Tag: Baking

Cookbooks

The Christmas Baking Book

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

Description

It’s the most wonderful time of the year…to bake! Unleash the magic of baking this holiday season with 100 Christmas classics and unique indulgences.

’Tis the season for festive treats! Turn your kitchen into a haven of holiday cheer with The Christmas Baking Cookbook. From traditional gingerbread cookies to sweet innovations such as the eggnog-flavored cupcake, this cookbook is guaranteed to elevate your festive cookies and candies. Discover new favorites and expand your repertoire as you sit by the fireside this season with your favorite holiday goodies.

Inside you’ll find:

  • 100 deliciously simple recipes
  • Step-by-step instructions
  • Easy, festive decorating techniques

Gather around the Christmas tree and treat yourself, delight your friends, and (most importantly) impress your in-laws. It’s time to deck the halls with loads of icing with The Christmas Baking Cookbook!

My Thoughts

Taking a break from the mayhem of mystery novels to delve into a new book of Christmas baking!

I begin planning out my Christmas baking starting in August or September each year, poring over cookbooks and seasonal baking magazines from years past, looking for new recipes or new twists on old recipes. I will always reach for a cookbook that has the words “Christmas” and Baking” in its title.

This cookbook contains plenty of new-to-me recipes and ideas but also plenty of old favorites. The instructions are relatively clear and the photography depicts some luscious creations. My only issue with this book is that there are no introductions or words of wisdom with each recipe. You get the title, the ingredients, and the instructions. This makes it a completely serviceable book but somewhat disappointing for a cookbook reader like me. Bakers who prefer a no-nonsense approach to cookbooks will definitely appreciate the stripped down character of this book. I will definitely buy it for the recipes.

Publication Date: October 15, 2024
Published by: Cider Mill Press
Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy

Food & Drink, Mystery, Psychological, Suspense, Women

The Golden Spoon by Jessa Maxwell

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

Description

Every summer for the past ten years, six awe-struck bakers have descended on the grounds of Grafton, the leafy and imposing Vermont estate that is not only the filming site for “Bake Week” but also the childhood home of the show’s famous host, celebrated baker Betsy Martin.

The author of numerous bestselling cookbooks and hailed as “America’s Grandmother,” Betsy Martin isn’t as warm off-screen as on, though no one needs to know that but her. She has always demanded perfection, and gotten it with a smile, but this year something is off. As the baking competition commences, things begin to go awry. At first, it’s merely sabotage—sugar replaced with salt, a burner turned to high—but when a body is discovered, everyone is a suspect.

A sharp and suspenseful thriller for mystery buffs and avid bakers alike, The Golden Spoon is a brilliant puzzle filled with shocking twists and turns that will keep you reading late into the night until you turn the very last page of this incredible debut.

My Thoughts

I’ve heard a lot of buzz about this debut and I wasn’t disappointed. The plot is well-constructed and slick in it’s blending of the baking competition show and a semi-locked-room mystery. The format, featuring short sections channeling the thoughts of the characters, might put off readers who like their mysteries complex, but I found it a pleasant change from lengthy prose. The multiple perspectives of the characters added confusion and tension to the plot, leading to the bombshell ending.

I spent some time last year bingeing a rather silly series called The Great Witches Bake Off, so I am guessing that setting murders on set of these kinds of shows might be a new trend. I’d welcome it because The Golden Spoon was a lot of fun!

Highly recommended.

“This delicious combination of Clue and The Great British Bake Off kept me turning the pages all night!” —Janet Evanovich, #1 New York Times bestselling author

Only Murders in the Building meets The Maid in this darkly beguiling locked-room mystery where someone turns up dead on the set of TV’s hottest baking competition—perfect for fans of Nita Prose, Richard Osman, and Anthony Horowitz.

Publication Date: March 7, 2023
Published By: Atria Books
Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy

Cookbooks

Anna Olson’s Baking Wisdom by Anna Olson

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

Description

Inside Baking Wisdom lies the answer to every baking question you’ve ever had (and many you haven’t yet), plus over 150 perfected recipes—both savoury and sweet—for bakers of all skill  levels. Get inside Anna’s baking brain, as she shares a career’s worth of experience to build a true masterclass in baking. In this incredible baking compendium, you will learn the hows and whys of baking through her flawless techniques, patient advice and literally hundreds of photos. This is an all-encompassing guide, guaranteed to make you a better baker.

