
DATE: Thursday, November 6, 1997            TAG: 9711040146

SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS         PAGE: 02   EDITION: FINAL 

COLUMN: ON THE TOWN 

SOURCE: Sam Martinette 

                                            LENGTH:   90 lines

``DEATH BY CHOCOLATE COOKIES'': RECIPES ARE HOME-KITCHEN FRIENDLY

By the time you have read this, Marcel Desaulniers has packed pots, pans and cookie dough into his car and embarked on a coast-to-coast book tour to promote his newest, and sixth book, ``Death By Chocolate Cookies.''

The 144-page, large-format book is a companion piece to ``Death by Chocolate,'' which won the James Beard Award as The Best Baking and Dessert Book of 1992, and ``Desserts To Die For,'' winner of two Julia Child awards in 1995 - Best Book in the Bread, Other Baking and Sweets category, and Cook's Choice Award Book of the Year.

Desaulniers is executive chef and co-owner of The Trellis Restaurant in Colonial Williamsburg, which celebrates its 17th anniversary on Nov. 10. The soft-spoken chef from Rhode Island is the first chef from the South to be named a Great American Chef by the James Beard Foundation. Among his other accolades are being named to Food and Wine Magazine's Honor Roll of Chefs and Cook's magazine's ``Who's Who of Cooking.''

An inductee of the American Academy of Chefs and the Honor Society of the American Culinary Federation, Desaulniers is on the board of trustees of the Culinary Institute of America, and is easily Virginia's best-known chef, having become familiar worldwide through his television series ``Death By Chocolate'' and ``Burger Meisters,'' both named for two of his books.

``I love cookies,'' he said last week about the new book. ``When doing book signings for `Death by Chocolate,' I've almost apologized for serving cookies along with the other desserts, and people say, `Don't apologize, these cookies are great!'

``I've found the American people really have a love affair with cookies. It's a thing they can pick up, and they're not perceived as a dessert, so people can take one and not feel guilty. Then they say, `How about some ice cream with it?' Of course, I tend to go for outrageously decadent cookies,'' he admitted.

``Death By Chocolate Cookies'' is lavishly illustrated by New York free-lance photographer Michael Grand, whose work is in previous books by Desaulniers, and is divided into six chapters, including one called ``More Than a Mouthful.''

``The new book gives me the opportunity to reach a new set of people,'' the chef explained. ``I met people who would say, `The book is beautiful, but I can't make these desserts.' The majority of the recipes in this book are things people can do at home. They are for bakers who have a genuine love for eating.''

Perhaps an element that plays into the crafting of home-kitchen-friendly recipes is that the book is the first to be conceived at Ganache Hill, a 1,600-square foot off-site facility designed and built for Desaulniers and his assistant, Jon Pierre Peavy, to develop, test and write recipes, using homestyle rather than restaurant equipment.

Desaulniers said he does have a few favorites in the book, including, ``Mrs. D's Chocolate Chips, Black Gold Cookies, and Connie's Coffee Toffee, named after my wife.''

You'll find Mrs. D's Chocolate Chip Cookies - the cookie Desaulniers' mom made for him as a child - in the chapter called ``Family Secrets,'' along with Auntie Pouge's Cocoa Butter Fluffies, Lester's Double Chunk Butterscotch Brownies, Franny's Big Bottom Pies (Desaulniers' version of a Moon Pie), and Kelly's Chocolate Pistachio Cookies.

Elsewhere in ``Death By Chocolate Cookies'' are recipes such as Walnut Toffee Triangles, Cocoa Apricot Cordial Cookies, Chocolate Pretzels, Successively Excessively Crunchy Peanut Butter Brownies, Chocolate Oatmeal Roundup Cookies, Chocolate Maple Walnut Praline, Chocolate Peanut Butter Love Bars, and many more.

Most recipes are annotated by Desaulniers' tips and anecdotal background on the development of the recipe. An introductory section gives tips on techniques and equipment, how to select white chocolate and other matters of concern for the baker.

As for the chef and author, he's already completed another book, ``Salad Days,'' on main-course salads, set for publication next year. After all, man cannot live by chocolate alone.

``Death By Chocolate Cookies,'' published Nov. 1 by Simon & Schuster Editions and priced at $30, is available at most area bookstores. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

Marcel Desaulniers, executive chef and co-owner of The Trellis in

Williamsburg, has written his sixth recipe book.

Graphic

BOOK SIGNINGS

Chef Marcel Desaulniers will sign copies of ``Death by Chocolate

Cookies'' at the following locations:

Prince Books 109 E. Main St. in downtown Norfolk on Dec. 5 (12 to

2 p.m.)

Waldenbooks at Greenbrier Mall in Chesapeake on Dec. 6 (1 to 3

p.m.)

Barnes & Noble 4485 Virginia Beach Blvd. in Virginia Beach on

Dec. 7 (2 to 4 p.m.).