PERFECT FINISHPERFECT FINISH

the

special desserts for every occasion

bill yosses melissa clark

contents

CHAPTER 1

Come for Brunch Fruit-filled muffins and mouth-watering breads like a Banana–Sour Cream Loaf or intriguing Apple and White Cheddar Scones make a casual morning gathering out of the ordinary.

CHAPTER 2

Pick-Me-Ups Features Bill Yosses’s take on classics such as chocolate-chip cookies, brownies, and bite-sized nut bars. Also find imaginative creations like Blood Orange Squares and Pepper and Spice Dark Chocolate Cookies.

CHAPTER 3

Straight from the Oven Includes an incomparable Lemon Tart Brûlée, a double chocolate pudding, and a nectarine pie. These are American comfort foods turned elegant.

CHAPTER 4

I’ll Bring Dessert Find here a killer chocolate pound cake with a ganache that is poured over it, Orange-Scented Olive Oil Cake with Fleur de Sel that’s made in a food processor, and Mamie Eisenhower’s Cheesecake reworked.

Bill Yosses.

Picture on cover : Strawber r y Shor tcake

CHAPTER 5

Fancy Restaurant Desserts at Home For adventurers who want to pull out all the stops, try Floating Islands with Spiced Crème Anglaise drizzled with caramel and dotted with raspberries, Butterscotch–Dulce de Leche Pudding served in teacups, or Bill Yosses’s signature Warm Vanilla Cakes.

CHAPTER 6

I’ll Make You a Cake: Birthday and Celebration Cakes Showcases a cake for every taste and every baking level, from a homey, unfrosted Blackberry Buttermilk Bundt Cake and Bill Yosses’s carrot cake recipe with a secret ingredient to a stunning 16-layer Red Eye Devil’s Food Cake adorned with chocolate curls.

CHAPTER 7

Holiday Desserts Spiced Orange Doughnuts rolled in cinnamon sugar are perfect for Hanukkah. Make batches of Cardamom Nut Butterballs for Christmas gifts and dazzle your guests for New Year’s with Asian Trifle. Bill Yosses’s special technique for painted cookies makes a fun project for the whole family.

Double Chocolate Cookies.

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE COOKIES

These are about as rich as a cookie can get without turning into a brownie. But with the textural contrast of their sweet, crisp-crackling exterior dissolving into bittersweet puddles when you bite in, I like them even better than brownies. When cool, they look like a cookie should, but take a taste and you’ll think you’re sinking your teeth into a molten chocolate souffl é. But trust me, these tasty treats are a lot easier than whipping up a souffl é (and they travel better, too)!

MAKES 40 COOKIES

SPECIAL EQUIPMENT: SIFTER, ELECTRIC MIXER WITH PADDLE ATTACHMENT, 2 (11-BY-17-INCH) BAKING SHEETS

²⁄³ cup cake fl our (2 ounces, 60 grams)

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1½ cups sugar (12 ounces, 336 grams)

4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter (2 ounces, 60 grams)

4 large eggs (8 ounces, 220 grams), at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 cups chopped dark (70 to 72%) chocolate (1 pound, 464 grams), melted and still warm

3½ cups chopped milk (50 to 55%) chocolate (14 ounces, 400 grams)

1. Sift together the fl our, baking powder, and salt into a small bowl. In the bowl of an electric mixer using the paddle attachment, cream the sugar and butter. Add the eggs one at time and the vanilla and continue to beat at medium speed until combined.

2. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the fl our mixture, beating to combine. Mix in the melted chocolate until combined and stir in the chopped milk chocolate.

3. When you are ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease two baking sheets with butter or line with parchment paper. Using two tablespoons, drop the dough onto the pans with 12 cookies per pan. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the tops of the cookies are glossy and cracked. Cool the cookies on the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely before serving. Store the cookies in an airtight container. They are best right out of the oven, but will last for a day or two.

Asian Trifl e.

Red Eye Devil’s Food Cake.

BUTTERSCOTCH–DULCE DE LECHE PUDDING IN TEACUPS

Adding dulce de leche, that caramelized milk sauce so often used in Latin Ameri-can and Spanish desserts, to butterscotch pudding gives it an even smoother, more deeply caramelized taste. The recipe yields a tasty traditional butterscotch fl avor if you leave it out.

