Kid Chef Bakes

I love it when fellow bloggers get cookbooks published, and I'm usually willing to do a review of their books, even if the book isn't totally in my wheelhouse.

When it came to Kid Chef Bakes by Lisa Huff, I said YES even though I don't happen to have any small humans living with me. I mean, it was a baking book. I'm perfectly happy to bake some easy recipes. Not everything needs a bazillion hard-to-find ingredients.

At worst, I figured I'd have some recipes I could make when I have an urge to bake at 8pm and I don't want to think too hard about it.

The book is better than I hoped for, with a wide variety of recipes and an easy-to-follow format. While it's marketed for kids, this would be an awesome baking book for anyone who is a little skittish about using their oven for breads and desserts.

One thing I particularly love about this book (and that is handy even in books for adults) is that it lists the required tools and equipment. While most of the tools are pretty simple - bowls, spatulas, and measuring cups, for example - it's still nice to know that I should grab two bowls at once rather than grabbing one, then going back for the second one after I'm partway through the recipe.

While the recipes are written with an eye at making them easy for kids to follow, they're certainly more sophisticated than anything that I was eating when I was a kid. Scones, for example, are something I didn't encounter until I was an adult.

One recipe that's going to be a must-try for me (as soon as it's strawberry season, which is not now) is the old-fashioned strawberry pie. I remember making this as a teenager, after going strawberry picking. I have no idea where I got the recipe, but I suspect it was from a newspaper, since I couldn't find anything like it in any of my mother's cookbooks.

The recipe is fairly simple, with fresh strawberries covered in a cornstarch-thickened strawberry glaze. I can still remember that pie, even though I only made it once.

I'd write more about this book, but honestly, I'm feeling the urge to go make the cinnamon nut coffee cake. Oh, yum!

If you've got kids who are interested in cooking or baking, this is highly recommended. But I'd also recommend it for adults who aren't comfortable with baking. Just ignore the cover, and dig in.

The Artful Baker #AbramsDinnerParty

If you're looking for a large baking book that will have you in awe of the stunning food photography, The Artful Bakerby Cenk Sönmezsoy is a treat for the eyes, with recipes you'll want to make.

By the way, I got this book for participating in the Abrams Dinner Party - they're sending me their complete library of new cookbooks for this season.

From the symmetrical fig, thyme and bleu cheese galette, to the chocolate and salted caramel tart on a very whimsical plate, to the messily attractive raspberry jewel pluot galette, to the blanche that looks like a painting, every photo is a gem.

A lot of cookbooks that have pretty pictures are filled with recipes that require difficult ingredients, but this one keeps the list reasonable. Or you'll be able to find substitutes. Like those raspberry jewel pluots. If you can't find exactly that variety, it's a good bet you'll be able to find another variety that will work just as well.

After wandering back and forth through this book several times, I think the most difficult ingredient would be the fresh chestnuts, but most recipes use ingredients that I could easily pick up at the local grocery store. Well, easily as long as the fruits are in season.

But hey, chocolate is always in season, so if you can't find the right apples or the perfect berries, you can just wander back to the chocolate chapter and swoon there for a while.

Recipes range from classic brownies and pound cake to more fancy creations like pistachio, quince, and kaymak macarons. If that kaymak sounds foreign, it is. It's a Turkish clotted cream, but the recipe notes that you can substitute mascarpone. See how easy that is?

This book isn't all desserts, by the way. There are breads as well.

And there are desserts that aren't baked, like the ice creams and other frozen treats. And there are drinks, candies, jams, and jellies as well.

This is a big book, with a lot to look at, a lot to ogle, and a lot to make. It would be a lovely gift for anyone you know who likes to bake, or a great addition to your own wish list. This one is definitely a keeper. Yup.

Food52 Baking

The latest book from the folks at Food52 is a baking book, appropriately titled Food52 Baking.

The concept (and books now all have concepts) is that you can make these desserts (and other baked goods) on a weeknight and not have to stay up until the wee hours to get the job done.

