Clouds for Dessert: Sweet Treats from the Wild West - Softcover

Susan Lowell

9781887896580: Clouds for Dessert: Sweet Treats from the Wild West

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1887896589 ISBN 13: 9781887896580

Publisher: Rio Nuevo Pub, 2004

Ever taste a cloud? Or take a bite out of the Grand Canyon? What if the West could taste the way it looks? Clearly, some of the great natural phenomena would have to be spectacular desserts. And so they are, for desserts of all foods are the most open to fantasy and fun. A little kitchen magic can turn the Rocky Mountains into snowcapped sundaes, or wild, rough, piggy javelinas into ginger cookies, or even cactus into Popsicles, pancakes, and tender rosy pies. The best food of a region expresses a sense of place in a way nothing else can. This is especially true of the American Southwest. These 50 recipes express climates and geography (pomegranates and citrus from the desert, pinon nuts and apples from the mountains) as well as history and culture (Tohono O'odham saguaro syrup, Spanish flan, cowboy cake, New Mexican biscochitos, and very chi-chi nouvelle Southwest chocolate mousse pie). 24 color photographs.

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From Publishers Weekly:

"What if the West could taste the way it looks?" asks Lowell. "Clearly some of the great natural phenomena would have to be spectacular desserts!" This imaginative author who has retold traditional children's stories with a Western twist (The Tortoise and the Jackrabbit; Little Red Cowboy Hat), now offers colorful reinterpretations of over 65 desserts. Floating Island, for instance, becomes Clouds in the Sky: fluffy meringues drifting in creamy blueberry custard; while molded ice cream peaks with chocolate sauce and whipped cream make up snow-capped Rocky Mountain Sundaes. Other recipes—such as those for Southwestern cookies, cakes and sweet breads, and fruit desserts like Biscochitos, Tres Leches Cake, Pan de Muerto and Apple Empanadas—are presented with Western legends and history, family stories and amusing asides. Lowell's artistic eye transforms Lemon-Lime Cake into a flowering cactus (with marshmallow blossoms and candle spikes), and the story of her family's Gold Rush adventures gives way to orange-flavored "Gold Bar" Cookies, glittering with yellow sugar crystals. For holidays, there is a gingerbread adobe Dream Casa, complete with three little javelinas (pigs) in residence. Cooks with a fondness for Wild West stories will be intrigued by the way Lowell chooses to tell them. 55 color photos.
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Review:

Delightful, even if you don't have a sweet tooth: Lowell is a terrific storyteller. -- Tucson Weekly, Ren�e Downing

Lowell shares her memories with a voice that lingers long after dessert is done. -- Joint Forces Journal, Jan Miller

[Lowell] recreates the Southwest of her childhood through the tastes of her memories. -- Desert Magazine, Maryanne Pinkston

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