• Eat Your Books

  2000 International Association of Culinary Professionals Award Winner

Notes about Recipes in this book

• Sweet tart dough

  • anya_sf on January 02, 2024

    Very easy to make and results in a lovely, cookie-like crust that retains its shape quite well (be sure to chill the crust sufficiently first).

  • anya_sf on January 20, 2024

    The prebaked crust took 5 extra minutes to bake.

• Apricot glaze

  • anya_sf on January 02, 2024

    Basic apricot glaze recipe

• Poached pears

  • anya_sf on January 02, 2024

    Recipe worked perfectly with Anjou pears. The syrup wasn't overly sweet.

• Galette noisette

  • MmeFleiss on May 04, 2015

    Delicious, but bake time was closer to 30 mins for me.

• Apple cake

  • anya_sf on September 25, 2021

    Not overly sweet, this was a nice cake for tea time, like a cross between an apple and a rum-raisin cake. It was a little overdone after 60 minutes, so check early.

• Chocolate-raspberry cake

  • Kinhawaii on January 17, 2023

    I liked the way it tasted & the chocolate didn’t overwhelm the raspberry but I prefer a different cake base. I didn’t think I overcooked the cake & soaked it with all of the syrup yet it wasn’t as moist as I would have liked. I usually find recipes provide for too much frosting but for me I would have liked a little more. I don’t make many layered cakes but I think trimming the firmer edges down would have helped me.

• Lemon tart

  • anya_sf on January 20, 2024

    The lemon filling wasn't thickened prior to baking, and I wasn't sure it would set, but it did, although it took closer to 15 min. The height of the filling layer was quite thin, but the sweet-tart flavor packed a punch and contrasted well with the sweet cookie crust. No volume is provided for the lemon juice (3 lemons); I assumed around 4 oz. This tart is actually quite similar to lemon bars.

• Rustic peach tart

  • anya_sf on July 24, 2025

    My peaches were large so I cut them into 6ths, and only used 3 as I wanted to make sure they weren't too crowded so the frangipane would set. For some reason (probably my wonky oven), the frangipane still took 15 min longer to set. So while the tart was tasty, the crust was too crunchy. Sigh. It wasn't overly sweet and was good with vanilla ice cream.

• Rhubarb-streusel tart

  • anya_sf on June 04, 2025

    The volume of orange juice isn't specified; I just had 4 oranges, not 6, but enough juice to just cover the rhubarb, so it seemed OK. I was skeptical of the baking time of the streusel and sure enough, it hadn't browned at all after 12 min, but needed 15 min longer, by which time the crust was pretty dark. So next time I would add the streusel 15 min earlier. Otherwise, the tart was good, not too sweet, with just enough rhubarb and hints of orange and almond.

• Tarte bourdaloue

  • anya_sf on January 02, 2024

    Only about 3/4 of the custard fit in the tart shell. Instructions don't say to slice the pears, so I didn't, but the photo shows them sliced horizontally - either would work, since the pears were plenty soft. My oven may have been running cool, but the tart took 60 min to bake until golden. I baked the tart on a lined sheet pan in case of drips (and there were some), but unfortunately, the bottom was still too pale. Next time I'll bake the tart longer to deep brown per the photo. The combination of pears, almond cream, custard, and sweet crust was really delicious. Not overly sweet, I'm glad I brushed the top with apricot glaze.