At Home with Pastry: The Elegance of Simplified Desserts

Pastry is a sweet, dough-based preparation, garnished in various ways and baked in the oven. This book has its foundation in French pastry making. The consensus is that baking is an exact art, the tenents of which must be strictly followed, but when Rhona Lauvand bakes she has such a firm hand that the recipes take on a special new identity. It is her understanding of the classic repertoire and her preoccupation with flavor and texture that will surely impress the reader. Her desserts range from baked and raw blueberry almond tart and marbleized vanilla bean and chocolate with chocolate chunks pound cake to steamed coconut rice with fresh papaya and mango and grapefruit almond lace cookies.