I love new cookbooks. I often check them out at the library a test a recipe or two before I bother to buy them. Rustic Fruit Deserts by Cory Schreiber and Julie Richardson has definitely earned a place in my collection. It’s well worth it’s cost. I’m a desert girl of all types, but when I’m baking at home the “rustic” deserts are my go to style. These deserts aren’t fussy, don’t require incredible precision, but nonetheless delight the taste buds and make any visitors feel welcome at your table. This book discusses:
- pies (desert with a filling, bottom and optional top crust)
- tarts (a pie without a top crust), galettes (rustic free form tart)
- cobblers (deep dish fruit pie, with a crust on top, no bottom crust)
- grunts or slumps (similar to cobbler but cooked stove top)
- crisps or crumbles (baked fruit with a streusel topping)
- betties (fruit that is layered between or on top of diced bread cubes)
- pandowdy (deep dish fruit desert where the crust is broken to allow fruit juice through the crust)
- buckles (cake batter poured in a single layer, with berries added to the batter.)
- teacakes (simple cake similar to coffee cake)
- fools (summer desert of fruit and layered whip cream)
- trifle (layers of cake, cream, and fresh fruit)
It really has the genre covered. The fruit combinations are inventive, tasty, and sorted by season so you can find recipes to work with the fruits you can find in season. Another thing I like about this book is that in the back there is a selection of base recipes that are part of many of the other recipes. I like that you can learn a few basics and pull together all kind of deserts, I think of it as staple recipes. I love to have staple recipes as part of my repertoire. It’s good to have things that you just know how to make that always come out well. Plus once you have a staple recipes down you can improvise with the recipes as a base. You can definitely expect some recipes from me that have been inspired by this wonderful collection. I’ve already been playing with a blackberry apple filling that will find it’s way into a galette, turnover, or something…
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