Rustic Fruit Desserts: Crumbles, Buckles, Cobblers, Pandowdies, and More [A Cookbook] Hardcover – April 28, 2009

First, an admission -- I am a relatively new home cook/baker. If there is an error in a recipe, I don't have the sense/experience NOT to make it, so I am entirely dependent upon cookbook authors to educate and guide me. I seek out books that not only delight me and the people for whom I cook, but also those that teach me along the way. Rustic Fruit Desserts is superb on both counts.I love the way the book is organized by season, allowing me to really enjoy fresh fruits at their peak. The hints offered by their authors have been wonderfully helpful -- I've learned little tips about zesting, separating eggs, and the best way to store each finished dessert (or, as in the case of the slump, I learned that it doesn't keep well and should be eaten on the same day). These are small things that might seem obvious to a more experienced baker, but they've been invaluable for me.I also really love the descriptions of each kind of fruit, with suggestions about choosing for ripeness and selecting the best type for your dish (as with apples, for example). I noticed that some reviewers decried the book's focus on the Pacific Northwest and felt that they had to skip over recipes calling for fruit not available where they live, but that has not presented a problem for me. I live in southern CA and have simply substituted fruits available in my local farmers' market, as the authors suggest. This has led me to get to know some of the sellers at my market better -- another boon.Thus far, my favorites have been the Apple Custard Pie with Orange (which looked so beautiful I felt as if I'd really achieved something, and which tasted simply marvelous -- beyond anything I could have imagined), the Apple Cobbler with Cheddar Cheese Biscuits (prepared for my mother's birthday -- she requested it in lieu of a cake), and the Upside Down Pear Chocolate Cake. I also feel indebted to the authors for their "Pantry" recipes, which have finally given me the confidence to make my own pastry and short dough. They really do make it easy, and the results are fantastic.I can't wait to try more of the Spring and Summer recipes as the seasons turn and different fruit becomes available at my local market. Thanks so much to Cory Schreiber and Julie Richardson for a really lovely cookbook. My mother, a very experienced baker, also loves this book; she's enjoyed my copy so much that she is purchasing one for herself. In my experience it is rare to find a baking book that really pleases the novice as much as the expert, and that's one of the things I so enjoy about Rustic Fruit Desserts.(One last thing: the format of this book allows it to lie flat on the counter and STAY OPEN. Particularly for someone who's bound to be checking the recipe every few minutes "just to be sure," this is really helpful!)UPDATE 4/7/2013: Two new favorites -- Lemon Blueberry Buckle and Gingered Pear and Raspberry Pandowdy. Both became immediate family favorites! I have yet to make anything less than a stellar dessert using this cookbook. It's by far one of the very best I've ever read and used.

This is a wonderful addition to my collection of cookbooks which focus on local, seasonal foods. The authors hail from the Pacific Northwest but many of the fruits they use are available seasonally throughout the U.S. It is easy to understand why Gourmet magazine chose this for a Cook Book Club selection.The authors explain the difference between tarts (pie without a top crust), galette (free-form tart which doesn't require a pan), cobbler (deep-dish fruit pie with a dense pastry on top), grunt/slump (cobbler cooked on top of stove), crisp/crumble (baked fruit dessert with streusel topping), betty (fruit layered between or on top of diced bread cubes), pandowdy (deep-dish dessert with a crumbled biscuit topping), buckle (cake batter poured in a single layer with berries added to batter), teacake (simple cake like coffee cake), fool (summer fruit layered with whipped cream) and trifle (layered cake, thick cream, and fresh fruit).This type of dessert is less fussy than frosted cakes, soufflés and other more complicated desserts. Many of these recipes are fairly quick and involve cleaning and chopping fruit and then preparing the dough or crumble topping. For example, Mimi's German Apple Cake requires only 15 minutes of prep time before it goes in the oven.The book is into four chapters by season plus one Pantry chapter. Each seasonal chapter includes five full-page color photos of finished dishes and a few photos of ingredients or unfinished dishes. You can look up desserts by fruit in the index (some fruits such as apples appear in more than one chapter).The 14 recipes in the Spring chapter utilize rhubarb, cherry and strawberries. Examples include Upside-Down Sweet Cherry Cake, Rhubarb and Bing Cherry Brown Betty, and Lemon Buttermilk Rhubarb Bundt Cake. The Summer chapter includes 17 recipes which highlight plums, fresh berries (raspberries, blackberries, boysenberries) and stone fruit (peaches, apricots, plums) and include Gingered Peach and Blackberry Pandowdy, Raspberry Red Currant Cobbler, and Caramel Peach Grunt. The 13 Fall recipes utilize apples, quince, pears and figs and include Maple Apple Dumpling, Grape Galette, and Upside-Down Pear Chocolate Cake. The Winter chapter include 16 recipes which utilize apples, pears, cranberries and citrus fruits. The Winter recipes include Carmelized Pear Bread Pudding, Olive Oil Citrus Cake, and Cranberry Buckle with Vanilla Crumb.The Pantry chapter includes recipes for different doughs and pastry, both Vanilla and Berry Ice Cream, Vanilla bean Shortbread, Vanilla Chiffon Cake, and more.The authors describe what to look for to choose the freshest produce, how to store it (in or out of the refrigerator) and whether the fruit freezes well. There are a few recipes which use dried fruit (helpful in the off-season as well as when you need to through something together for surprise guests). There are hints throughout the book on advice on how to zest citrus, toast nuts, making caramel, whipping cream, removing currant stems, and more. In addition, there is note with each recipe about how to store it and whether it freezes well.Another good book with similar desserts (but no duplicate recipes that I caught) is Cobblers & Crumbles. I recommend Rustic Fruit Desserts between the two as it includes the information on seasonal fruit but you can't go wrong with either.