That doesn't mean the desserts ordinary. Browned butter cupcake brownies, for example, would make a nice dessert for a dinner party. Cherry almond crumb cake looks both elegant and homey. Fifteen minute olive oil and sesame crackers are rustic and, well, who can argue with crackers that can be done that fast?

Some of the recipes in the book are available on the Food52 website, but others are only in this book. Some are from contributors and others are from the Food52 staff. Some are old fashioned, while others are more trendy. But they all look pretty good.

If you love baking books (they're one of my weaknesses, for sure!) this would be a good addition to your shelf. If you're looking for a fun cookbook for a gift, this would fill that stocking, too.

I'm a little backed up on cookbook recipes over on Cookistry, but I'll have an adapted recipe for you over there soon. Yum!

The Holiday Kosher Baker

The great thing about holiday cookbooks is that there's always another holiday coming. That calendar just keeps on turning pages.

The Holiday Kosher Baker by Paula Shoyer is all about Jewish holidays. But, hey, just because a recipe can be used for a particular holiday, it doesn't mean you can't use the recipe for any old day.

I mean, no, you're not going to decorate a cookie for a holiday and serve it for another holiday - and there are certainly some recipes that are tied to certain holiday ... but good baking is good baking.

A case in point is the shortbread cookie recipe in this book that I recently made. The cookies could be used for a specific holiday, or you could make them next Tuesday. Or for the cook club. Or a birthday. They're nice cookies.

One thing you'll see a lot in this book is the use of margarine where other books might use butter. The reason is the dietary prohibition against mixing meat and milk during a meal. So, the shortbread cookies I made used margarine, which means they could be served after either a meat meal or a milk meal.

It also means that the shortbread cookies I made would be good for vegans or for people who have dairy allergies or who have other reasons for avoiding milk products.

Want the recipe? It's waiting for you right here.

Want to know all about the cookie stamps I used? Follow the link to my review!

But the book isn't all cookies and desserts. Of course there are cookies, cakes, cupcakes, pies, pastries, bars ... well you know.

But there are also breads (who doesn't love brioche?), crepes, cheese blitzes, and kugel.

But most of it is sweets. Because, well, for a holiday, you need desserts, right?

Overall, I'm loving this book. While I'm not a big user of margarine, it's nice to have recipes that are designed to use margarine for times when I need to make something dairy free. And there are other recipes that use butter and other dairy products.

I received the book from the publisher and the cookie stamps from the manufacturer.

Fika

The one word that comes to mind every time I browse through the cookbook Fika by Anna Brones and Johanna Kindvall is "charming." Unlike many current books that have gorgeous photos, this one has drawings.

While I usually love photos in books, I thought that the drawings in this book were sufficient, and it also allowed for a simple way to diagram some of the processes used for some of the recipes.

Oh, and if you're wondering what the heck Fika means - it's a traditional Swedish twice-daily coffee break. While the book talks a bit about actual coffee (what kind of cup do YOU use?) it's really more about the foods that you serve with coffee - cookies, pastries, breads, cakes, sweets ... and more.

Most of the recipes require ingredients that should be easy to find - or that are probably already in your pantry - like flour, butter, eggs, and sugar. One of the most challenging items might be the raw hazelnuts, since toasted and roasted seem more common. But even those shouldn't be hard to hunt down.

Well, okay, maybe elderflowers might be harder to find. I have a feeling that's either something that grows like crazy where you are, or it's nowhere. But that's just one recipe, so it's not a dealbreaker if you can't find the flowers.

Recipe titles in the book include the Swedish names as well as American translations. I was particularly smitten with Kinuskikaka, a caramel cake that with almonds. I want to make it, just so I can attempt to say it. On the other hand, the cake recipe looks really good, so that's also a reason it's on the to-do list.

By the way, a lot of the recipes include nuts. Which is perfectly fine with me. And so far I found one recipe that uses nuts instead of flour, making the cake gluten-free.

