Delectable: Sweet and Savory Baking

Claudia Fleming changed the world of American baking with The Last Course, an enormously influential 2001 book based on her work as the pastry chef at Gramercy Tavern.

Her emphasis on using seasonal ingredients and employing traditionally savory ingredients in her desserts became commonplace in the years that followed, a testament to the attention home and professional bakers alike paid to Fleming.

Now in Delectable, her first book since The Last Course, Fleming brings a much wider range of experience to bear on her baking. And freed from the constraints of plated restaurant desserts, she can apply her thoughtful creativity to things both humble and refined.

Consider this range:

• Kumquat tatin
• Devil's food cake with Earl Grey cream
• Grapefruit and poppy seed rugelach
• Oatmeal and sour cherry cookies
• Tomato crostata
• Gruyere and onion cocktail biscuits

It's easy to keep adding eye-catching recipes to this list. So we'll also point out that Fleming's recipes are clearly written, with measurements by weight (hooray!) as well as volume. She's conversational in her willingness to attribute ideas to the other bakers who inspired her, and easygoing about suggesting alternative applications of doughs, toppings, or anything else in your own baking adaptations.

Worthy of a place on any baker's shelf.

Hardcover. Color photographs throughout.