Cooks' Books by Lisa Messinger

"Dam Good Sweet: Desserts to Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth, New Orleans Style" by David Guas and Raquel Pelzel (Taunton, $25).

If gumbo, jambalaya and perhaps a few crawfish are what swim into your mind when you think of the mouthwatering foods of New Orleans, David Guas wants to remind you to leave a lot of room for dessert.

Creole cooking — accented by flourishes of French, Spanish and African cuisines — is for sure the stuff of cravings, but dessert deserves to be a draw, too, notes Guas, a New Orleans native, who owns a consulting firm that helps restaurants create dessert menus.

The menus of New Orleans hot spots have always been filled with over-the-top offerings that combine regional and historical flairs (like, in its baking, nods to its French roots). You won't just eat bread pudding in New Orleans, but more likely a version like Guas': Chocolate bread pudding, no, make that double chocolate (cocoa and bittersweet chocolate) smothered in salted bourbon caramel sauce. Buttermilk beignets are a signature in town, as are eclairs. "Spoon Sweets," like ultra-rich puddings, dazzle.

Guas then feasts on pies, crumbles, cakes and spreadable sweets, like jams. Lagniappes — famous in Louisiana — mean "an unexpected something extra," and Guas features a memorable chapter, including pralines, spiced pecans, turtles and peanut brittle. Cooking techniques are seamlessly woven throughout recipes, so you learn the lay of the land almost effortlessly.

Guas' hometown status benefits readers. He tells stories only an insider would know, such as his lively essays about the Roman candy man, a local legend who makes taffy that harks all the way back to his grandfather's horse-drawn sales cart, and the family that has baked since 1896 Leidenheimer Bread, New Orleans' signature French bread that's "crisp and crackly on the outside and pillowy-tender within."

As much as some delights stay local secrets, a few desserts are so memorable that they immediately garnered worldwide notice. That's what legendary French Quarter restaurant Brennan's achieved in the middle of the last century with its Bananas Foster that's prepared tableside by sauteing the fruit in hot sugar, adding rum and flambeing. Guas gives the stunner its due by highlighting it upfront. He also features this quick shortcut that his Cuban father was almost as famous for whipping up in their own tiny New Orleans home kitchen:

DAD'S FAMOUS BAKED BANANAS

3 bananas, peeled and halved lengthwise

Generous handful of light brown sugar

Dash of ground cinnamon

Few knobs of unsalted butter

Yields 2 to 3 servings.

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Place bananas in a baking dish that's been lightly sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.

Sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon and top with butter.

Bake until bananas are caramelized and coated with a golden brown layer of sugar syrup, 20 to 25 minutes, basting occasionally. Serve warm or at room temperature with ice cream or crepes.

CHOCOLATE PRALINES

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 cup, plus 4 tablespoons, heavy cream

1 cup sugar

1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar

2 cups pecan pieces

1/2 cup chopped bittersweet chocolate (preferably 66 to 72 percent cacao)

Yields about 3 dozen pralines.

Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir in the 1/2 cup of cream and both sugars until they are dissolved. Increase the heat to medium and simmer until the mixture reaches 240 F to 250 F, using a heatproof rubber spatula to gently push the mixture back and forth in the middle and around the edges occasionally. If the mixture begins to crystallize, add 2 tablespoons of the cream and continue to cook until it loosens up.

Gently stir in the pecans and chocolate, turn off the heat and give the mixture a final gentle stir, making sure to get into the bottom and corners of the pan. Using a wooden spoon, portion about 2 tablespoons of the praline mixture onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving at least 1 inch between each praline. Usually by the time Guas portions out about half of the mixture, what's left in the pan begins to crystallize and stiffen. When this happens, add the last 2 tablespoons of cream and place the saucepan back onto medium heat until the mixture looks creamy and saucy, and then continue portioning out the rest of the pralines.

Cool for 30 minutes and then transfer to an airtight container. Pralines stored properly last for up to 3 days before they begin to crystallize.

Lisa Messinger is a first-place winner in food writing from the Association of Food Journalists and the author of seven food books, including "Mrs. Cubbison's Best Stuffing Cookbook" and "The Sourdough Bread Bowl Cookbook." She also writes the Creators News Service "After-Work Gourmet" column. To find out more about Lisa Messinger and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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