The guilt-free sweet tooth

SWEET Yotam Ottolenghi & Helen Goh Loot.co.za (R379) Ebury

REVIEWER: JULIAN RICHFIELD

THE name Yotam Ottolenghi is well known to lovers of international cookbooks. He is chef-patron of the Ottolenghi delis and NOPI restaurant in London and has published five best-selling cookbooks.

Fans old and new will find much to delight in his latest book, Sweet, which he co-authored with Helen Goh.

Goh was born in Malaysia but started her cooking career in Australia, where she had migrated with her family as a girl. After seven years as head pastry chef at Donovans, a landmark Melbourne restaurant, she moved to London and joined Ottolenghi.

She has worked closely with him as the lead product developer for the past 10 years.

Goh draws widely on Asian, Western and Middle Eastern influences in her cooking – and on her love of sweets.

Not holding back from the truth, they confess in the book’s Preface:

“There’s so much sugar in this book that we thought about calling it, well, Sugar.

“Here we are celebrating the sweet things in life. We say this not to be irreverent or flippant – we are completely aware of the current concerns about the adverse effects of sugar – but we want to make it clear that this is a recipe book full of over 110 sweet things… there is nothing wrong with treats, as long as we know what they are and enjoy them as such.

“The Ottolenghi way has always been about abundance, inclusion and celebration. It’s the way we’ve always cooked and it’s the way we’ve always baked. It’s the way we’ve always eaten and the way we’ve always lived.”

Sweet is divided into seven sections and in listing them I have included with each a couple that have caught my sweet tooth’s eye:

Cookies and biscuits – Almond, pistachio and sour cherry wafers; Gevulde Speculaas.

Mini-cakes – Tahini and halva brownies; Blackberry and star anise friands.

Cakes – Parsnip and pecan cake with aniseed and orange; Grappa fruit cake Cheesecakes – Fig, orange and marscapone cheesecake; Chocolate banana ripple cheesecake.

Tarts and pies – Walnuts and black treacle tarts with crystallised sage; Schiacciata with grapes and fennel seeds

Desserts – Ricotta crepes with figs, honey and pistachio; Sticky fig pudding Confectionery – Pecan and Prosecco truffles; Almond and aniseed nougat Sweet’s recipes are mostly very doable and finding the ingredients locally should not be a problem.

Their diversity of flavours and textures make for divine indulgence.