Chocolate And The Art Of Low Fat Desserts [Hardcover]

There are considerably fewer calories in Alice Medrich's latest book than in Cocolat, her first, award-winning cookbook. In Chocolate and the Art of Low-Fat Desserts, Medrich presents recipes that cut fat without compromising texture or flavor--a chocolate lover's dream come true. With offerings like Black Bottom Bananas Napoleons (made with chocolate custard) or Double Chocolate Layer Cake (with less than a third of its calories from fat), Medrich proves that wonderfully indulgent treats don't have to add to your waistline. The book won the 1995 James Beard Cookbook Award.

Medrich is the author of another beautiful cookbook, Cocolat: Extraordinary Chocolate Desserts (LJ 2/15/91), which showcased the indulgent desserts from her California pastry shops. Her low-fat book is not, as one might expect, at the opposite end of the spectrum; there are rich-tasting, elegant creations here too. Some readers will be disappointed to find that, despite the book's title, not all of the recipes are for chocolate desserts, but many are, and the nonchocolate recipes are just as enticing. It's impossible to cut the fat drastically in some desserts without ruining the taste, and Medrich, rather than compromise on flavor, chose 30 percent calories from fat as her limit-which some readers will find too high for their liking. Nevertheless, these are at least "lower-fat" desserts-and they are far more tempting than the recipes in most low-fat dessert books. Highly recommended.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Forget the newfangled fat substitutes such as prune puree. Shelve a lot of the cocoa, carob chips, and other low-calorie ingredients. And don't resign yourself to eating only fruit and fruit-type desserts. Balance, as chocolate maven Medrich underscores, is the key to baking enlightened sweets. She considers fat a budgetary item. Use quantities of chocolate, for example, but then decrease amounts of egg yolks and/or butter. Her theory is unique, but better yet are her results. Each recipe includes working and baking times and complete nutritional information, along with some occasional variations. Her friendly prose and thoughtful hints make this collection of more than 110 recipes the stuff readers' dreams are made of. Barbara Jacobs

Medrich's Cocolat (not reviewed) was a lavish collection of heart-stopping (in both senses) desserts. Does this assemblage of low-fat sweets (in most, less than 30% of the calories come from fat) mean she is lowering her decadent standards? Don't bet on it. As she sensibly points out in the introduction, changes in our eating habits have affected our palates too: These days, food with less fat just tastes better. Someone comparing her dense brownies made with unsweetened cocoa to standard brownies would probably note a difference without necessarily preferring one over the other. Mostly Medrich has skipped the losing battle of substitutions and makeovers (one exception, tiramis— with a cottage and cream cheese mixture in place of mascarpone, is sacrilegious). Instead, she's come up with a whole range of ingenious techniques- -from freezing mousses to make them fuller-tasting to adding doses of acidic dairy products to tenderize baked goods--to create a range of original sweets. Frozen hot chocolate with low-fat milk is a snap, while a chocolate cake with three kinds of mousse takes over two hours to prepare. A final chapter gives recipes for new, low-fat versions of basics like pastry creams so that readers can try working Medrich's magic on their own favorites. Two quibbles: A fair number of non-chocolate options make the title misleading, and fussy old-fashioned tableware lends photographs the ambiance of Great-Aunt Martha's dining room. A toothsome revolution. (First serial to Food & Wine) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Featuring more than eighty recipes, the follow-up cookbook to Cocolat, from the author whose name is synonymous with chocolate desserts, offers such delights as Triple Mousse Cake, Chocolate Walnut Torte, and Chocolate Truffles--all with lower fat and fewer calories.