Product Description

No one knows chocolate like Marcel Desaulniers, whose bestselling, award-winning books have made his name synonymous with luscious chocolate desserts. Now Desaulniers has created the ultimate holiday baking book for chocolate lovers everywhere, packed with full-color photography. The 72 chocolate treats and desserts you’ll find inside are guaranteed to draw oohs and ahhs from your family and friends, and many are also straightforward to make—which means you’ll have time to enjoy Christmas, too!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #30623 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-22
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 224 pages

From the Inside Flap
No one knows chocolate like Marcel Desaulniers, whose bestselling, James Beard Award–winning Death by Chocolate and IACP Award–winning Desserts to Die For have made his name synonymous with luscious chocolate desserts. Now, with I'm Dreaming of a Chocolate Christmas, Desaulniers has created the ultimate holiday baking book for chocolate lovers everywhere. The chocolate treats and desserts you'll find inside are guaranteed to draw oohs and ahhs from your family and friends, and many are also straightforward to make—which means you'll have time to enjoy Christmas, too!

If you've ever dreamed of an all-chocolate Christmas, this book can make your dream come true. Desaulniers gives you seventy-two seductive recipes for every holiday occasion—delectable gifts, tempting treat platters, dreamy breakfast nibbles, and, of course, lots of decadent desserts. Delight your faraway friends and family with treatsthat are perfect for shipping—nearly twenty inall, including Chocolate Fruitycakes, Chocolate Gingerbread Snowflakes, and Chocolate ButtonsUp ButterShots Bundt Cake. Put a smile on thekids' faces with tasty bites like Cranberry Choco-late Chip Oatmeal Cookies, Christmas Breakfast Chocolate Sour Cream Crumb Cake, and Choco-late Drop Peanut Butter Ice Cream Sandwiches. And indulge the grown-ups with sinful desserts such as Chocolate Mint Bourbon Crème Brûlée, White Chocolate Banana Walnut Christmas Log, and Chocolate Hazelnut Elagantes.

Desaulniers and his elves tested all of the recipes in a home kitchen using ordinary equipment and supermarket ingredients to make sure that each one is foolproof. So whether you've been naughty or nice, you can tackle any of these recipes with confidence. Many are easy to prepare, and all are beautiful to behold and oh-so-delicious to eat. To make sure each sweet treat comes out just so, Desaulniers also provides "Chef's Touch" notes that detail techniques, variations, storage tips, and serving suggestions. With forty-eight enticing full-color photos, advice on equipment, and a chapter on packing and shipping holiday treats, I'm Dreaming of a Chocolate Christmas is sure to become an indispensable holiday companion.

From the Back Cover
Christmas + Chocolate = Heaven!

"Oh! You Better Watch Out, or you'll find yourself as frantic as Santa's elf on December 23, baking complicated desserts for friends and family for the holidays. Instead, you can use the recipes in this book—they are simple and straightforward, but still loaded with 'Wow!' Honestly.

"I'm Telling You Why: you want to have your cake and Christmas, too. And you want to have time to enjoy the holidays without hindering your love of baking. After all, Santa Claus is coming."
—From I'm Dreaming of a Chocolate Christmas

About the Author
Marcel Desaulniers is the Executive Chef and co-owner of the Trellis Restaurant in Colonial Williamsburg. He is the recipient of many awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award from The Culinary Institute of America, Food & Wine's Honor Roll of American Chefs, and the 1999 James Beard Award for Outstanding Pastry Chef in America. Desaulnier's books include the James Beard Award–winning Death by Chocolate, which was also the basis of a Learning Channel television series,the IACP Award–winning Desserts to Die For, Death by Chocolate Cakes, Death by Chocolate Cookies, and Celebrate with Chocolate.

Customer Reviews

More Complicated than Advertised
I agree that the book's numerous color photos are beautifully staged. And many of the desserts are seasonless, to be enjoyed throughout the year.

However, the recipes in this book are more complicated than some other reviewers would have you believe, with multiple steps for most of the recipes (not including cookies). And although the book jacket promises that the recipes require only "ordinary equipment and supermarket ingredients," I have to disagree. The dessert pictured on the cover, for example, requires six new pieces of PVC pipes - now, who considers PVC pipes to be ordinary cooking equipment? Not me or my friends who bake (even the one who went to culinary school).

I found many of the tips contained in the Chef's Touch notes (included for each recipe) to be useful. The tips on storage and shipping for the recipes will be helpful as well.

I am not a fan of the author's writing style which was sometimes corny. He tried a little too hard to be funny or be low-key. For instance, in the notes for White Chocolate Kisses, the author writes "Notice the baking time is just 14 minutes, so you should avoid distractions like playing mouth music with your sweetie, and keep a close eye on your cookies as they bake." Who says "mouth music"?

I would have preferred to give the book 3.5 stars. Since that is not an option, I rounded up.

Chocolate Lovers' Delight
Review by "Retired Geek's Wife": Having been to the Trellis Restaurant in Williamsburg, VA, I was familiar with Chef Marcel's amazing chocolate concoctions. His other cookbooks are much more complex recipes than I'm interested in making, so I was very excited to discover "I'm Dreaming of a Chocolate Christmas" because the recipes are a bit simpler and certainly not just for Christmas. The recipes are extraordinary, but not beyond the time and talent constraints of us mere mortals. If you are wanting to stretch your talents, this is the cookbook to try. The directions and extra help provided in the "Chef Tips" are excellent, providing the details needed to create a memorable dessert for any special occasion. Be warned though, these are still more complex recipes than the norm, so allow enough time, especially for the prep work. When I made the Chocolate Chunk Celebrations, I spent 1 1/2 hours prep before I started actually cooking. Worth every minute...one of the best desserts I ever eaten and rave reviews from all that tried them!

Chocolate Lover Must Have
I do a lot of entertaining and this book was great to have for those extra special Christmas deserts. I liked this book because the average cook could make these recipes without spending hours in the kitchen.