cover image Light Desserts

Light Desserts

Sunset Books. Sunset Publishing Corporation, $8.99 (96pp) ISBN 978-0-376-02568-5

A companion volume to last year's Light Cuisine, this book is an excellent compendium of desserts that are not terribly guilt-inducing if you stick to one portion. There's ricotta instead of cream cheesecake, meringue-shell instead of short-pastry pie crusts and, in general, high carbohydrates instead of high fatas, for example, genoise without buttercream icing. The authors are resourceful and adventurous, including not just poached pears in syrup but recipes for all sorts of familiar domestic and rare tropical fruits, cherry soup, jellied fruit candies, gelati, tofulati and frozen yogurts, souffles, custards and cookies. Nutritional breakdowns and calorie and cholesterol counts are provided for each recipe. (June)