The content of Cookies at Home with The Culinary Institute of America follows a traditional model, arranged by form (“Drop Cookies,” “Bar Cookies,” “Rolled, Cut-Out, and Sliced Cookies,” Molded, Stenciled, and Shaped Cookies,” and “Piped and Twice-Baked Cookies“), then veers slightly to savory recipes in an ingredient-based category (“Savory Cookies“). How-to chapters round out the volume along with concluding back matter (“Glossary,” Resources,” and ”Template“) and the overall presentation is a competent look into cookie-ing devoted to the home baker.

Cooks looking for familiar flavors and textures will be rewarded. Chocolate Chip Cookies (page 47), Peanut Butter Cookies (page 49), Gingersnaps (page 53), Turtle Bars (page 101), and like treats appear in the book along with cookies that move beyond the classics, such as Agave-Peanut Butter Granola Bars (page 110), Cinnamon Bun Cookies (page 122), and Jalapeño-Cheddar Zaleti (page 181).

Two recipes, Rocky Road Cookies (page 59) and Fudge Brownies (page 86), were selected for baking because, well, I was in my usual must-have chocolate mood. The procedure for the Rocky Road Cookies required air-drying miniature marshmallows overnight before incorporating them in the dough, a technique that relieved the baked cookies of one of my favorite characteristics–a slightly gooey, luscious-sticky pull to the inside of a baked cookie (suggestion: use them as is, right out of the bag)–with this in mind, the batch of cookies would make a good cookie-jar item. Fudge Brownies, made with cake flour, turned out fudgy, as promised.

Cookies at Home with The Culinary Institute of America is an approachable primer, and offers an uncluttered foundation for learning the basics.

continue reading

Nearly any sort of cake batter can be spooned into and baked in single serving containers, but cupcake-size treats win out for their undisputed charm.

Introduced into The Universe of Cupcakes are two delightful boxed sets: Pretty Cupcake Kit and Princess Cupcakes. The former contains cupcake papers in mostly-pastel colors, decorative flag cupcake picks, and a booklet containing a few recipes. The latter holds cupcakes papers in the colors of springtime (pink, pale green, lavender) and fairly firm paper crowns to wrap around the base of frosted cupcakes. Each would make a sweet gift, alone or paired with a few enhancements–like sprinkles or a pastry bag-and-tip set.

Aspiring cupcake artists of all ages will get a jump start on the decorative aspect of cupcake-ing by dovetailing the colors of the liners with a few special effects by tinting creamy frosting to match the hue of the papers, finding jimmies to match, and customizing the treats with a theme in mind.

Craft meets baking in the Pretty Cupcake Kit and Princess Cupcakes.

continue reading

The introduction of the original volume of The Italian Baker (in 1995) paved the way for the current republication of The Italian Baker, Revised: The Classic Tastes of the Italian Countryside–Its Breads, Pizza, Focaccia, Cakes, Pastries, and Cookies. What a refreshment of flour and water does for a biga (a starter that creates such a beautiful development of rise and “crumb”), an updated injection of information does to enhance the text and recipes of this, the revised book.

In dough, Ms. Field unveils all the textures and flavors of Italy, respecting tradition along the way.

Ms. Field documents the methods of Italian bread-baking, with tarts, cakes, and cookies also given their due. Yet it’s the selection of pani (many different kinds of breads, from rustic and celebration to rolls and focaccias) which really delight. The author describes the art of creating doughs, from working with yeast, measuring ingredients, mixing and kneading, to rising, shaping, and baking the elemental mass with a kind of poetic discovery.

I baked the Pane al Latte (page 192, and following page), a rather elegant, lightly sweetened bread, graced with the (surprise!) ingredient of a single tablespoon of rum. The dough is shaped in an interesting way (fifteen pieces of dough are formed into tapered “cigars,” then the cigars are grouped in three sets of five each and pinched together) and yields three loaves. As suggested, the freshly baked bread is lovely served with “butter and jam.” I envision spending other days baking the Schiacciata con l’Uva (Tuscan Sweet Bread with Raisins, page 189, and following page) and the Focaccia alla Pugliese (Potato Flatbread from Puglia, page 280, and following page). The recipes underpin the heritage from which they spring.

Reading through the recipes, you’ll notice a sort of sensual reverence for bread, lifting it beyond its accessory status to its own art form. This alone makes The Italian Baker, Revised a worthy addition to your library.

continue reading

The flavors and ingredients of baked goods are explored and paired with dessert wines in this modern cookbook, as recipes include explanatory matches with dessert wines (noted within the all-important “making the match” section). For example, a lovely recipe for Cocoa Walnut Biscotti yields a fine batch of dipping cookies, ready to be mated with, say, an orange muscat, ruby port, or cream sherry. Who would argue with having cookies and a matching wine on the end table after dinner?

