December 12, 1984

AT this time of year, when the American love affair with dessert seems to reach its zenith, the pastry chef becomes the most important person in the kitchen. To keep up with the demand for fruit cake, croquembouche, plum pudding, decorative butter cookies - all the treats associated with the holiday season - bakers are stoking their ovens full time. This seemed the perfect opportunity, then, to ask a few of the finest American bakers about their own favorite holiday desserts, the ones they like to serve to family and friends, and to have each baker explain how the treat is prepared. From traditionalists such as Albert Kumin, director of the International Pastry Arts Center in Bedford Hills, N.Y., came a crisp vacherin, a meringue ring filled with creamy chestnut mousse. Maurice Bonte, owner of one of New York's finest pastry shops, provided a Recipes are on page C8. velvety b^uche de No"el with its incredibly rich butter cream. And from John Clancy, for many years a leading teacher of baking in the city, came a buttery Christmas stollen brimming with plump raisins and fragrant with cardamom.

Late last month, a representative of the National Conference of Black Lawyers was reported to have pledged the organization's ''undying support for the Palestinian revolution.'' But, sensitive to what that meant to American Jews, David N. Dinkins - a leading black New York City politician who is a member of the group - publicly disavowed the pledge. In the last week, Jewish leaders have joined blacks on picket lines in New York and other cities to protest apartheid in South Africa. And today, after meeting regularly for a year, a group of black and Jewish leaders will outline proposals to ''revitalize the historic relationship between blacks and Jews,'' a relationship that the group said had ''suffered grievous strains'' in the last 10 years. ''Our aim is to disavow rhetoric that divides the black and Jewish communities and to focus on our mutual concerns and emphasize our many experiences of mutual support and assistance,'' the group said in a draft of its goals that is to be released today.

''An awful lot of people did not grow up marching together.'' - R. Peter Straus, on the tension between blacks and Jews. (B2:2.)

A panel of New York trial judges and legal experts called yesterday for the elimination of nearly all exemptions from jury service as part of an effort to cut in half the number of days jurors must serve in court. ''Our object should be the spread of the opportunity and the burden of jury service,'' said Chief Judge Lawrence H. Cooke of the State Court of Appeals. The judge, who organized the 15-member panel that submitted the recommendations, said, ''If we are to improve the administration of justice, we must have as many citizens as possible participating in the process.'' Members of both the panel and the State Legislature said the future of the proposal was uncertain.

Economists are on the defensive. The most recent victim is the Council of Economic Advisers, which President Reagan is considering abolishing. But while the council's possible demise appears to be more for political than economic reasons, economists everywhere have been carrying a heavy burden as their forecasts seem to stray further and further from the mark. At issue are the forecasts everyone would just as soon forget, the ones that call for higher interest rates just as rates begin edging downward or projections that the economy will keep sliding just as it begins spurting ahead. That was the case with the current recovery, recalls Frederick Deming, senior vice president and economist at the Chemical Bank; in late 1982 and early 1983, as the economy began to expand, most people still doubted that a recovery was imminent. The Council of Economic Advisers was among those who badly underestimated the economy's strength at that time. It predicted that the gross national product would grow by 1.4 percent in 1983. In fact, it turned out to be 6.4 percent.