cover image Luscious Lemon Desserts

Luscious Lemon Desserts

Lori Longbotham. Chronicle Books, $19.95 (144pp) ISBN 978-0-8118-2893-2

""Lemon"" especially when applied to cars is often used as a term of derogation. But Lori Longbotham, former Gourmet magazine editor, has better ideas about this beautiful fruit, and her Luscious Lemon Desserts explores lemon cakes, pies, puddings, custards, cookies, ice creams, shortcakes, cr pes, truffles, peels, curds, popsicles, confections and sauces with panache and, well, zest. Over 70 recipes for decadent treats Profiteroles, Chilled Lemon Souffle, Chocolate Ganache Tart with Lots of Lemon, Luscious Lemon and Blueberry Tiramisu, Lemon Cr me Br l e, Lemon Mascarpone-Clementine Gratins and Lemon Sorbet-Filled Lemons accompanied by mesmerizing color photos, convincingly make Longbotham's point that ""lemons are the divas of desserts."" This book offers some of the same tips on buying and zesting lemons as Lemon Zest, but otherwise there's impressively little overlap between the two. Anyone craving summer desserts will find these recipes mouthwateringly irresistible. ( July 1)