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Reviewed in the United States on March 4, 2008

After seeing recipes that included whole-grain flours in cookies and cakes, I was intrigued by this book, and decided to get it, not knowing what a master Alice Medrich is at creating perfectly balanced recipes that focus on flavor and texture. After this book, I hold Alice as the gold standard in baking. I am collecting her other books and hope that Alice will someday do an ice cream book.

There is nothing that is overly sweet in this book, a flaw of many other dessert books. Alice allows the ingredients to shine, and has created recipes that provide more than just sweetness or richness. One of the points made throughout this book that I really agree with is that richer is not always better. Many think that having tons of eggs and loading up on the heavy cream will automatically make ice cream better, but Alice correctly points out that this is not always the case, and that in many instances, eggs get in the way of flavor, as does the use of too much sugar. She has done the recipe-testing to back it up as well! All of her recipes are extensively tested, and having tried out so many of them, I can vouch that anyone can feel sure about trying out a recipe for the first time and getting excellent results. I love reading her insights into why things work, as well as her discoveries that often go against the norm (for example, how cold infusions proved superior to hot infusions).

Her lebni tart is cheesecake-smooth, but with the characteristic tang of yogurt, perfectly balanced with a sweet, buttery, vanilla-flavored crust.
The brioche is feather-light, just sweet enough, and very buttery, but without tasting at all greasy.
Then there's her quark souffles. They're just lightly sweetened, with the slight tang of the cheese not being at all lost, and indeed, just perfect with berries.
As for those recipes with whole-grain flours, Alice points out how she created them not for health reasons, but for the textural benefits, as well as the interesting flavor they provide.
Her nibby buckwheat butter cookies are among my favorite cookies ever. They have a perfectly sandy yet crunchy texture, and the cacao nibs almost make these taste like a grown-up chocolate chip cookie.
The kamut pound cake is fantastic, especially with fleur de sel and black pepper sprinkled on top.
The cornmeal-buckwheat scones are also a must.
And I can't review this book without pointing out that her lemon squares are perfection. I have been spoiled by these and nothing else will ever do. Sweet, buttery crust, tangy, perfectly smooth and velvety lemon curd. Between the lemon squares, the lebni tart, and the brioche, those are three recipes that are worth the price of the book alone!

Do yourself a favor and get this book. As simple as the content seems, you'll find this deceiving as soon as you get a taste of any of the recipes.

Reviewed in the United States on January 18, 2011

I have all of Alice's books (even the old out of print ones!). I love this book for it's focus on ingredients. My family LOVED the Almond Cake and I can't get enough of it! My only issue was trying to do it with the crunchy almond crust. Even though I diligently buttered the pan and followed all directions to the letter the cake stuck to the pan and ended up breaking into pieces. I still ate it, just made another without the crust to serve as a second dessert for Thanksgiving. The Chocolate Wafer cookies (with dried cherries and chocolate chuncks varation) are sublime! My major issues is that I'm trying to lose weight so cooking desserts everyday is out of the question :)

Reviewed in the United States on May 18, 2011

Alice Medrich is a genius. Every dessert recipe I've tried from her book "Pure Dessert" has been incredible and delicious (and so far I've tried close to 10 recipes). She gives great instruction for how to make particular desserts, as well as instruction for why not to do things a certain way. For example, I made Ginger Florentines. She cautioned against using more than a level teaspoon of dough for each cookie, writing that it would spread out and make a gooey mess. I was skeptical, but followed her advice. Sure enough, the cookies spread out considerably, making me glad I used the recommended amount.

Her take on dessert is that it should have simple, clear flavors and be delicious, with the best ingredients you can find. Many desserts today are cloyingly sweet or have too much going on with them. In "Pure Dessert" the title tells you exactly what you get. It's a celebration of wonderful ingredients, transformed into amazing desserts.

Reviewed in the United States on December 23, 2015

Oh my, where to begin? I am one of those people who enjoys reading cookbooks even if I never actually make anything from them but this cookbook may actually send me to the kitchen. Such great ideas using fresh and unique ingredients. There is a section on just honey including a recipe for honey ice cream. There are also chapters on desserts with alcohol or fruits or herbs, spices, flowers and leaves. The recipe for pink grapefruit granita had me drooling, and there is a fruit and nut cake I cannot wait to try. Whether you read cookbooks for pleasure or to get new ideas or to actually make the recipes, this is not to be missed! Pink grapefruit granita--yum.

Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2016

The prime is great. The selections are great. The issue that I have it's in the movie area. Amazon will sense the speed of your connection and push the video as fast as your connection will accept. For instance, Netflix movies are about 1 gig per hour. Amazon movies were pushed at 2.5 gig outer hour, which ate up a lot more data than we expected. For those that stream via their phones, this is unacceptable.

Reviewed in the United States on June 28, 2008

I love baking and making desserts and have collected lots of great recipes by Dorie Greenspan, Nigella Lawson, Maida Heatter and others. I only discovered Alice Medrich's books about six months ago but she's now become my absolute favorite. Out of all these authors, she's the only one whose recipes are absolutely reliable and always turn out perfectly. The almond cake and the Italian chocolate-almond torte in this book are amazing and I can't wait to try the rest. Inventive, well-designed recipes that taste wonderful and are not excessively complicated. Thanks, Alice!

Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2017

These recipes are well tested and work every time, provided you read the intro and understand her measurements and take her suggestions. I love that the desserts aren't over sweet and that she's mixed in different flours. Couldn't be happier.

Reviewed in the United States on October 5, 2018

The recipes are different and delicious. Easy to prepare and most of them do not require any hard to find ingredients. The ice cream and sorbets are great.