Entries by Alice Medrich
Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies
Designed by Jennifer Morla, shot by Deborah Jones, art directed by Sara Slavin, and edited by the legendary Ann Bramson—I couldn’t have asked for a better team. Originally conceived of as The Cookie Project, this is the updated, retrofitted, modernized version of Alice Medrich’s Cookies and Brownies (Warner Books, 1999), with more recipes than ever […]
Pure Dessert
I take a new tact here. This book is ingredient driven, with ever-simpler recipes for the sophisticated palate and geared to the home cook. Chapters are organized by ingredient (Milk and Butter, Flours and Grains, Nuts and Seeds, Chocolate, Herbs and Spices, Fruit, Wines and Spirits…) rather than type of dessert. Pure was always a […]
Bittersweet: Recipes and Tales From a Life in Chocolate
Mostly cookbook, with just enough memoir. Between chapters, I tell my story—my first taste of bittersweet chocolate, the opening and eventual sale of Cocolat, my first and second cookbooks, my work on the 1997 new Joy of Cooking, the early years of Scharffen Berger Chocolate, and everything in between. You might say it’s all about love, loss, and what I baked, ate, and learned. Even if you skip the stories, you still get the first book ever published in this country with recipes for cacao nibs, the first and only explanation and manual for using high percentage chocolates in baking and desserts, and one of the best explanations of tempering with instructions for nonscientists. A book for everyone passionate about chocolate.
2004 Cookbook of the Year, IACP
2004 Best Book: Single Subject, IACP
2003 Best of the Best Award, Food and Wine Magazine
Chocolate Holidays
You’ll find great seasonal, special occasion, and holiday chocolate recipes in this small book, beautifully designed by Jennifer Morla, styled and art directed by Sara Slavin, and shot by Michael LaMotte. Originally published as A Year in Chocolate (Warner Books, 2001), this new edition has updated chocolate information. In addition to great recipes, Chocolate Holidays is a great-looking book for an unbelievably low price. Everyone should buy ten.
A Year in Chocolate
Updated and republished as Chocolate Holidays (Artisan, 2001)
Alice Medrich’s Cookies and Brownies
Alice Medrich’s Cookies and Brownies is a simple book filled with great cookies, great techniques, and great advice. Beginners loved it, and so did my colleagues. It is out of print now, and expensive to find on the net. My latest book, Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies, includes updated and expanded versions of the […]
Chocolate and the Art of Low Fat Desserts
Chocolate and Art is a collection of possibly the richest “light” desserts in the world, and an unsurpassed guidebook for using real butter, chocolate, cream, nuts, and other ingredients in you-can’t-tell-the-difference desserts with less fat. It was the era of low-fat everything, and I was mad. This book was my riposte, chin out, to all […]
Slide 4
For me, creating desserts has always been a way to delight the eye and the mind, as well as the palate. I am endlessly inspired and challenged by ingredients and flavors—the craft involved both in bringing them together and writing about the process.
Slide 3
For me, creating desserts has always been a way to delight the eye and the mind, as well as the palate. I am endlessly inspired and challenged by ingredients and flavors—the craft involved both in bringing them together and writing about the process.
Slide 2
For me, creating desserts has always been a way to delight the eye and the mind, as well as the palate. I am endlessly inspired and challenged by ingredients and flavors—the craft involved both in bringing them together and writing about the process.
Slide 1
For me, creating desserts has always been a way to delight the eye and the mind, as well as the palate. I am endlessly inspired and challenged by ingredients and flavors—the craft involved both in bringing them together and writing about the process.
What I Love About Genoise
I make genoise twice a year whether I like it or not. I make it when I teach at Tante Marie’s Cooking School www.tantemarie.com because Mary Risley (Tante Marie) believes that all aspiring professional culinary students should be able to make genoise. Despite its old school reputation, I do like genoise. And I agree with Mary, though I’m not sure […]
Carrot Improv
After enjoying Mourad’s Lahlou’s carrot soup with its fresh carrot juice and vanilla (see my last post, Where Ideas Come From), I decided to try a little riff. Instead of his touch of curry, I used a very small amount of fresh ginger, nutmeg, and citrus zest. I cooked the carrots in water, puréed them and reheated […]
Where Ideas Come From
I love cooking from other chefs’ recipes. I follow a recipe closely the first time because I want to taste what the chef was thinking and tasting. I’m also curious about the recipe writing (this is an occupational hazard). If there is something unusual about the technique or use of ingredients, I want to learn […]
Crabby When Wrong
“I may be wrong but” is one of the ways I preface a statement when I really think I’m right but trying not to be too obnoxious. Which is probably fairly obnoxious… For years I’ve cooked Dungeness crabs in plain boiling water, no spices (horrors) and no salt. The crabs are always stunningly delicious and […]
Sinfully Easy
Everyone needs a sinfully easy dessert list. What would be on yours? I was invited to a dinner party set for the day after I would return from a trip. When I offered to bring dessert my hosts were okay with that. When I said it would be something super quick and easy, they were […]
Poached Eggs Hold The Vinegar
I do love poached eggs. I eat one almost every day for weeks on end before I decide to take a break, and after a while I start up all over again. I eat them plain on whole grain or levain toast year round with or without asparagus in spring, tomatoes and basil in summer, […]
Squeezing Hanukkah Potatoes
After Hanukkah for each of the last 15 to 20 years I’ve make a mental note to send my brilliant potato squeezing tip to Cooks Illustrated Magazine in time for the following year’s Latke Issue. And every year I let it slide until it is (again) too late. So at last, here’s the scoop: Your […]