[.ca] Desserts From an Herb Garden (ISBN 0312205813)

From Amazon.com:
If you are tired of the same old desserts, and if you have ready access to a wide variety of fresh, sweet herbs (various basils, lemon thyme, tarragon, lavender, anise hyssop, and the like), Desserts from an Herb Garden will have you experimenting away in the kitchen in no time. The trick is the herbs. Author Sharon Kebschull Barrett says right up front that except for lavender, all the herbs she uses in her recipes are fresh, and there's no point in trying to substitute dried. Fortunately, there are a number of recipes that call for sweet basil and for mint, two herbs that most stores carry fresh. Try the Apple-Basil Cake or the Blueberry-Mint Layer Cake. Or the Mint Julep Truffles. If those recipes catch your attention, you may find yourself putting in a small herb garden, or investing in window boxes and pots big enough to hold several herbs. Barrett gives her thoughts on the growing and cultivation of herbs. She notes that any herbs she grows indoors are always milder that the those she grows outdoors. And this leads to a basic rule of thumb: taste your herbs before you use them. The book is divided into sections on Cookies and Candies; Cakes of All Kinds; Pies, Tarts, and Tortes; Crisps, Cobblers, Custards, and Puddings; Frozen Desserts; and Plated Desserts. The flavors Barrett combines may challenge your previous conceptions of dessert--look inside for Cinnamon Basil Polenta Cookies, Cilantro Peach Cobbler, Chocolate-Lime Bread Pudding, and more. Desserts from an Herb Garden may well be a portal to a whole new world, where the garden and the kitchen meet to spin fantasies of flavor. --Schuyler Ingle

Wishes granted--check out her other book:
Ms. Barrett's other cookbook "Morning Glories" expands into the realm of breakfast, brunch and beverages with the same style and grace as Desserts from an Herb Garden--add them to your cookbook collection, and you'll definitely be inspired to add some sort of container or window garden to take advantage of all her yummy recipes. Keep it up! More more more!

Give me your tired taste buds, your poor palate...:
This collection of recipes is more than a "cookbook." Ms Barrett is also a gentle teacher whose knowledge of the garden as well as the kitchen makes her book interesting and eminently readable. Oh, and do fresh herbs make a more exciting dessert? Cilantro Peach Cobbler! Ole, ya'll!!

Easy to read, unique recipes using available garden herbs.:
This book is a treasure of unusual tastes and ideas in simple, well written recipes that even a beginning chef can master. Each recipe is described in mouth-watering language inviting the reader to venture on into its production. The recipes that I have tried have been simple to follow and have turned out as I expected. These are really different tastes for your palate - a welcome change from standard dessert fare, and a delight to everyone. If you are not currently growing herbs, this book will spur you on to consider this possibility - even in a window garden - yet the book takes into account what herbs are available routinely in the supermarket for readers who are not ready to grow their food. If you are looking for some unique desserts to try, this book is a MUST! We can only hope the author is working on other "courses" using herbs for her future offerings.