Sweet

Its ok but its not collectible like a kitchen bible

I must admit upfront that I was biased before I opened this book as Yotam Ottolenghi’s books are my favourites on my rather extensive cookbook shelves. And I was not disappointed! As he says in the introduction: these recipes are “conceived with love and a bit of flair and made with real ingredients and lots of attention to detail” A perfect description! As with previous Yotam Ottolenghi recipe books, the book is beautifully presented. Superb photographs and clear instructions, with details of timing, storage details and useful hints. I also like the clear quantities given – so for example, ½ small banana = 50 g mashed. There are so many interesting and exciting recipes to try. But also those that give pizazz to well known favourites. For example the Custard Yo-Yos – with roasted rhubarb icing. Absolutely gorgeous to look at and superb tasting. Also Banana Cakes - with rum caramel. What a delight! Other little details such as how to make the Chocolate Chip Cookies crispy or chewy are what set this book apart from so many other baking books I have. So top marks to Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh for providing a wonderful selection of recipes and to the publishers for presenting a most glorious, readable and beautiful book.

Fantastic dreamy cookbook

Simplemente maravilloso. Dan ganas de hacer absolutamente todas las recetas y tiene de todo, desde bizcochos más sencillos hasta tartas más elaboradas, pasteles pequeños, galletas y un apartado de tartas de queso increíble. De momento llevo tres recetas hechas y las tres me han salido bien, está perfectamente explicado. Es muy del estilo al de Dan Lepard ("Short and sweet") pero aún más completo, diría yo. Para pedirse un año sabático y no dejar de cocinar :)

Ottolenghi and Goh's collaboration on Sweet is one of the best cookbooks of the year, and certainly in my top 3 dessert cookbooks for the year. I've been anxiously awaiting Sweet for months now - excited about what I would find inside, nervous that I would feel disappointed like I was with Nopi. I want to cook virtually everything from Sweet, but even if I don't, I've already improved as a baker just reading each chapter beginning and some of the recipes. Thus far, I've made the take-home chocolate cake, hazelnut cake, national trust lemon poppy seed cake, and the gevulde speculaas, which were all relatively easy enough to throw together in an evening without much preparation. Everything as looked, smelled, and tasted heavenly ... I'll update my review as I try more (like the tahini halva brownies, almond butter cake with cardamom and baked plums, and the cinnamon pavlova,...). Sweet goes well beyond the typical cookbook, in that the authors use the chapter intros and the recipe headers to teach their readers something important/provide tips that extend beyond just the single recipe or just this single book. While some of the recipes call for ingredients that are hard to find at local grocery stores, the authors have done an excellent job indicating what common item could be used as a substitute (e.g. almond extract for mahleb powder and vanilla beans for pandan leaf). Overall though, most of the recipes call for ingredients that are easy to find in any supermarket. Similarly to the issue of ingredients, Ottolenghi and Goh go above and beyond with their pan size & storage recommendations for each recipe. They do an excellent job of explaining why a tin can is called for with their tin can cakes, exactly how to (safely) generate your own, and how you could replace it with a standard sized pan. What was mind blowing for me was reading their tip that I could bake financiers in a muffin tin or mini muffin tin instead of needing a special pan for them, and then (of course) they provided the baking times necessary to make that happen. More wisdom from Ottolenghi and Goh's experience comes in the madeleines recipe, where they explain what it is about the process of making madeleine batter that yields such a delicate but short-lived cookie, and how they altered the method to improve the madeleines shelf life. These recipes are extremely well-written and thorough (but not overwhelmingly long), there is at least one glorious photo of every recipe, measurements are provided in both cubs and grams, and the directions generally are found on the same page as the ingredients (or at least start there). I highly recommend starting at the end of the book, with the Baker's tips and notes especially, to get a sense of the authors' baking style, possible substitutions, and their philosophy on things like sifting (do it, multiple times).

this book had been in my MUST list for a long time. He has covered everything we call dessert in this book. Gorgeous photos , good explanation of the recipes. Some are really superb, some mmm - i may not even to attempt (ex.: Rice pudding with roasted rhubarb and tarragon). But the cookbook is very beautiful.