Notes about Recipes in this book

• Ginger-stout layer cake with ermine frosting

  • caitmcg on January 27, 2023

    There is a clear error in the amount of flour called for; 140g/1 cup is obviously too little for three 8-inch layers. I made the cake batter with 420g flour and the cake layers turned out well, moist and well-risen, with a fine crumb. Overall, a delicious cake, like the Guinness Stout Ginger Cake in the Last Course that it is based on.

• Espresso shortbread with cacao nibs

  • Astrid5555 on February 20, 2023

    Intensely coffee-flavored, crunchs shortbreads - one of my favorites so far.

  • pattyatbryce on April 02, 2023

    Very coffee forward. I'd probably reduce to 2 tsp espresso powder next time for personal preference, but texture is perfect. I did roll the logs in the turbinado and it adds a nice crunch and a touch of sweetness to balance the coffee.

  • KCKB on February 12, 2023

    The last ingredient listed is 30g Demerara/Sugar in the Raw, but the recipe as written doesn’t mention whether we’re supposed to sprinkle it on just before baking, roll the dough logs in it before chilling, etc. I looked at the shortbread recipes in “The Last Course” to see if there were any hints, but none of the recipe instructions mention anything similar. The only potential clue is the photo on p. 87 of a decorative border (colored sugar or maybe cornmeal?) on the Lemon-Poppyseed Shortbread, which is rolled flat, not rolled into logs and sliced. In any case, they need the sweetness of that sugar to balance the flavor of the espresso. Also, the yield note says “makes about 60 cookies” - that’s accurate if you only bake off one log of dough and freeze the other, as the headnote suggests, but if you bake the full amount of dough you’ll get more like 120-125 (pretty small) cookies. Finally: I think these would be great with toffee bits in place of the cacao nibs.

• Blueberry, blueberry, blueberry tart

  • Astrid5555 on September 03, 2023

    Blueberry heaven on a plate. Made over several days this is an easy tart. I did not have fine-ground cornmeal so I just used corn flour which I had on hand, the crust was so beautiful to work with. I par-baked it a day ahead and also made the blueberry reduction on that same day. The addition of star anise and lemon zest is just delicious. I baked the tart with the filling the day of. Next time I would macerate the berries for some time before baking, I had to crush mine with a fork after 30 minutes in the oven to get the juices flowing. It took closer to an hour in the oven until the filling was bubbling, so I needed to cover the crust with some foil to make sure it didn’t burn, but everything worked out fine in the end. Made the whipped yogurt cream right before serving and it added a nice tang to the tart. All in all a really delicious tart that got rave reviews from my guests. Will definitely make again next summer!

  • bwhip on July 27, 2023

    I really enjoyed this. I’ve been wanting to try it for a while, but first had to find fine-meal cornmeal, which wasn’t easy. The crust was crispy, flavorful and interesting. I really liked that the overall resulting tart was not overly sweet. Of course, this will depend a lot on the sweetness of one’s blueberries, but there wasn’t all that much sugar, and the yogurt with the whipped cream gave it a nice tang.

• Peach and blackberry cobbler with ricotta biscuits

  • ShannonS on December 04, 2022

    Ingredient list calls for 28g/1oz/about 2 2/3c semolina flour. Has anyone seen a correction posted for this anywhere?

  • Lepa on July 23, 2023

    We thought this was good-how can you go wrong with peaches and blackberries? But it wasn't my favorite cobbler (that would be the Smitten Kitchen magic cobbler with plums and apples). The biscuits were not as flaky and tasty as I would have liked. Probably not a repeat. As a previous poster has noted, the measurements for the semolina flour don't make sense. I used the grams measurement (28g) and the texture seemed right so I am guessing that is correct.

• Apple and raspberry crisp

  • tarae1204 on January 13, 2023

    This was really a perfect crisp. In the directions, there is a twist upon most other preparations which serves to improve the final dish - that is to macerate the apples, drain, and dissolve the cornstarch into that juice, which you then add back to the apples. It came out perfectly with caramelized, chewy crisp topping.

• Sweet potato biscuits with bitter chocolate and pecans

  • sjvirg on November 19, 2023

    This recipe unfortunately doesn't work as written, even after correcting the oven temperature mistake when baking the biscuits.

• North Fork focaccia

  • JulieCruz on January 02, 2023

    Did the 4 hour version but it didn’t have much flavor or bubbles. The crumb was a little tight and more like bread. Letting it rise for 12 hours might help. It was very easy to work with.