Queen, goddess, rock star of chocolate desserts gives us her memoir and best recipes folded into a rich batter of lessons learned and full-color photographs that make you drool first and bake later. If you want to know about Alice Medrich's career, she'll tell you about it here in her own voice. If you want a recipe for the absolutely BEST chocolate cookies on this planet ("Bittersweet Decadence Cookies"), then do yourself the favor of getting this book now. It's a tome of Yum-and-Wow-and-Holy-Chocolate and, along with her "Cookies and Browniess" book, deserves to be front-and-center on every chocoholic baker's altar!

This is the best chocolate book I know of. It was recommended to me by my cousin Pat. She lives in Berkley and visits this author's chocolate cafe there.

For those who like it dark! I hardly think milk chocolate is worth eating. Fabulous recipes for Queen of Sheba, brownies, and tortes abound! Try the Budini, a baked chocolate pudding, and experience the divine...the amazing thing about this book is how un-complicated most of the recipes are. You can have most of the delictable treats ready in under an hour.

This is a wonderfully rich story of the author's experiences with Chocolate. It is also an amazing cookbook (meaning I have at least 10 of the recipes that I want to try). I love knowing how/where she acquired a recipe and what she has done to improve it.
I appreciate her documenting of her "experiments" with chocolate and the chocolate recipes. Her CHOCOLATE NOTES at the end of each recipe are extremely helpful.
If you love chocolate, and love cooking with chocolate, this may just be the only book you need.

My interest in exploring this book outlasts it's library renewal period. I like that she talks so much about the chemistry of cooking with chocolate. Will revisit to try some recipes soon.

Quite a book. The exposition on chocolates was the clearest I've ever read. The focus on bittersweet chocolate was excellent. The range of desserts (and even savories) was brilliant. i admit my own bias towards bittersweet chocolate as my favorite type of chocolate. This book fulfilled that desire.

If you are looking for a laid-back, practical approach to learning about and working with chocolate, Alice is the chef for you. This book also contains the best guide to home-tempering chocolate that I have yet to find.