home: a style of baking very different from the pastry shop masterpieces often associated with French cuisine. Greenspan offers recipes for simple cakes, fancy cakes, tiny pastries, fruit tarts, cookies and a French childhood favorite known as Desert Roses--an unbaked mixture of cornflakes, chocolate, dried fruits and nuts. She includes new twists on traditional favorites and contemporary flavors using classic techniques.
As with Greenspan's earlier Around My French Table, Baking Chez Moi is written in a personal style, illustrated with photographs designed to make the mouth water and larded with creative variations on the main recipes that Greenspan dubs "bonne idées." In addition to tempting treats, Greenspan includes informative, often-amusing sidebars on ingredients, equipment, techniques and why French women never say "non" to dessert.
A visual feast, Baking Chez Moi will appeal to readers with a sweet tooth, whether they bake or not. --Pamela Toler, blogging at History in the Margins