Marguerite Henderson - Small Sweet Treats

Small Sweet Treats

Marguerite Marceau Henderson

Photographs by Zac Williams

Small Sweet Treats

Digital Edition 1.0

Text 2011 Marguerite Marceau Henderson

Photographs 2011 Zac Williams

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any means whatsoever without written permission from the publisher, except brief portions quoted for purpose of review.

Gibbs Smith

P.O. Box 667

Layton, Utah 84041

Orders: 1.800.835.4993

www.gibbs-smith.com

ISBN: 978-1-4236-1528-6

This cookbook is dedicated to my late mother, Rose Marceau (19152001), my kitchen muse. Her dedication to and love of her family, her inspiration at the stove, and her genteel nature have provided fond memories for her two children, four grandchildren, and the future generation of great-grandchildren.

Almost immediately after my third cookbook, Small Parties, was released, my editor, Jennifer Adams, called me to ask, And, so what shall we do for your next book?

I had barely recuperated from the whirlwind book signings of Parties, and here we were contemplating another book. What was left in the series of Small titles? Desserts, why of course!

Now, I love desserts. I am a lemon person. Chocolate is nice, but creamy lemon is better. But an entire book of desserts was daunting to me. Over 100 recipes. I could do it, but it would require hours of recipe development and evaluating. Recipes that needed to be precise. Nothing left to chance. No improvisations here.

The testing began. My next-door neighbors, Mary and Jim Schwing, were often presented with four to five different sweets at once. My friends and the baristas at the neighborhood Starbucks were bestowed with plates of tested delights every Sunday. The treats were rated. Notes were taken. Waistlines expanded.

Friends were invited to sample not one, but sometimes two, three, or four desserts after my abundant Italian meals. More waistlines expanded. I gave parties with the excuse to showcase another sweet recipe or two. And when asked to bring something to a gathering or a dinner, the host or hostess would preface it by saying something to the effect of, How about bringing a dessert? I know you are testing recipes and we would love to be part of the process.

In many of my cooking classes, desserts were highlighted. Hundreds of students over the past two years have appreciated being test guinea pigs, I think!

And, honestly, there were days when I had so many goodies coming out of the oven, displayed on the counter and on platters, that I posted an invitation to friends on Facebook to please come by and relieve me of the copious amounts of sweet treats. And come they did. At all hours of the night.

I have so many people to thank in my culinary world. First and foremost, my immediate family: my son, Justin Henderson, and my daughter, Sarah Henderson Collins, and their spouses, Heather and Sean. They have lived with my crazy cooking class schedules and my obsession with entertaining with not one, two, or three courses, but at least four or five, and they love my visits when their kitchens have been commandeered by my whirling dirvish dinner preparations. Their friends look forward to my visits, too!

And lately, my twin granddaughters, Gianna and Lillian, consider me their personal baker. Lets make cookies, Mimi. Brown cupcakes, Mimi... with sparkles, please. I am always preheating the oven for any request at any time. Halloween cookies, painted with orange frosting and decorated with black, yellow, white, and orange sprinkles. Aebleskivers for breakfast, filled with raspberry jam and chocolate chips, floating in pure maple syrup.

Good cooks run in the family. My daughter, son, son-in-law, and daughter-in-law are fine cooks and bakers. My brother holds his own, entertaining dozens of family members and friends, and my cousins and their spouses in New York also carry on the family tradition of cooking for large groups.

My late mother, Rose Marceau, was a baker and a cook extraordinaire in her own right. Almost no recipe of Craig Claibornes from The New York Times in the 1960s went untested in her kitchen. She was the first person I knew who studied and cooked from Julia Childs The Art of French Cooking, Volumes 1 and 2 before it became fashionable. She baked cookies, cream puffs, and cakes and created Italian Christmas dolci that would humble most Food Network stars. She was my inspiration. She is my muse. She was a classic grandma who made my children after-school delights they recall to this day, from rice pudding to carrot layer cake.

Thank-you to my students who give me such pleasure in my profession, and to my wealth of friends who give encouragement to follow my culinary dreams. A special thank-you to my kitchen assistants, Mary, Kristin, and Mary Martha who, for the love of food, contributed to the photo shoots of my last three books and keep my kitchen organized during classes.

And thanks to my dear, dear friends all around the country who tolerate the photographing of each plate when dining out, as well as stopping at every farmers market within a ten-mile radius to photograph and taste more. They also put up with eating in as many establishments as one person could muster the energy and appetite to dotasting morning pastries to local cheeses and wines, food cart delicacies, happy-hour appetizers, decadent desserts, specialty coffees, and anything else the region might have to offer. We eat, drink, laugh, and walkmiles and miles.

And I would like to say thank-you to Charlotte Christensen. She is a dear friend who lived on bucolic Whidbey Island, who invited me to visit last fall and lodge in a home where I worked feverishly for five days on this book, while overlooking Penn Cove. Charlotte and her husband, Maury, were so gracious in providing me with solitude during the day, but companionship, many spirits, and nourishment in the evenings. Charlotte passed away unexpectedly this past December 2010, and life without her on Whidbey Island will never be the same. But her culinary spirit remains. Thank you, Charlotte. We shared many memorable meals, martinis, laughs, and heartaches.

I hope, in some minute way, I have put smiles on faces, joy in hearts, and warmth in tummies. My legacy in this world.