Besides the drawings making this book quirky, the order of the recipes is also a little ... odd. It makes sense to the authors, I'm sure, but from a cooking point of view, I found it a little ... odd. There's a description of why the recipes are in the sections - some are iconic, some are more modern, some are good for traveling, and others are good for a celebration. But that didn't stop me from wishing that the cookies were in one chapter, cakes were in another, and so on.

Again, it's not a dealbreaker, just an oddity. If I really wanted to see just cookies, they're listed in the index. But from a browsing perspective, the flow didn't make as much sense to me as other books I've browsed.

As usual, I'm working my way through some recipes so I can share one with you on Cookistry later. I'm pretty sure you'll love it.

Cookie Love

I have several cookbooks that are all about cookies, but that didn't stop me from wanting Cookie Love by Mindy Segal

There are so many cookies in the known universe. from the classics, to ethnic cookies we might not be familiar with, to new and innovative creations. So many cookies waiting to be made.

So when I see a new cookie book, I'm always curious if there will be something new, or an interesting twist on a classic cookie that I haven't seen before.

When I browsed through Cookie Love, the first cookies that caught my eye were the Brownie Krinkles. They look a lot like a cookie that I've know for many years - but the recipe isn't the same. These are a more grown-up and modern version- more fudgy and less sweet.

Ginger Sorghum Cookies are interesting. I've never worked with sorghum before, but Segal described it as being "lighter than molasses, with a more rounded sweetness." I like the sound of that, so I'll be looking for sorghum when I'm shopping.

S Cookies are on my shortlist to try next. Segal says her grandmother used to make a similar cookie, but this dough is different. At the same time, she says it echoes the simplicity of the cookies she grew up with.

There's a huge range of cookies including twice-baked cookies like biscotti, bar cookies, drop cookies, and spritz cookies. There are even some sauces. And there's even a recipe for dog cookies for your four-footed friends.

Photo style is of the messy variety, with crumbs, spills, splotches and smears. I was a little surprised at the photos of the Cocoa Nib Hot Fudge Rugelach and the Cinnamon Brickle Rugelach, since those photos show cookies on their cookie sheets with the filling oozing out of the cookies - but that's what they're supposed to do.

Good to know, because I wouldn't expect quite that much oozing, and if that happened in my oven, I'd probably think I did something wrong. But now I know it's perfectly fine.

I'm looking forward to making more cookies from this book - and as usual, you'll probably see a recipe later on Cookistry.

Artisan Cake Company's Visual Guide to Cake Decorating

I aspire to be a better cake decorator. I'm a heck of a lot better at it than I used to be, now that I've mastered the technique of piping flowers all over a cake.

I thought it might be nice to up my game a bit, so I have in my hands a cake decorating book. It's the Artisan Cake Company's Visual Guide to Cake Decorating. And there are a lot of photos, for sure.

The book starts with information about tools you'll need, then moves on to some important basics, like a few cake recipes, baking tips, and several different frosting recipes. Then it moves on to other basics, like tips on filling a piping bag.

It sort of eases you into the scary stuff. Like actually assembling and decorating a cake.

What I thought was really interesting was the section where good cake design and bad cake design were compared. In some cases, I looked at the "bad" and thought that although it wasn't stunning, it was okay.

Then, after I read the explanation of why the design wasn't great, I could see the flaws. Aha!

There are a lot of fondant-covered cakes, but also a section on texturing buttercream. I'm definitely going to try that, the next time I'm faced with a cake that requires frosting. I'm not a huge fan of the flavor of fondant, so I'm much more likely to use buttercream. Or some other similar frosting that isn't fondant.

The book doesn't hang around with beginners forever, though, and it gets into some quite complicated techniques, like using modeling chocolate, gumpaste, or fondant to form decorative figures and flowers. There's instructions for making a cute little elf that looks like it should be easy ... maybe.

The sugar flowers look amazing. I don't know how successful I'd be at making one of them, but the instruction seem clear, and the photos would be very helpful if I wanted to give it a shot.

