I Love Desserts: All-American Desserts

All-American Desserts
400 Star-Spangled, Razzle-Dazzle Recipes
for America's Best Loved Desserts

by Judith A. Fertig

All-American Desserts Americans eat dessert like it's going out of style, which it certainly never will. According to Bon Appitit, 82% of Americans have dessert at least once a week while 12% admit to eating it more than three times a week.

When it comes to sweets, America is the land of plenty. Our diverse dessert repertoire is a delicious blend of native ingredients (molasses and cornmeal), European techniques (soufflés and flans), imported flavors (Mexican chocolate and vanilla), and American creations (Marshmallow Fluff and Jell-O). Now, thanks to Judith A. Fertig's triumphant All-American Desserts: 400 Star-Spangled, Razzle-Dazzle Recipes for America's Best Loved Desserts, we can indulge our collective sweet tooth for everything from Key Lime Cheesecake to Iron Skillet Butterscotch Pudding.

Fertig defines a true American dessert as one that is adapted from another culinary tradition to suit American tastes (Greek Deep Dish Custard Tart, Germantown Lebkuchen) or is created by an American cook using American ingredients (Vermont maple syrup in Maple and Hickory Nut Apple Crisp, New Mexican pine nuts in Ole Mole Cookies). She includes chapters on fruit desserts, cookies; cakes and tortes; pies and tarts; mousses, puddings, custards, and soufflés; ice creams and sorbets; candies and flavored syrups; and even teas, coolers, and punches. All-American Desserts is also a fascinating history of our country's culinary heritage, and Fertig reveals the origins of many of our best-loved desserts, from Baked Alaska to Classic Bananas Foster. Regan Daley raves, "Seductive and compulsively readible...Ms. Fertig has compiled an exhaustive and valuable collection of American recipes and the lore behind them that will as likely end up on your bedside table as kitchen counter."

Judith M. Fertig writes a weekly column for the Kansas City Star and has contributed to Saveur, Country Living, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the New York Times. She is the author of Prairie Home Cooking and the co-author of Fish & Shellfish, Grilled & Smoked. Trained at La Varenne and the Cordon Bleu, she lives outside of Kansas City, Kansas.

Buy the Book!

All-American Desserts
400 Star-Spangled, Razzle-Dazzle Recipes
for America's Best Loved Desserts
by Judith A. Fertig
The Harvard Common Press
Hardcover: $32.95
ISBN 1-55832-190-X
Paperback: $18.95
ISBN 1-55832-191-8
Information provided by the publisher.