Sweet Miniatures: The Art of Making Bite-Size Desserts

by Flo Braker

Book Overview

Award-winning author and acclaimed baking expert Flo Braker knows the best things come in small packages. Now this acclaimed author is back with a revised and expanded edition of her beloved Sweet... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0811824462
• ISBN13: 9780811824460
• Release Date: August 2000
• Publisher: Chronicle Books
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 1.71 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 8.1" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Poor condition

Book is not in a good condition... A lot of recipes but few pictures..

Received the wrong book

I didn’t receive the actual book shown and that I ordered. I received another book titled ‘Bite Size Desserts’ which I already have. How frustrating.

My favorite book!

Excellent, excellent, excellent! I can't rave enough about this book. It is filled with lots and lots of wonderful, unique, but still comfortable and do-able recipes that will make you look like a professional. So many other books seem to just have variations on the same old thing - this one has very unique combinations and really wonderful ideas. Extremely inspiring. I want to try every single recipe, they all sound so good. This is my favorite of all the baking/dessert cookbooks in my library! Order yours now - you won't be disappointed.

Great Baking Technique applied to Miniatures by a Pro

Flo Braker's `Sweet Miniatures', just like her classic `The Simple Art of Perfect Baking' has been reissued with new material which validates the opinion of anyone who has read her works that Flo Braker knows a thing or two about baking. The introduction to this book also shows that unlike a lot of cookbook writers who do a volume on a particular subject such as fast cooking or Cuban cuisine or kosher empanadas because the subject is popular, Ms. Braker started her professional catering career baking miniatures and has specialized in them for over twenty years. One very good thing is the fact that the book deals with exactly what you would expect from the title. The book is not about `petits fours', it is about small sweet foods for desserts or snacks, including cookies, pastries, and candies. It is also especially about baking technique rather than about fancy decorating. This is no craft book that happens to be about a baked product. This is a serious cookbook by a very serious writer on baking. One of the very best things about the book is the introductory section on general baking technique, especially the essay on of the various types of mixing cookie doughs and their effects on the properties of the finished baked goods. This discussion starts with a theme common to her other books, which is that you should not discard mistakes. You can easily hit upon a different recipe by missing or overdoing a step. Her specific lesson came when she `overmixed' a sugar and butter creaming step when she left her mixer on to answer the telephone. The resulting batter produced cookies that were much lighter and higher and airier than usual. The explanation of Braker's discovery is in Shirley Corriher's `Cookwise' where she explains that the creaming of sugar in butter creates tiny air pockets that help leaven the product when the dough is baked. The remainder of Part I offers lots of other similar tips on general baking and on the special equipment recommended for making miniatures, most of which is the same stuff you use in general baking. I would recommend that Ms. Braker consider adding either photographs or line drawings of the specialized equipment. I have read and reviewed many books on baking, but she still uses some specialized terms that a picture would have made clear in a wink. As someone who does not entertain, but who would like to, Ms. Braker's book gives me much more than simply more recipes. It tells me that miniatures are very popular with just about everyone, and it tells me how to organize my work to make two or three different recipes at the same time. This will come in very handy the next time I do my batches of four different Christmas cookies. The first chapter of recipes presents 22 miniature variations on shortbread cookies. A first look at the recipes shows an acute attention to detail which distinguishes baking recipes from savory recipes and which distinguishes very good baking recipes from the run of the mill Wednesday news

A must for entertaining

I received the hard bound version of this book as a present many years ago. It is now the secret behind my annual Christmas party for which I prepare over 2000 tartlets, pastries, cookies and candies. The recipes are superb and largely unduplicated in any other books I've seen. Instructions are detailed and clear. My guests are always clamoring for recipes. The original hard bound book had to be replaced because it was so worn out.Warning: Some of the recipes are more difficult than they appear (Gianduja cubes). But overall, you'll find great hosting success with this book.

Absolutely fabulous recipes!

I collect baking books. Most of them end up on a shelf. This is NOT one of those. I have made at least a dozen of these cookies and each one has been delicious, looked terrific, and been different from the typical cookie. Some are very easy to make - like Daddy Long Legs (a delicious hazelnut refrigerator cookie) and some are difficult (like the Buttercream "hedgehogs"), but all are lovely to place on your table. Some recipes call for odd ingredients like rice flour, but don't let that turn you away. There aren't too many of those.The instructions are clear with a number of line drawings to help guide you through technique. This is a "must have" baking book for people tired of the same old same old same old.At the end of the book, Ms. Braker offers great suggestions on preparing large quantities of baked goods. She talks about planning, how to freeze the cookies, how to present them, and how to decide which cookies to mix with others. This is a favorite of mine and will continue to be.