To be perfectly honest, I have a feeling that I might never get too far beyond the cake and frosting recipes and the most basic decorating projects, but it's nice to know that if I ever do want to tackle something more complicated, I have somewhere to look.

How about you? Are you ready to take on a project like that elf in the top left corner of the book cover? Or the flower or the balloon cake?

I received this book from the publisher at no cost to me.

The Pi Moment of the Century - and lots of PIE cookbooks

Happy π Day! Are you ready to party like a pastry chef? Or a pie eater?

Today at 9:26 a.m. plus 53 seconds, the date and time will give us the first 10 digits of the number π which we spell as Pi, which is pronounced just like Pie.

So the foodies among us tend to celebrate the day with food rather than algebra. Specifically, pie.

For my own celebration, I made a cheesecake (because cheesecake is more pie than cake) from the book The Great Big Pressure Cooker Book.

It's not a pie book, or even a baking cookbook, but I really liked the cheesecake recipe. I wrote about that book here, along with the recipe for the cheesecake..

The first time around, I used the basic recipe in the book, but this time around, I used the alternative method of whipping the cheesecake filling before cooking, to make it more fluffy as opposed to more creamy.

It was good ... it was more of a New York style cheesecake - light and fluffy and airy. But I'm a midwesterner, so I prefer the creamy version. I'll be making it again, I'm sure. But I wouldn't refuse the fluffy version, if someone served me a slice.

Here's the whipped one - I topped it with a sweetened sour cream, because I felt like it.

And here's the creamier version:

That's my pie, but how about some books about pie and pastry? I've got a ton of general baking books, and baking books that exclude pies, but not that many that are only about pies and pastries.

On my bookshelf right now is:

The Pie and Pastry Bible by Rose Levy Berenbaum

Pie in the Sky by Susan G. Purdy

The Complete Book of Pastry by Bernard Clayton Jr.

Junior's Cheesecake Cookbook by Alan Rosen and Beth Allen

Pie it Forward by Gesine Bullock-Prado

Pie it Forward was the book I wrote about for Pi Day in 2012, and there's a lovely blueberry pie recipe on the post, too. Mmmm. Pie.

I have one pie-centric cookbook in my Amazon cart that I haven't purchased yet, but I intend to:

Mrs. Rowe's Little Book of Southern Pies by Mollie Cox Bryan

And ... this is really cool - I've got a book coming. It was just released today - on Pi Day. I'll be reviewing it after I've had some time to have fun with it:

The Norske Nook Book of Pies by Jerry Bechard and Cindee Borton-Parker.

So, now it's your turn. Do you have any other pie books that you recommend? Tell me about your favorites in the comments, and feel free to link to any reviews you've done.
For a whole bunch of pie recipes, check out today's post on Cookistry, where I have 55 pie and pie-related recipes!

Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook: Made with Love

I have in my hands an advance copy of Back in the Day Bakery: Made with Love by Cheryl and Griffith Day.
Or, really, I've got an eBook on my reader device.

Since it's an early review copy of the book, I can't share a recipe or quote anything, since text might change before final publication, but I can give you my impressions of the book.

I think the best way I can describe it is to compare it to the first book The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook that I wrote about on Cookistry. That first book had good, solid recipes that were more fundamental than flashy. I've made a few of those recipes and bookmarked a whole lot more for later.

The recipes in this new book look just as solidly constructed, but they're a little less standard, like the chocolate bubble loaf, sweet potato has hand pies, Mexican spice cake with chocolate glaze, clementine pound cake with chocolate honey glaze, double chocolate mint chess pie, and key lime shortbread cookies.

Of course, there are standards as well, like angelfood cake, old fashioned buttermilk biscuits, sugar cookies, pineapple upside-down cake, and spoon bread. It's a good mix of the usual and the unusual. And, as one would expect in cookbooks these days, the photos are lovely.

Besides recipes there are also a few food-related craft projects. I'm very unlikely to attempt those, but they're amusing.

And the recipes aren't all baking - there are jams and spreads deviled eggs, pickles, syrups, and sauces as well.

