Sweet Simplicity: Jacques Pépin's Fruit Desserts

Hardcover: 224 pages ;
Dimensions (in inches): 0.95 x 9.54 x 8.98
Publisher: Bay Books; (June 1999)

Book Description

From the Publisher:
Jacques Pépin has endeared himself to fans of his cooking shows with his strong beliefs about food. To Jacques, preparing meals from wholesome, beautifully fresh ingredients is not only logical, practical, and economical -- it's delightful as well. Sweet Simplicity collects all of Pépin's fruit confections in one handsome volume -- more than 100 recipes in all. From Banana-Mint Ice Cream with Rum-Raisin Sauce to Roasted Caramelized Pears and Apricot-Fig Souffle, he transforms seasonal fruit into culinary masterworks. Illustrated throughout with 35 color photographs and organized alphabetically by type of fruit, this will be an essential volume for every home cook who loves desserts.

Book Reviews

Amazon.com

There's no reason to deny yourself the pleasures of dessert when you're cooking with Jacques Pépin, for he's assembled a delicious assortment of fruit desserts in Sweet Simplicity. From summer's Fragrant Melon Soup (with one scant gram of fat per serving) to the winter warmer Grapefruit Gratin, Ppin serves up swift and sweet endings suitable for every season of the year. Organized by type of fruit, the beautifully photographed book offers more than 115 recipes for old favorites such as Nectarine Crisp and Banana Fritters, as well as fanciful new dishes, including Grapes, Oranges, and Currants in Lime Cookie Cones and Pinwheels of Peaches with Strawberry Coulis. Nutritional information accompanies each easy-to-read entry, and as one might expect from Claudine's father and instructor, the directions are clear and informative (heating a lime in a microwave oven yields more juice than just pressing it on the counter before slicing, for example). Nearly all of the desserts in the book are low in fat and light in calories, and even the heartiest, such as Warm Raspberry Gratin with Sour Cream, have only about as much fat as a Snickers bar. To achieve this level of healthfulness in a dessert cookbook, Ppin doesn't rely on silly low-cal substitutes, but instead on the rich, sweet, ripe fruits themselves--and he's careful to note that the ripeness of the fruit usually determines the quality of the dish.

New York Daily News, July 21, 1999

The book is well-organized, and each chapter offers information about particular fruits...As for the recipes, there are some fabulous no-bake offerings that would be perfect to make right now: mangoes with cognac, for instance, takes 10 minutes to prepare and couldn't be more elegant...Especially enjoyable is the chapter on uncommon fruits such as guava, papayas and quinces. And health-conscious cooks will welcome the nutrition information provided with each recipe.

Review by Diana's Desserts:
This is a wonderful, colorful cookbook by renowned chef Jacques Ppin. This fruit dessert cookbook is a delight, filled with wonderful healthy and tasty recipes, and most recipes are naturally sweetened by the fruits themselves. Jacques offers us a very healthy way of eating our "sweets". There is a section on each fruit, and the history of each of them. Lovely color photos of most of the desserts, and easy to follow instructions. Simple Simplicity is a delight. I highly recommend this refreshing cookbook"....Diana Baker Woodall, Diana's Desserts