Pastry School: 100 Step-by-step Recipes

With schools on five continents, Le Cordon Bleu has now been training chefs and cooks for more than 120 years. In this disciplined and methodical review of classic pastry recipes and techniques they offer a sturdy and useful reference work for the creation of everything from macarons and éclairs to tarts, entremets, and plated desserts.

To this emphasis on core recipes and processes they add a bright contemporary edge with flavor combinations that step outside the classic range: the venerable dacquoise is demonstrated in a fig, mango and spice version. The beloved holiday Yule log is updated with mandarin and nougat. Meringue tart gets a grapefruit filling. Little lollipops—ideal as mignardises—combine blackcurrant with praline paste. We're impressed by the combination of utility and imagination.

Hardcover. Step-by-step and presentation photographs in color throughout.