Review of Wintersweet: Seasonal Desserts to Warm the Home

Wintersweet: Seasonal Desserts to Warm the Home
by Tammy Donroe Inman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Publisher summary:

While many people think cold weather spells the end of the spectacular seasonal ingredients that make baking so exciting, Tammy Donroe Inman thinks otherwise. For Tammy, winter is the sweetest time of the year—a season that practically begs you to stay inside, fire up the oven, and produce decadent desserts from the bounty of wholesome winter ingredients like squashes and pumpkins, parsnips and carrots, pears, apples, citrus of all stripes, and feel-good ingredients like nuts, cheese, and chocolate.

The fresh and rustic recipes in Wintersweet push the envelope of traditional winter desserts like pumpkin or apple pies, with such delicacies as Pear Cranberry Clafouti, Spicy Prune Cake with Penuche Frosting, and Goat Cheese Cake with Dried Cherry Compote, plus a few surprises like Chocolate Beet Whoopie Pies, Parsnip Spice Cupcakes and for those in need of a winter pick-me-up, Coconut Sunshine Cake with Citrus Curd. These are recipes that celebrate the cozy character of winter—for when you’re snowed in and need the perfect blizzard boredom-buster, to your next family gathering around the fire.

This is a beautiful cookbook with stunning photography, and probably my favorite of 2013. The idea of building a cookbook around winter ingredients for baked goods is brilliant and much appreciated. There are chapters on nuts and squashes and citrus, to name a few. I appreciated the variety and creativity.  This is not just a book of rehashed recipes that you have made before!

Both recipes I tried were not dishes I had seen in other cookbooks, and had interesting flavor profiles. I made the butternut squash cake twice!

Butternut squash cake:


Cocoa Pomegranate Pavlova (I couldn't resist the striking color in this dish and the added ingredients of balsamic and cardamom made for a very sophisticated bite.)


Highly recommended, and would make a wonderful holiday gift!

I received a copy of this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.  I knew from first glance I'd have to try the cover recipe (the pavlova.)