While the less-usual recipes aren't just your basic chocolate and vanilla, they also won't leave you scrambling to find ingredients that don't exist at normal grocery stores. Some are seasonal, but all are very doable.

Overall, I like this book as much as the original, and when it's published (March, 2015), I'll probably pick up a hard copy, since I prefer solid books over the digital kind.

I was provided with a digital copy of the book at not cost to me for the purpose of a review.

Fine Cooking Cakes and Cupcakes

The neat thing about compilation books from multiple authors is that you're likely to get the best of the best. Fine Cooking Cakes and Cupcakes has recipes from a whole lot of cookbook authors, with delicious cakes, cupcakes, frostings, fillings, and more.

There's a pineapple crumble snack cake from Flo Braker, ginger cupcakes from Greg Patent, and a crumb cake from Abby Dodge, a lemon icebox cake from Rose Levey Berenbaum, and a cinnamon-caramel-ganache layer cake from Alice Medrich, among others.

Recipes range from simple to complicated, from homey to fancy, and from vanilla to dark chocolate. There's something for everyone.

I received a digital edition, and it had some glitches in formatting, but it wasn't anything that affected the ability to make any of the recipes.

There were some sections of text that were light yellow that made them pretty much unreadable in normal mode, but changing the settings in my reader made them visible. Don't you love technology? To be perfectly honest, I prefer print cookbooks over digital versions, even when they're perfectly formatted.

This book has plenty of photos to entice you, along with a few process photos for some of the techniques.

Overall, it's a good selection of what should be very solid recipes. I've only made one recipe so far, but I've got a whole lot of them bookmarked. Some will have to wait for an event when I need a layer cake, but I'm sure I'll get to all of them eventually.

If you're looking for a good, all-around baking book for cakes, take a look at this one.

I received a digital version of this book at no cost to me.

Sugar Rush by Johnny Iuzzini

First off, Sugar Rush by Johnny Iuzzini is a really attractive book. There are tons of photos, including process shots to help you along, and some that are just for the fun of it.

The book is divided into chapters based on the major component - so we have custards and creamy desserts; eggs and meringue; caramel; cakes, cupcakes, brownies, and muffins; cookies tea cakes and biscuits; tarts cobblers and crisps; yeast doughs, glazes frostings, fillings, and sauces, and a final chapter on building a balanced dessert.

The chapters make sense, but of course there are always recipes that could fit into more than one category. Caramel pudding is listed under caramel, since you have to actually make a caramel before it becomes pudding - but it's far from the other puddings listed under custards and creamy desserts. Meanwhile, pecan-caramel sticky buns are included with yeast doughs rather than along with the caramels.

That's not a criticism, though. Just an observation. The choices made when choosing categories made perfect sense to me. And of course, there's always the index. Look under "pudding" and caramel is listed right along with the rest.

What I really love about this book is that the recipes use common ingredients, and in fact, I could probably make more than half of them without a trip to the store since I keep a pretty well-stocked pantry. The things I might need to run out and buy are not uncommon - just not at hand at the moment. Like bananas, oranges, heavy cream, apples ... nothing too scary. I think the most unusual item in the book was lemongrass, and even that's not terribly hard to find.

I like to browse through cookbooks, find a recipe, and start cooking right away, and that's totally possible with this book.

Along with having easy ingredients, the recipes are clear, and photos help point the way.

But I'm not at all saying that this is a book that's just for beginners. Sure, beginners will love it, but there are also more complicated recipes, like kouign-amann, to challenge more experienced cooks.

Besides a whole lot of recipes for sweets (it's Sugar Rush, after all) there are a few savory recipes, like the zucchini and roasted corn muffins or the focaccia. But it's mostly sweets. So go stock up on sugar.

The one quibble I have with the book is that I couldn't find any reference to what the cover photo depicted. After some hunting, it seems that those are cream puffs dipped in a liquid caramel, which is one of the optional finishes for the cream puffs.

Note: I received this book from the publisher at no cost to me.