Desserts by the Yard: From Brooklyn to Beverly Hills: Recipes from the Sweetest Life Ever

Delicious, this book is absolutely delicious is all I have to say. The desserts are wonderful and full of creativity. There are items of all cooking skill levels, but Sherry Yard puts the directions together so well that almost anyone can cook these yummies.

When I first purchased this book, I read it cover to cover. Seriously. Sherry's narratives are so engaging! Each chapter of this book is divided into chapters of her life through baking... growing up, her first jobs, going abroad, moving to California, and catering huge events, and each is prefaced with an introduction leading up to that phase of her baking career. She shares hilarious anecdotes alongside delicious creations that will leave your mouth watering. Her recipe for Mango Upside-Down Cake with Blueberries is truly impressive, both visually stimulating and incredibly delicious! Her Out-of-this-World Brownies truly are what she says: Out-of-this-world! Although some of these recipes are a bit on the professional side (hand-pulled streusel dough is even a bit extreme for my well-honed baking skills), this book offers enough for both professional and experienced amateur cooks alike.

"Desserts by the Yard: From Brooklyn to Beverly Hills: Recipes from the Sweetest Life Ever," by Sherry Yard, is a combination baking book and memoir. Each recipe is accompanied by an excerpt from the author's life, from the `A&P Strawberry Sodas' inspired by her grandmother to the `Banded Layer Cakes' she created for the 67th Oscars. The book introduced me to Yard's recipes, though I was familiar with her work beforehand because I saw her on an episode of "Iron Chef" as one of Wolfgang Puck's sous chefs. She was in charge of making the various sweets and pastries that would be presented to the judges, and when she decorated the dishes with spun sugar watching her hands form the ethereally golden strands was breathtaking to say the least. <br /> <br />"Desserts by the Yard" contains an impressive collection of tempting recipes, some of my favorites including `Gingersnap Toaster-Oven Tarts with Peach Filling' (think high-end pop tarts), `Chocolate-Covered Chocolate-Mint Cookies,' `Apfelstudel' (Apple Strudel) and `Pistachio Gelato.' The `Ring of Saturn Peach "Doughnuts"` were also a hit, combining delicious ingredients like anise biscotti and macerated peaches into a treat that's dusted with confectioner's sugar, then served with vanilla ice cream. Recipes range in skill-level from basic to advanced and I appreciated how several of them allowed me to stretch my culinary knowledge. I had to make the `Fig Bars,' which are essentially homemade fig newtons, a few times before the texture was just right, for instance. Yet the treats I found myself making over and over again happened to be the ones that satisfied my simpler tastes: `President Clinton's Oatmeal Cookies' and `Soft Pretzels.' The cookies were a huge hit at the office with two dozen cookies disappearing at lightening speed, while two (soon to be three?) batches of pretzels have already made an appearance in my kitchen. With the exception of one recipe, for `Forbidden Rice Pudding,' I was hugely satisfied with all the dishes I made. Yard even included something for Fido: a recipe for `Real Doggy Treats' made with honey, wheat flour, cornmeal and chicken stock. My Labrador Retriever certainly appreciated those! <br /> <br />Chapters include: Brooklyn Inspirations; New York City: From Cigarette Girl to Pastry Chef; London Interlude; Go West, Young Gal: San Francisco and Napa; Spago Hollywood; Farmers' Market Inspirations; Vienna Interlude; Spago Beverly Hills; Chinois on Main; Special Events; and the Academy Awards. <br /> <br />

Sherry Yard, the executive pastry chef for Wolfgang Puck Worldwide, has created a mouthwatering, memorable dessert bible in Desserts by the Yard: From Brooklyn to Beverly Hills-Recipes from the Sweetest Life Ever. Beginning with some vintage photographs, there is a glowing foreword by Wolfgang Puck, an introduction by Sherry, and helpfully enough, notes on ingredients and equipment at the front, rather than the back, of the book. <br /> <br />The cookbook is divided chronologically, beginning with Sherry's childhood in Brooklyn. Her introductions are nostalgic, and she includes updates of her childhood favorites such as rainbow cookies, frozen chocolate-coconut bars, charlotte russe, chocolate-dipped frozen custard cones, and mom's cuisinart chocolate mousse. Nostalgic in origin, Sherry has turned these into elegant creations, but her clear writing and step-by-step instructions make the recipes easy enough to follow, and most call for common ingredients. <br /> <br />The next section, New York City, chronicles her experiences working in the Rainbow Room, and includes showier (and more difficult) desserts such as chocolate souffles, baked Alaska, chocolate velvet, chocolate truffle cakes, and chocolate devil's food cake with chocolate filling. Chocoholics will find this section the most rewarding, although many recipes are time-consuming. <br /> <br />The other sections cover Sherry's adventures in Vienna (including the prerequisite apple strudel), the Asian-themed Chinois on Main, with its exotic Asian fruit concoctions such as mango pudding, yuzu lemon-lime meringue pie, Mandarin granita, and passion fruit sorbet (this was probably my least favorite; besides the forbidden rice pudding, an update on Thai sticky rice pudding, I don't see myself making any of these), a London interlude, and recipes taken from Sherry's special events catering, including the Academy Awards (rather plain chocolate boxes mounted with sugar Oscar statuettes). <br /> <br />This is truly a dessert cookbook for everyone, and Sherry thoughtfully includes several savory recipes as well, such as honey-glazed cornbread and crispy herbed flatbread. For fans of ice cream (sadly, I don't own an ice cream maker, so I haven't tried to make these), there are numerous recipes for gelato (butterscotch, Meyer lemon, pistachio, coconut, stracciatella) and ice creams, including exotic choices such as black currant tea, Calvados, coffee, and yuzu curd. <br /> <br />Sherry's writing makes this a delightful travelogue, and her down-to-earth style includes touches of humor (if she writes an autobiography about her experiences as pastry chef, I'll be first in line to read it!). Her recipes are clearly written (I have several bookmarked to try in the near future), beautifully photographed, and most are simple enough for the beginning home baker to attempt (although some call for more sophisticated touches such as spun sugar adornments, or complicated puff pastry bases). Some do call for hard-to-find and expensive ingredients such as Asian fruits, but most are doable by the average home cook with access to a decent grocery store (Sherry does recommend using top-of-the-line Cluizel chocolate, since desserts are one area where you can't skimp on ingredients and expect a stellar outcome using Nestle). <br /> <br />Verdict: this is an absolutely lovely volume with something for everyone, whether you're a chocoholic, someone looking for a little nostalgia, or a daring pastry chef looking for new challenges (the Oscar desserts are labor-intensive and exacting). <br />