Gourmet's Sweets

If you could have any dessert at this moment, what would it be? Delicate cream puffs filled with burnt orange ice cream and blanketed in cascades of hot fudge sauce, perhaps? Or an apple blackberry pie with thick, sweet juices, topped with a flaky crust? Maybe it's satiny-smooth butterscotch pudding dolloped with whipped cream? Or, if it's just one sweet bite that you crave, how about a to-die-for champagne truffle enclosed in bittersweet chocolate? Gourmet's Sweets has all these options and many, many more.

Packed with over 200 desserts that will satisfy every whim, Gourmet's Sweets gives new meaning to the word "indulgence." Over 70 full-color photographs will help you decide which treats to try first. For the ambitious, there are two impressive dessert parties, both beautifully photographed, that were developed with "do-ability" in mind (all these recipies can be made ahead of time). A Champagne Dessert Party, elegant in every way, offers the sophisticated flavors of a Sambuca Coffe Cream Cake; a majestic Raspberry Mango Trifle, seemingly heaven-sent with its billowy cream crown; fanciful Pecan Lace Cookies; and other luscious surprises. A more relaxed (yet every bit as stylish) Garden Dessert Party is filled with playful summer treats like tender Peach "Pizza," buttery little Berry Tartlets and icy-cold Striped Sorbet Sandwiches. Sweets for every occasion follow. Unlike traditional dessert books, Gourmet's Sweets is organized the same way that a true "sweet tooth" categorizes desserts, that is, by desire. Chapters like "Chocolate," "Berries," "Fruit," "Homey," "Lighter," "Bites," and "Icy" provide plenty of solutions for such longings; "Holidays" and "Anytime" (lots of teatime snacks here) are as clever as they are practical; and, for those times when you desire a breathtaking finale, "Showstoppers" provides creations that are beyond your dreams (as only Gourmet can). Although complex dessert recipes can be time-consuming, many sweets in t