Desserts Illustrated: The Ultimate Guide to All Things Sweet 600+ Recipes (Cook's Illustrated)

This is such an amazing cookbook. There are so many unique and delicious recipes with step-by-step directions, and gorgeous, enticing photos. We have enjoyed trying several recipes so far. I highly recommend this book.

I confess I am addicted to dessert cookbooks, especially those on baking pies. I have more books on baking pie then I do space in my numerous bookshelves -- including three from America's Test Kitchen (ATK). I have both Volume 1 & 2 of the "I Can't Believe it's Gluten Free" cookbooks as well as "The Perfect Pie" cookbook (which like this one is not a gluten free-specific cookbook but has a few gf recipes). I have been utilizing and relying on all three cookbooks for years because they are excellent. Knowing ATK & Cook's Kitchen are the same company & knowing they utilize the same test kitchen in Boston, I gambled and pre-ordered the "Desserts Illustrated" cookbook sight unseen. Well, I gotta say, as is expected, the recipes are excellent. I've made the gluten free pie crust (which although it's a pain to roll out it really is the very best gluten free crust recipe out there and I've tested at least fifty gluten free crust recipes since 2007). The pecan pie & pumpkin pies are Thanksgiving staples and the chocolate angel pie is regularly made in this house as are the gluten free peanut butter cookies -- which are to die for. And how do I know these recipes in the book are so good after only owning the book for five hours? Well. Here's the rub -- all the gluten free recipes in this book are also found in the three ATK books I mentioned above. All of them. As far as I can tell after perusing through Dessert's Illustrated every single one of the recipes I can cook in my gluten-free kitchen I already had access to in the three ATK cookbooks I already own. That said, if you do not have any of those cookbooks I highly recommend this one. For new bakers, the recipes are straightforward and for those who have been baking a while there are a few more detailed recipes to try. I love how there are old-school recipes included right along with more modern recipes. I appreciate the explanations at the top of each recipe which explain why the recipe works and what steps were taken to develop the perfect recipe. As a person who has had many baking failures once I had to switch to gluten free baking, the explanations are highly informative and I can't tell you how many ah-ha moments I've had reading through them and considering all my previous fails. Novice baker or more advanced, you can't go wrong with this cookbook.

I'm a cookbook person, I actually read them! This is by far the best cookbook I've bought in years! I've already made a dozen of the recipes, a couple of them more than once. I highly recommend it, you won't be sorry! Each recipe I've made has been amazing. The only one short of amazing was due to my error ... and that one was still good!

Great deal for the money, this book is huge sized and really contains the 600+ recipes advertized. Clear easy print and instructions.

The media could not be loaded.  I love this dessert book! I started reading it on Libby and then was falling in love with too many recipes to write down so I decided to purchase the whole thing. One thing I’m stickler about with cook books is they have to have pictures for the recipes or I’m not making it 😆 I just need the visual to give me an idea of what the final product should look like and grab my taste buds to get to baking. This book doesn’t have pictures for all the recipes, but it’s more than any other desserts book I’ve read so far. The only downside is that I wish they had the measurements in grams. They do have ounces for dry ingredients like sugar and flour which is still helpful since those are the ones that usually need precise measurements.Anywho, I’ve made 3 recipes so far and they were all delicious. See the pictures for reference. The olive oil cake was a hit! 😋 excited to try and share more bakes with friends and family!

Nice book very happy

Good book of recipes. Easy to follow some have pictures,which is a nice addition. I have baked 2 cakes, 3 pies and 2 cookies so far all turned out really good and believe me i am no baker. But be careful where you set the book when baking I got two drops of water on a page and the ink came off in those spots when i wiped it off. Be warned.

I find that the recipes are very detailed with techniques, pictures, and suggestions. The only problem is not overdoing it with desert eating. Challenging ot simple, these are on the top of my cookbook pile

Great book with lots of information and good recipes

Excellently explained and illustrated book for beginners and experienced cooks. It covers almost all types of desserts and gives the recipes for various textures that maybe desired and explains the science part in simple language. Only downside is that there are recipes of desserts from all over the world and a little explanation on the origins would have added to the pleasure of learning to make something different. All in all, an excellent book that I’ll use frequently I’m sure. Also, ingredients measure in gms would have helped too.

Bought it as a gift. Recipient says she loved it!

I made two basic recipes -- Lemon Bars and Millionaire Shortbread. The Lemon Bars were gummy and opaque and tart to the point they were almost inedible. I tried the Millionaire Shortbread twice with disappointing results both times -- a total waste of $26.00 worth of sweetened condensed milk. On the first try the recipe for the base was tough and hard as a board and the caramel filling didn't set. On the second try, I used my own tried and true recipe for the base and it was fine, however, once again the caramel filling didn't set. I actually went out and purchased a new candy thermometer for the second try to ensure I was bringing the filling to the correct temperature --exactly the same result -- it didn't set. I won't be using this book again for recipes but only to gather ideas to them translate into my own recipes.