In all, the confections and their corresponding pours in The Wine Lover’s Dessert Cookbook provide interesting reading, in addition to nibbling-and-sipping (and all of you bakers out there will learn how to take the dessert course to the next and most elegant level). Specifically, the splendid sections on caramel, honey, and spice; dried fruits; nuts; and cream draw me in most of all for their luscious, thoughtful pairings.

continue reading

Delores Custer, a food stylist, built a career on fine-tuning the look of food for television and publication, culminating in an instructional volume titled Food Styling: The Art of Preparing Food for the Camera.

In our visual culture, the audience for Food Styling is not only for professionals whose job it is to cook, bake, or otherwise fashion food-based items to be photographed. Any individual who needs to capture a pleasing food-related image should consider using this book as a reference for composing camera-ready food.

Taking a trip through the contents of Food Styling reveals the author’s range, with chapters devoted to all of the preliminaries (“The Medium is Everything,” and “Prepping the Assignment”), then moves on to cover aspects from advance preparation and working with a photographer to assembling the equipment necessary to actualize the job. All of this is a prelude to the meatiest section of the volume titled “Working with the Food: Overcoming Challenges”: This is a comprehensive view of styling in a range of categories, including food for breakfast, sandwiches, dairy products, main course proteins, sauces, and garnishes. The concluding chapters in this section concern “baked goods” and they are valuable reading for visitors of baking style diary.

In the baked goods sections (“Cakes: the pleasures and pitfalls,” Cookies: aiming for consistencies,” and “Chocolate: the problem child for the food stylist” among them), you will learn viable solutions for preparing beautiful bar cookies; creating just the right look for drop cookies; baking and presenting a flawless pie; ways to bake, assemble, and stage layer cakes; and how to form the best-looking dollop of whipped cream. One of the most intriguing sections is the information regarding the baking, styling, and presentation of chocolate chip cookies (page 266, and following pages). On those pages, we learn how certain ingredients, baking techniques, and background materials contribute to a different end result.

Food Styling is a resource book that is destined to become the industry standard of its genre.

continue reading

In twenty chapters, Nick Malgeri–pastry chef and baking instructor–conveys fundamental recipes and techniques in Bake!: Essential Techniques for Perfect Baking. Each main recipe is joined by companion images which take the reader/baker through important steps for completing it to its sweet or savory conclusion. Within the recipe-specific chapters, ranging from “cookie dough & tarts,” “flatbreads,” and “butter cakes,” to “baking powder biscuits & scones” and “bar cookies & brownies,” the author brings years of experience to the teaching process.

With Malgieri at your virtual side, you should expect to learn by study and instruction, clearly and explicitly. Prose is kept to a minimum in order to focus on the recipes, and the variations within them are tidy and thoughtful.

On review, the recipes in Bake! are a delight–basic and approachable (and though less comprehensive than other Maglieri titles, the number of recipes fits the format of the book). You will love to bake his high-ratio pound cake (page 138, and following page) and, at another time, customize it with the praline variation. The lemon-ginger bars (page 197) are  tangy and burst with flavor.

Mr. Malgieri is a true teacher, a charateristic that is revealed throughout the pages of Bake! and you’d be wise to think of this book as an important tool for your perfecting your baking skills.

continue reading

Two recipes, one for candied citrus peel (page 81) and the other for marzipan-filled dates (page 89), offered in Brittles, Barks, & Bonbons: Delicious Recipes for Quick and Easy Candies persuaded me to sneak away–briefly–from my list of to-bake recipes and make good use of a heap of citrus peel and small container of fresh dates sitting on the counter top. This was a sweet, inviting, and welcome sidestep from my usual stir-around of batters and doughs.

Candy-making can be a challenging kitchen maneuver, what with the vagaries of time and atmospheric humidity scrambling the recipe–and skewing any thoughts of initial success. Home cooks not set up for complex candy work will appreciate this book, and rally ‘round the recipes in the chapters titled “Barks and Clusters” and “Bonbons and Other Sweetmeats.” Approachable is the operative word for the recipes in this book, even though some call for the use of a candy thermometer.

The batch of candied citrus peel (I used orange peel) was lovely–pretty, moist, and fragrant–and the marzipan-filled dates, rich and satisfying. Together, both treats were a perfect after-dinner nibble with strong coffee and, along with a beautiful plate of vanilla macarons I had just baked (cookies are a favorite at my house), a cheery close to an informal dinner.

continue reading

Going gently into the world of gluten-free baking, bakers should first research ingredients and methods to understand their interplay. With a copy of Blackbird Bakery Gluten-Free: 75 Recipes for Irresistible Desserts and Pastries in hand, you can explore–engagingly–specially formulated diet-related recipes and related components.

