The Last Course: A Cookbook

A beautiful new edition of “the greatest dessert book in the history of the world” (Bon Appétit), featuring 175 timeless recipes from Gramercy Tavern’s James Beard Award–winning pastry chef.

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • The Atlantic • Food Network

Claudia Fleming is a renowned name in the pastry world, acclaimed for having set an industrywide standard at New York City’s Gramercy Tavern with her James Beard Award–winning desserts. With The Last Course, dessert lovers everywhere will be able to re-create and savor her impressive repertoire at home.

Fleming’s desserts have won a range of awards because they embody her philosophy of highly satisfying food without pretension, a perfect balance for home cooks. Using fresh, seasonal ingredients at the peak of their flavor, Fleming creates straightforward yet enchanting desserts that are somehow equal to much more than the sum of their parts. She has an uncanny ability to match contrasting textures, flavors, and temperatures to achieve a perfect result—placing something brittle and crunchy next to something satiny and smooth, and stretching the definition of sweet and savory while retaining an elemental simplicity.

The Last Course contains 175 mouthwatering recipes that are organized seasonally by fruits, vegetables, nuts, herbs and flowers, spices, sweet essences, dairy, and chocolate. In the final chapter, Fleming suggests how to combine and assemble desserts from the previous chapters to create the ultimate composed desserts. And each chapter and each composed dessert is paired with a selection of wines.

Recipes include Raspberry–Lemon Verbena Meringue Cake, Blueberry–Cream Cheese Tarts with Graham Cracker Crust, Cherry Cheesecake Tart with a Red Wine Glaze, Concord Grape Sorbet, Apple Tarte Tatin, Chestnut Soufflés with Armagnac-Nutmeg Custard Sauce, Buttermilk Panna Cotta with Sauternes Gelée, Warm Chocolate Ganache Cakes, and more.

Beautifully illustrated with more than eighty color photographs throughout, The Last Course is a timeless, one-of-a-kind collection filled with original recipes that will inspire dessert enthusiasts for years to come.

Praise for The Last Course

“While I must admit to being particularly partial to Claudia’s Buttermilk Panna Cotta, every dessert in The Last Course made me salivate. Claudia’s inspired recipes are so beautifully transcribed that even the most nervous of home cooks will feel comfortable trying them and will be a four-star chef for the day.”—Daniel Boulud

“The Goddess of New American Pastry.”—Elle 

As pastry chef at New York’s iconic Gramercy Tavern, Claudia Fleming set a new course in American pastry. Known for her precise technique and her ability to use ingredients in new ways, she won the Best Dessert Award from Pastry Art & Design magazine two years in a row during her tenure and the James Beard Foundation’s Outstanding Pastry Chef Award. Trained in American and French kitchens, Fleming apprenticed at the prestigious Fauchon in Paris under Pierre Hermé, and at Union Square Cafe, Montrachet, Tribeca Grill, and Luxe. Her work has been celebrated in such publications as The New York Times, Bon Appétit, Food & Wine, Vogue, and Time. In 2006 Fleming, along with her husband, Chef Gerry Hayden, opened North Fork Table & Inn in eastern Long Island, showcasing the couple’s locally sourced menus. Fleming continues to serve her celebrated food in the Inn’s dining room as well as easygoing fare from the North Fork Food Truck, all accompanied by her extraordinary sweet and savory creations. 
 
Melissa Clark is the author of forty-one cookbooks, including Dinner, Changing the Game, and Dinner in an Instant. She is also a staff writer for the New York Times Food section, where she writes the wildly popular column “A Good Appetite” and stars in a complementary video series. The winner of James Beard and IACP awards, she is a regular on Today and NPR. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and daughter.