Whether you want to perfect your pie dough or dedicate your weekend to assembling a masterpiece Torta Setteveli, there is a recipe in Baking Wisdom for you. Within each chapter, Anna’s triple-tested recipes are grouped together by commonly shared technique or principle, so you can see how one foundation recipe can be built upon to create many more complex creations. In every one of her perfected recipes, Anna leads the way with notes of baking wisdom directly included in each recipe’s method. And she does this all with one goal in mind: to help you achieve the very best baking results every time.

Also included is extensive advice on topics such as baking ingredients, tools and actions, as well as numerous step-by-step how-to guides for all types of baking techniques. If you’ve ever wondered how to separate an egg, or frost a cake, or temper chocolate, the answers are here. And if you’re interested in a deeper understanding of how and why ingredients behave the way they do in baking, or the impacts of altitude, or even how to calculate butterfat content, there’s a whole section dedicated to the science of baking, too.

 Baking Wisdom is a must-have collection of baking recipes, techniques and advice, and is Anna’s most comprehensive cookbook yet.

My Thoughts

This is the book to buy for the serious baker in your life, as well as for anyone thinking about a career in baking. Olson has produced one of the most complete and detailed baking books I’ve read in a long time. The accompanying illustrations are incredibly useful – e.g. what the three stages of beaten egg whites actually look like – and the “how to save” advice for things like seized chocolate and overwhipped cream are gold for new bakers.

It seems this was written for a Canadian audience, but American bakers will have no trouble using the book. Highly recommended.

The #1 bestselling cookbook! And the baking bible every baking enthusiast needs to own—from Anna Olson, Canada’s most celebrated baker.

“Canada’s dessert doyenne’s much-anticipated opus on flour, sugar, butter and eggs is out now – 450 pages covering everything you could possibly want to know about baking”—The Globe and Mail

Publication Date: March 14, 2023
Published By: Penguin Random House Canada
Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy

Cookbooks

Baking with Dorie by Dorie Greenspan

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

Description

From James Beard Award-winning and NYT best-selling author Dorie Greenspan, a baking book of more than 150 exciting recipes

Say “Dorie Greenspan” and think baking. The renowned author of thirteen cookbooks and winner of five James Beard and two IACP awards offers a collection that celebrates the sweet, the savory, and the simple. Every recipe is signature Dorie: easy—beginners can ace every technique in this book—and accessible, made with everyday ingredients. Are there surprises? Of course! You’ll find ingenious twists like Berry Biscuits. Footlong cheese sticks made with cream puff dough. Apple pie with browned butter spiced like warm mulled cider. A s’mores ice cream cake with velvety chocolate sauce, salty peanuts, and toasted marshmallows. It’s a book of simple yet sophisticated baking. The chapters are classic: Breakfast Stuff • Cakes • Cookies • Pies, Tarts, Cobblers and Crisps • Two Perfect Little Pastries • Salty Side Up. The recipes are unexpected. And there are “Sweethearts” throughout, mini collections of Dorie’s all-time favorites. Don’t miss the meringue Little Marvels or the Double-Decker Caramel Cake. Like all of Dorie’s recipes, they lend themselves to being remade, refashioned, and riffed on.

My Thoughts

There seem to be a lot of baking books coming out this year. Fortunately, Dorie Greenspan never disappoints. My kids gave me one of her baking books for Christmas a few years ago and it’s one of the first books I turn to when I need a solid, reliable recipe for a delicious treat.

I enjoy Greenspan’s books because she writes in a way that gives the reader confidence to try these recipes. She includes all the information you need to replicate the luscious treats pictured throughout the book so even beginning bakers can be successful. Little touches like “don’t worry of the batter looks curdled – it will even out” lend a certain sense of comfort to bakers following her recipes. Her descriptions of what the dough or batter is supposed to look like provides a sense of safety and calm for less experienced bakers.

Here, Greenspan offers fresh takes on some familiar recipes, as well as plenty of new and creative baking ideas. I’ve stopped using Pinterest and food blogs for recipes because they invariably suck. We are lucky that bakers like Greenspan, her peers, and her publishers continue to provide cookbooks full of well-tested recipes that you pretty much can’t screw up as long as you follow the instructions. Any baker worth her rolling pin will want to take a look at this.

Recommended.

Publication Date: October 19, 2021
Published By: Mariner Books
Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy