A Huge Giveaway

You need to run, not walk, to get a copy of Bon Appétit Desserts, by Barbara Fairchild. I am so thrilled with this new cookbook. It has everything you could ever want to make, dessert-wise, and the pictures make you want to dash into the kitchen to get started.

Bon Appétit Desserts is a huge, and hugely comprehensive, book of 700 pages, with an index of over 140 pages. (I’m not even including the specialized indexes.) It weighs in at over 6 pounds, but that’s on my particularly optimistic scale, so for all I know, it could be a bruising 12 pounds.

Bon Appétit has been my favorite food magazine for decades and I’ve been using many of their recipes for that long. This book includes recipes from the magazine, but there are also plenty of new, never previously published ones.

I don’t impress all that easily, but this cookbook is a must-have. Its vast scope is one reason; the gorgeous pictures are another; but the main reason I would recommend it is the actual recipes. You will find TONS that you’ll want to try. How about Pumpkin Spice Layer Cake with Caramel-Cream Cheese Frosting or various Tarte Tatins, including one with apples and pomegranate syrup or Fresh Plum Napoleons OR Warm, Jasmine Rice Puddings with Passion Fruit? I could go on.

The wedding cakes are particularly appealing. Listen to these - Tiramisu Wedding Cake With Mixed Berries; White Chocolate And Lemon Wedding Cake or the Tiered Almond Cake With Mixed Berries And White Chocolate-Cream Cheese Frosting, which has almost a pound and a half of almond paste in the batter. And I KNOW that frosting would be good, because I’ve been adding white chocolate to my cream cheese icing for years now.

It’s interesting that as this book was published, Conde Nast announced that it was moving Bon Appétit magazine to New York and Barbara Fairchild announced that she wasn’t going with them. This is pretty hefty goodbye gift from her to us and, gosh, did everyone involved do a great job.

Oh I almost forgot. Here’s the giveaway part:

Just send a comment to this post; tweet or email me (full rules at the end of this post) and you could win a copy of the book from the wonderful folks at Andrews McMeel Publishing.

Here’s one recipe from the book, which would make an easy-to-mail holiday gift.

Triple-Cherry Streusel Bars Makes 2 Dozen

Photo/Andrews McMeel Publishing

From Bon Appétit Desserts: The Cookbook for All Things Sweet and Wonderful, by Barbara Fairchild

Posted with permission

Dried sweet cherries, tart cherry preserves, and cherry brandy give these bars their triple hit of fruit flavor. If you don’t have kirsch (clear cherry brandy) on hand, use regular brandy or amaretto (almond-flavored liqueur) instead.

Filling
1 cup dried Bing (sweet) cherries
1 cup tart red cherry preserves
1 tablespoon kirsch (clear cherry brandy)

Dough and Streusel
Nonstick vegetable oil spray
2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
2⁄3 cup sugar
1⁄2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1⁄4 teaspoon salt
3⁄4 cup (1 1⁄2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1⁄2-inch cubes
1 3⁄4 teaspoons vanilla extract
1⁄4 teaspoon almond extract
3 tablespoons whole milk
1 cup (packed) sweetened flaked coconut
3⁄4 cup sliced almonds

FILLING: Combine cherries, cherry preserves, and kirsch in processor; blend to chunky purée.

DO AHEAD: Filling can be made 1 day ahead. Transfer to bowl; cover and refrigerate.

DOUGH AND STREUSEL: Preheat oven to 375°F. Line 13×9x2-inch metal baking pan with heavy-duty aluminum foil, leaving overhang on both long sides. Spray foil with nonstick spray. Blend flour, sugar, cinnamon, and salt in processor. Add butter, vanilla, and almond extract. Blend, using on/off turns, until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add milk and blend, using on/off turns, until mixture comes together in small clumps. Transfer 1 cup (packed) mixture to medium bowl and reserve for streusel.

Blend remaining mixture in processor until large moist clumps form. Gather dough together in large ball. Press dough over bottom of prepared pan; pierce all over with fork. Bake dough until golden, about 22 minutes; cool crust 15 minutes. Maintain oven temperature.

Add coconut and almonds to reserved 1 cup dough. Mix with fork, breaking streusel topping into small clumps.

Spread cherry filling over baked crust. Sprinkle streusel topping over. Bake cookie until cherry filling is bubbling and streusel topping is golden brown, about 30 minutes. Cool cookie in pan on rack. Using foil as aid, lift cookie from pan. Fold down foil sides. Cut cookie into bars.

DO AHEAD: Can be made 2 days ahead. Refrigerate in airtight container.

RULES:

BON APPÉTIT DESSERTS Cookbook Giveaway contest open until Friday, December 17th, 2010, 11:59 pm eastern time.

Enter these ways:

1) Send a comment to this post. (Include your email address, if your name doesn’t link to it.)

2) Send me an email with BON APPÉTIT DESSERTS Cookbook Giveaway in the subject line at FNMusings@gmail.com.

3) Tweet BON APPÉTIT DESSERTS Cookbook Giveaway to me at http://twitter.com/SueonFood

Enter as many times as you wish. Each comment, email or tweet counts as one entry. The more times you enter, the greater your chances of winning. Contest open to US residents 18 years old and above.