Salty Sweets

Pairing sweet and salty has only become a bigger trend over the past few years, and what was once a concept that you only saw in a small handful of products at just a few shops, is now something you see in products. Salted caramels and cookies with a sprinkle of salt are a good start, but there are all kinds of desserts that can benefit from a good sprinkling of salt and Salty Sweets: Delectable Desserts and Tempting Treats with a Sublime Kiss of Salt is a book that explores many of the possibilities.

Salt – especially a coarse salt that stands out clearly from whatever food it is added to – makes desserts even more mouthwatering for a couple of reasons. First, the salt literally makes your mouth start to water when you taste it. Second, the salt adds a contrasting flavor to something sweet, which makes it actually seem sweeter (without letting it get too sweet) and brings out some of the other flavors in the dessert more. You can experiment with the salty-sweet idea by adding salt to your own baked goods, but it is easy to start with the recipes suggested in this cookbook to give you some ideas of how to use that salt and what types of recipes the salty-sweet combination works well in.

The book is full of beautiful photos of recipes that you would probably be tempted to bake even if they didn’t have a salty-sweet them going for them. The recipes are clearly written and easy to make, and many of the recipes are variations on things that will already be familiar to you, so it is easy to see where and how the salt comes into play. There is a good introduction to the different types of salt and how they can be used at the beginning of the book. The chapters include cookies, cakes, puddings, ice creams, fruit desserts and more, with a total of 70 recipes in all.