`A Passion for Ice Cream: 95 Recipes for Fabulous Desserts’
By Emily Luchetti
Chronicle Books, $35
What it is: Pastry chef Emily Luchetti has won awards for her baking as well as applause for her dessert cookbooks. “A Passion for Ice Cream” continues her sweet streak. The title’s a bit misleading, though. Here, Luchetti’s “Passion” also runs toward granitas, sorbets and sherbets, as well as baked goods like brownies and cookies. Almost every dessert incorporates a frozen treat into a grander scheme. Examples include Cho Cho Cho (multichocolate ice cream with brownies and cocoa sauce), very berry sodas (strawberry ice cream and raspberry soda) and mango soup (with coconut sherbet and strawberry sorbet).
Praise (and quibbles): These are beautiful, wickedly indulgent desserts presented with lovely, helpful photos and well-written instructions. The strawberry ice cream was a revelation; Luchetti’s recipe first cooks down the berries for a creamy texture. The chocolate sorbet, though, turned out grainy.
Why we think you’ll like it: Don’t let the multi-layered recipes intimidate you. Luchetti wisely suggests that folks who don’t have time to make the whole shebang can make one part of a recipe.
It’s a good approach, from a calorie-wallop standpoint too. Our Cho Cho Cho contained her superfudgy brownies and easy-but-extravagant cocoa sauce–with low-fat ice cream from the store.
It let us notch down the calories, and nobody minded a bit.
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renna@tribune.com