The contents of Blackbird Bakery Gluten-Free spans “biscuits, muffins & sweet breads;” “cookies & bars;” “tarts, pies & cobblers;” “cakes, big & small;” “crepes & pâte à choux;” “custards, puddings & ice cream;” and “dinner-party showstoppers.” A chapter titled “notes on ingredients” is a helpful guide to gluten-free flours and other items (such as guar gum); the “resources” section offers sites for ordering and researching both ingredients and equipment. Throughout the cookbook, the author offers baking tips randomly at the end of recipes (how to customize a recipe, swap a pan size, and explain a particular storage or time-saving technique, among other details).

Dipping into the recipes chapters, I began free-and-easy, with a spin through the sunday morning pancakes (page 21) and millet power bars (page 79). The pancakes are made with almond flour, millet flour, glutinous rice flour, and guar gum, plus the usual leavening, eggs, butter, and buttermilk–resulting in a griddled bread with a pleasing texture and good flavor. For the bars, two significant items, puffed brown rice cereal and puffed millet cereal, form the basis for a stir-in of a warm melted marshmallow mixture (flavored with orange blossom honey) plus almonds, dried cherries, and dried blueberries–delightful and undemanding.

Overall, within the realm of gluten-free baking books, Blackbird Bakery Gluten-Free presents an indulgent, rather than confined, approach.

continue reading

What is your idea of seventh-heaven? Chocolate chip cookie dough concealed in a cinnamon roll? Or what about French toast made from leftover birthday cake?

In CakeSpy Presents Sweet Treats for a Sugar-Filled Life, Jessie Oleson, illustrator, blogger, and self-described “adventure baker” puts it all out there, sweet-wise, within 147 sugar-saturated pages. This includes the aforementioned Glazed Cinnamon Rolls Stuffed with Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough (page 2) and Birthday Cake French Toast (page 3). It also includes the likes of Behemoth Crumb Cake (page 58, and following pages)–a skinny layer of cake topped with an exaggerated amount (read: lots and lots and lots) of crumb topping. Would you consider serving Deep-Fried Cupcakes on a Stick (page 97, and following page)–frozen miniature cupcakes are lightly coated in flour, then dipped in batter and fried–at your next dessert party?

While CakeSpy Presents Sweet Treats for a Sugar-Filled Life may appear to be total sugar fantasy, if you happen to have two slices of pound cake and some leftover cheesecake around, it would be wise not to overlook Ms. Oleson’s Grilled Cheesecake (page 46). I adore making French toast out of slightly stale pound cake, but here the author takes us one step further and constructs a grilled sandwich of cheesecake-filled pound cake slices (not requiring a pre-dip in batter, thankfully).

The table of contents for CakeSpy Presents Sweet Treats for a Sugar-Filled Life reads like a fairly conventional baking-related cookbook (“Breakfast of Champions,” “Smart Cookies,” “Taking the Cake,” “Pies in the Sky,” “Sweet Nothings,” “The Big Chill,” and “Seasonal Sweets“), until you look at the actual recipes and realize that they appear to be conceived by someone in only the happiest of sugar-induced states. Which is precisely why you will be taken with this book.

The recipe pages are decorated with drawings by the author and, along with images of the confections scattered about, complete the package. In all, it’s a trip in and out of an imaginative mixing bowl.

continue reading

In My Baking Universe, a Bundt pan is both the nostalgic pan of choice and the new-old-fashioned requirement for containing a butter cake batter. It’s the essential pan for baking my chocolate chip cake; this cake is requested so often that the ingredients live on a separate pantry shelf. In fact, the cake itself doesn’t taste the same made in any other type of pan as its taste is so identifiable with its form.

For Bundt cake lovers, homesick bakers, or those searching for that made-by-hand treat in a particular flavor, the aroma of home is as near as a recipe from Cake Simple: Recipes for Bundt-Style Cakes from Classic Dark Chocolate to Luscious Lemon Basil. In four chapters–”Better Than Ever Bundt Classics,” “Gooey, Swirly Bundt Decadence,” “Bundt Cakes For Food Snobs,” and “Mini Bundts: Cuter Than a Cupcake“–bakers are taken on a tour through a crop of recipes. It’s a delectable trip. If sweetly adorable is the reason for spending your afternoon in the kitchen awash in baking ingredients, go directly to my favorite chapter, ”Mini Bundts: Cuter Than a Cupcake,” and mix up some Chocolate-Peanut Butter Minis (page 113, with the accompanying Peanut Butter Glaze appearing on page 114) or Red Velvet Minis (page 115, with the accompanying Vanilla Icing appearing on page 117). Though other cakes have a more contemporary slant, Olive Oil-Rosemary (page 93) and Cornmeal Lime with Chile (page 96, and following page) among them, it’s likely that the fairly traditional versions will draw you into the book.

Do you have a Tupperware cake keeper? I’d say it’s the container of choice for that cake you’ll be baking from Cake Simple, a cookbook filled with the flavors and textures of childhood past swirled into a contemporary setting.

continue reading