Paris Sweets: Great Desserts From the City's Best Pastry Shops
by Dorie Greenspan
Broadway, 2002

List Price: $26.00
Amazon Price: $17.94

Review by Kathleen and Rita Daelemans

Rating: 4 Spatulas

Paris Sweets is the kind of book I have to keep out of sight. A mere glance at the cover and I find myself justifying taking the day off to Baking cures everything; a cold, the blues, writer's block and a messy house. Who cares if the house is messy when there are cookies in the oven?

My Mom has a copy of the book too. Only we didn't know we'd each gone out and purchased it. I asked her what made her pick it up, "I bought it because it seemed like a cheap trip to Paris in the middle of winter. I didn't have to wait in long lines at the airport and squish my liquids into tiny bottles.

And it seemed like a book I had no business having. I reasoned that if I had to go to all the trouble to make the desserts I wouldn't end up making most of them or consuming the calories. "How'd that work for you?" Not too bad accept when I do bake from the book if the recipe is really great I end up eating an extra serving or two but I figure I'm still ahead because there's no such thing as portion control in Paris.

Recipes Worth Trying: Punitions (the French word for punishment), Page 4. Butter cookies. "At Poilanes, a Boulangerie in Paris when you reach the counter there's a basket of sweet little butter cookies for the taking. They're small and round with rick rack edges, a pale butter color and a deep butter flavor. The basket is replenished throughout the day." Reading the description made me feel as though I was in the shop waiting my turn in line. I took the book to the kitchen and set out all the ingredients to make the cookies before lunch.

From Mom's Kitchen Notebook on Punitions: After reading the recipe through I thought they'd be better with a pinch of salt and I baked them a little longer than they recommended because I wanted them slightly brown.

They came out small and golden, the house smelled of butter. I think everyone of you kids stopped by so there weren't any leftover.

Mom's Rating: 3 Spatulas. Very good. Simple and plain. Very easy to make.

Maya's Rating (Mom's 5 year old granddaughter): Double thumbs down. Knowing Maya was on her way over for a play date my Mom set out all the ingredients to bake the cookies with her.

Maya put on her little kitchen apron, dragged a chair over to the counter, climbed aboard and eyed the ingredients. After giving everything a once over, her tiny little fists flew to her hips and in her most disdainful four year old voice she announced, "There's no chocolate chips in these". She climbed off the chair and left the kitchen. If you want to bake cookies with Maya, it's chocolate chip or nothing.

Rita and Maya working their magique on Korova Cookies

The next time Maya came by to bake cookies, having learned her lesson my Mom chose a recipe with chocolate chips. Korova Cookies, pages 6 and 7. "Korova is the name of a restaurant off the Champs-Elysées for which Pierre Herme created these cookies."

From Mom's Kitchen Notebook: Things were going really well with Maya this time until I got to the part in the recipe when it said to chill the dough for two hours. I knew we couldn't do that because she doesn't have that kind of patience and the wait would have dragged the whole project on all afternoon interfering with my nap time. So we went ahead and baked them without chilling the dough.

They cookies were really great, even the ones that Maya made with a quarter teaspoon of dough, "They're baby Turtle eggs Grandma." Of course we have to make them again and follow the instructions to the letter. And Dorie (the author) suggests adding toasted pecans so that means I can make them a third time. Your father will be pleased about that.

For your sister's birthday I made the Chocolate Tart on page 62. It was very lovely, very Paris. (For those of us who haven't been to Paris, what does 'Very Paris' mean, Mom?) Elegant, Kathleen!

From Mom's Kitchen Notebook: Note: the tart dough recipe yields enough for three tarts, a perfect excuse to try two more tart recipes. The dough freezes very well otherwise I wouldn't have bothered.

The tart recipes call for a 6 1/2 inch tart pan. I just happened to have purchased a 7-inch tart pan at a garage sale recently so I used it instead of searching kitchen stores for the proper size.

The tart came out lovely in my pan. Years of baking and I've learned that any pan close to what an author calls for will work out.

From the treasure trove of culinary information in Mom's head (she could definitely win Culinary Jeopardy): If you're going to purchase a tart pan, I read a report the other day that said the cheap tinned tart pans that cost under ten bucks perform better than the super fancy non-stick ones that cost more so don't bother buying the expensive ones.

With the remaining tart dough my Mom made the Whole Lemon Tart on page 84. The recipe says to slice the lemon into wedges and chop it all up in a food processor but I was concerned about the fact that every other lemon recipe warns you that lemon pitch tastes bitter so I cut off the zest using a peeler and then using a knife, I removed the pith which left me with a naked lemon that I seeded and then threw into the food processor. It was worth the extra small effort.

The tart was really great. I would have been happy with a little less sugar but then I like everything really tart.

Can't Wait To Try:

Cherry Clafoutis (a baked cherry custard) on Page 82 but it contains a cup of crème fraich so maybe I'll have to pass on this recipe for awhile.

The next time someone wants a chocolate cake I might try Grandmother's Chocolate Cake on page 42. "Why, Mom?" Cuz I'm a grandmother.

The Soft Apple Cakes on page 120. They look like muffins but they're really small snack cakes.

Dorie Greenspan the author of several other books including: Baking: From My Home to Yours and Baking with Julia: Sift, Knead, Flute, Flour, And Savor... Both my mother and I have Baking with Julia and we love it! I highly recommend it.