CHOCOLATE AND VANILLA
BY GALE GAND AND LISA WEISS
Review by Barb & Ron Kroll
Chocolate & Vanilla
(Clarkson Potter) ISBN 978-0307238528 0307238520
Are you looking for a recipe for a Valentine's Day dessert? Far more personal than buying Valentine's Day chocolates, are these homemade cakes, brownies and cookies, made with dark, semisweet, milk and white chocolate.
Gale Gand offers chocolate recipes and tips on one side of her dessert cookbook. On the other side, she features vanilla recipes.
You sense the author's excitement as she describes the history and manufacture of the raw ingredients. Each vanilla and chocolate recipe is accompanied by a description, simple and straight-forward directions and tips on what to do-ahead.
Ingredient information
This dessert book is a primer on chocolate, from beans to processed versions like bittersweet, milk, white, nibs and pistoles. Likewise, it covers vanilla, from beans to extract, powder and sugar. You learn how to store and work with chocolate and vanilla. Chocolate & Vanilla has 32 recipes for dark, semi-sweet, milk, white chocolate and 28 recipes for vanilla beans and vanilla extract.
Chocolate & Vanilla recipes
Best-Ever Fudgy Brownies. Chocolate-Dipped Peanut Butter Balls. White Chocolate Sherbet. On the flip-side: Vanilla Malteds. Vanilla Butter Caramels. Lemon-Vanilla Pound Cake.
Excellent photos, sandwiched in the middle of the book, depict a third of the chocolate and vanilla recipes. The desserts look so good, the pages are almost edible!
Contents
Vanilla- Introduction to Vanilla
- A Brief History of the Vanilla Bean
- From Pod to Bean
- Buying Vanilla
- Working with Vanilla
- Vanilla Beans
- Sour Cream Ice Cream
- Cherries in Port over Vanilla Ice Cream
- Frozen-Poached Stone Fruit
- Creme Anglaise with Peaches and Berries
- Buttermilk Panna Cotta with Strawberry Mash
- Limoncello Strawberries with Sour Cream and Vanilla Sugar
- Late-Night Vanilla Flan
- Creme Legere with Macerated Peaches
- Mary's Butterballs
- Eclairs with Coffee Glaze
- Chouquettes with Pearl Sugar
- Vanilla-Scented Peach Tarte Tatin
- Vanilla Charlotte
- Vanilla Extract
- Vanilla Malteds
- Vanilla Butter Caramels
- Ladyfingers with Strawberries and Cream
- Lisa's Almond Macaroons
- Vita's Ricotta Doughnuts
- Mini Black-and-Whites
- Vanilla-Blueberry Crumb Cake
- Lemon-Vanilla Pound Cake
- Individual Lemon-Vanilla Pudding Cakes
- Boston Cream Cupcakes
- Golden Vanilla Layer Cake with Chocolate Fudge Frosting
- Baked Ricotta Custards with Raspberry Mint Salad
- Dessert French Toast
- Vanilla and Orange-Scented Caramel Sauce
- Introduction to Chocolate
- A Brief History of the Cacao Bean
- From Bean to Bar
- Buying Chocolate
- Working with Chocolate
- Dark (Bittersweet) Chocolate
- Best-Ever Fudgy Brownies
- Black and White Cream Cheese Brownies
- Deep Chocolate Shortbread
- Mocha Panna Cotta
- Hot Chocolate Pudding
- Mexican Hot Chocolate Fondue
- Guanaja Sherbet
- Chocolate Crepes Filled with Chocolate Mousse
- Chocolate Babka
- Semi-Sweet Chocolate
- Cocoa "Cup" Cakes
- Chocolate-Almond Upside-Down Cake
- Chocolate-Praline Cake in a jar
- Chocolate Fudge Soccer Cakes
- Cream Cheese-Stuffed Chocolate Cupcakes
- Heart Throbs with Marshmallow Filling
- Mini Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Chocolate Waffles with Banana Ganache
- Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Thumbprints
- Chocolate Madeleines
- Creamy Dreamy Walnut Fudge
- Hot Fudge Sundaes
- Light and Milk Chocolate
- Chocolate-Dipped Peanut Butter Balls
- Peanut Butter Cocoa Crisp Treats
- Icebox Pinwheel Cookies
- Lily's Marble Cake
- Individual Chocolate Pavlovas
- Milk Chocolate Star Anise Creme Brulee Spoonfuls
- White Chocolate
- White and Dark Chocolate S'Mores
- White Chocolate-Dipped Currant Shortbread
- Chocolate "Burgers" with White Chocolate Filling
- White Chocolate Sherbet
- Easy White Chocolate-Grapefruit Mousse with Chocolate Phyllo
Author
Gale Gand is a James Beard Award-winning author of six cookbooks, a daily TV baking show host, executive pastry chef and partner of the Tru restaurant in Chicago.