MAKES 8 SINGLE-SERVING PUDDINGS

SPECIAL EQUIPMENT: CANDY THERMOMETER, 8 (6-OUNCE) TEACUPS OR RAMEKINS

1½ cups packed dark brown sugar (12.6 ounces, 358.5 grams)

4 large eggs (6.8 ounces, 193 grams), at room temperature

¹⁄³ cup cornstarch (1.4 ounces, 40 grams)

4 cups whole milk (34 ounces, 968 grams)

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise, seeds scraped and reserved

½ teaspoon salt (2.5 grams)

2 tablespoons dulce de leche (see Sources, page 000), optional (.5 ounce, 20 grams)

4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter (2 ounces, 57 grams)

1. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, whisk together the brown sugar, eggs, and corn-starch. Set aside. In another saucepan, over medium-high heat, bring the milk, vanilla bean, and salt to a boil.

2. Take the milk mixture off the heat and slowly whisk the mixture into the sugar-egg mixture, and continue to whisk until it has been fully incorporated. Whisk in the dulce de leche, if using.

3. Attach a candy thermometer to the side of the pan. Transfer the custard to the pan and bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring constantly with a heatproof rubber spatula or wooden spoon, taking care to scrape the inside of the pan. Do not let the mixture come to a boil or reach more than 180°F, or it will curdle.

4. When the pudding has thickened slightly (at 160 to 170°F), remove from the heat and stir in the butter. Divide the pudding among eight 6-ounce teacups or ramekins and cover each with plastic wrap. Refrigerate and serve chilled.

Butterscotch–Dulce de Leche Pudding in Teacups.

1. The oranges after boiling in water

and sugar. Cut them into chunks.

2. Place the oranges in the bowl of a

food processor fi tted with the blade

attachment.

3. Pulse the oranges to form a chunky

puree.

HOW TO MAKE ORANGE-SCENTED OLIVE OIL CAKE WITH FLEUR DE SEL, IN PICTURES.

4. Pulse in the eggs, fl our, and vanilla

extract at medium-high speed.

5. The mixture doubled in volume, fl uffy

and pale.

6. Top off the batter with olive oil and

blend. Then pour the batter into a cake

pan and bake on the center rack, 35 to

40 minutes. Sprinkle with fl eur de sel.

Orange-Scented Olive Oil Cake with Fleur de Sel.

The acclaimed pastry chef’s long-awaited collection of stunning-to-behold yet simple-to-make desserts for every occasion.

most of us don’t have the time to make dessert, and when we do, it is for holidays, birthdays, or a special brunch. Here, selected from his personal repertoire of fi ve thousand recipes, are the eighty best desserts Bill Yosses has ever made, each tailored to our contemporary lives.

The Perfect Finish is playfully organized by occasion: “I’ll Bring Dessert” features recipes easy to pack for potlucks; “Straight from the Oven” includes fruit pies best served warm; and “Pick-Me-Ups” spotlights brownies and chocolate chip cookies that will brighten your day. For the adventurous, Bill groups his guaranteed-to-impress desserts—including his signature warm vanilla cake—in a chapter inspired from his days in one of Manhattan’s fi nest restaurants, Bouley. Bill also explains technique and unfamiliar ingredients in his “chef ’s notes.” This is abook for every taste and every experience level, with color pictures of nearly all the beautiful fi nished desserts.

BILL YOSSES is considered one of the greatest pastry chefs of his generation. He is currently the executive pastry chef at the White House and lives in Washington, DC. MELISSA CLARK writes a weekly column, “A Good Appetite,” for the New York Times and is the author of many cookbooks. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

MARKETING AND PUBLICITY• National television and radio interviews

• Author interviews and events out of NY and DC

• Print features and profi les

• Food blog outreach

• Co-op available

JUNE 2010$35.00 hardcover (Can. $43.50)Territory W • 978-0-393-05953-38˝x 10˝• 416 pagesCOOKBOOKS

B W. W. NORTON New York•London

www.wwnor ton.com

“In the world of dessert books, this one is worth buying. Bill’s creations deliver exceptional taste and are written for the home baker.”

—DANIEL BOULUD

T H E P E R F E C T F I N I S Hspecial desserts for every occasion

b il l yosses a nd mel i ssa cl a rk

Spiced Floating Islands Spiced Orange Doughnuts Painted Cookies Flaky Nectarine Pie