Review: Gale Gand's Short + Sweet

Gale Gand's Short + Sweet
Quick desserts with eight ingredients or less
2003 Hard back ISBN - 1400047331
Published by Clarkson Potter, NY, NY
color photos

This book actually belongs to my daughter, Sarita. I rarely pay full price for a cookbook and most of mine were previously owned. This one is one of the few exceptions. It is one of the books I purchased at the Cooks Library before going to the LA Times book festival in 2004. Since Sarita couldn't go with me and she loves cookbooks as much as I do and is also a better baker than I, I had Gail sign this one for her. She wrote " To Sarita - I hear you're the family Baker! Love & Dishes Gale Gand 4-25-04" I had a wonderful time at the festival and also a nice chat with Gale while she was signing the book. That is Gale Gand with me signing the cookbook at the festival in my picture.

Sarita has made a few things from this one and I always turn here when I want to make lemon curd. Sarita made the fruit pot stickers which are delicious. She's made them several times since using different fruits. I decided it was time to pull this one off the shelf when my 6 year old great-niece, Tesia once spent the night.

Tesia and I had some alone time while Sarita and Andrew went out to eat. She loves to cook with Sarita and I when she spends the night so I promised her we'd make something fun and she choose the peanut butter worms from the kids in the kitchen section of this book. Since we needed somewhere to put our worms on we also made the Velvety Cocoa Cake from the 30 minute recipe section. We turned them into cupcakes and sprinkled the optional confectioners sugar over before placing the worms on top. Tesia said the worms were laying in the snow. The cake was moist and delicious and the worms were tasty too! We had such fun and used not only raisins but some craisins too for the eyes. Tesia liked the red eyes best.

There are several more fun recipes in the kids section such as: No-Clean up Cinnamon-Raisin Bread; Cookieburgers; Katie's Pinwheel Cookies; and Carmel Peanut Suckers to name a few. The other chapters are an introduction; tips + Basics; 15-Minute recipes; 30-Minute recipes; and 45 minute recipes. It has beautiful color photos and is a great book to have when you want a quick, easy but tasty dessert.

Not only is this a great book to cook from it brings back wonderful memories of the festival I got to attend. Two of her other books have been on my wish list since attending the festival: Butter Sugar Flour Eggs and Gail Gand's Just a Bite. I keep hoping I'll come upon one of these at a great price. I enjoyed Gale's show on the Food Network but it's no longer made. They used to show repeats but haven't even saw any of those lately.

Here is as sampling of some other recipes in this book: From the 15-Minute section: Quicker Pear & Ginger Scones; Ricotta Sweet Potato Beignets; Real Hot Fudge Sundaes; and Zabaglione with Fresh Berries.
30-Minute Recipes: Chocolate Croissant Bread Pudding; Chewy Chocolate Chip Expresso Cookies; Lavender Shortbread; Elsie's Quick Apple Coffee Cake; Blueberry Turnovers; Sugar Roasted Lemon Sorbet; and Expresso Granita & Whipped Cream Shots.
45-Minute recipes: Chocolate Tiramisu; Cinnamon Creme Brulee; Peppermint Crunch Ice Cream Sandwich; and Plum Jam.