Cookbooks
Nancy Baggett
The All-American Dessert Book (2005)
I love to bake. So when I come across interesting dessert cookbooks I tend to pick them up. I ordered this one on a whim, just because I was looking for something new.
The first thing I noticed about this book is that is has gorgeous pictures. Gorgeous--but real pictures. The desserts look absolutely delicious, but they also look like something that could possible come out of my kitchen. Things are not perfect--there are spills, the dishes are well used, things are lumpy, there are crumbs. Essentially, not only do the desserts look delicious, but they look like something I might be capable of making. Although I have several recipes I want to try, I've only tried one so far.
I wanted something chocolate-y, so I made the chocolate pudding. I was never a big fan of chocolate pudding, but I decided that maybe it was because it was just the instant stuff, so maybe if I made real chocolate pudding, it might be just the chocolate dish I was looking for.
It was! Yum! Although I have to admit that without the whipped cream I found it too rich. But with whipped cream (and fresh strawberries--yum yum yum!)
The recipe was straight-forward and easy to follow, and called for ingredients I had on hand. (Well, I didn't have whole milk on hand, but that was easy enough to pick up. Of course I keep bittersweet chocolate and Madagascar bourbon vanilla on hand. So take that into consideration.) I didn't run into any problems with the recipe, and the result was as good as I was expecting. I'll have to try more recipes, but the style was such that this is a book I will probably reach for again when I'm looking for something sweet.
Rating: 9/10
The All-American Dessert Book (2005)
Rose Levy Beranbaum
The Cake Bible (1988)
I really like Rose Levy Beranbaum's The Cake Bible (1988). It has some excellent recipes, and she explains the why of cake flour versus all purpose flour. I love the recipe for Domingo cake.
The Cake Bible (1988)
Julia Child
Baking with Julia (1996)
For my holiday baking, I finally dared to make something from Baking with Julia by Julia Child (1996) a book with gorgeous pictures that make the entire thing somewhat daunting, but I made the attempt, and although the Rugelach I made looked nothing at all like the pictures, and were, in fact, rather unattractive, they were absolutely delicious.
Baking with Julia (1996)
Shirley O. Corriher
Cookwise : The Hows and Whys of Successful Cooking
I have also been reading Shirley O. Corriher's Cookwise : The Hows and Whys of Successful Cooking. This is an excellent book that explains the science of baking and cooking, it's almost more of a book on food science than a cook book.
Cookwise : The Hows and Whys of Successful Cooking
Lori Longbotham
Luscious Lemon Desserts (2001)
For the past couple of years I have been searching for the perfect lemon cake recipe. As a rule I prefer cakes from scratch, but when it comes to lemon cake, none of the cakes I made seemed quite as good. In my quest I've ended up with several cookbooks on baking and cakes. I've found several recipes that were good, but not quite what I wanted. So when I came across Luscious Lemon Desserts I figured that if I was ever going to find the perfect lemon cake recipe, it was going to be here.
I did try her recipe for "Ultimate Lemon Pound Cake" and despite several problems, it was good. Possibly as close as I'm going to get. Once I got past that I started really looking at the other recipes in the book, and I realized that everything looked really good.
However, there is one major flaw in this book, which I discovered when I went to make the "Ultimate Lemon Pound Cake." For some unknown reason, in the ingredient list she lists the total amount of each ingredient needed. So for the pound cake the recipe calls for 2 1/4 cups sugar: 1 3/4 cups for the cake and the remaining 1/2 cup in the lemon syrup. Needless to say I put the full 2 1/4 cups into the cake, because I don't read recipes carefully, but instead scan through them. Luckily the cake turned out well, but it was still frustrating.
But now I know that I have to read the recipes carefully, so I haven't messed up anything since. Which is good, because there are some fantastic recipes in here.
The Lemon Mousse recipe is quite good, although it tasted a lot like the topping of a lemon bar, which was god but not what I expected. When I run across some other types of lemons I'm going to see if that makes a difference in the flavor.
I'm particularly fond of "Jerry's Summer Cheesecake." Actually, fond isn't a strong enough word for what I feel about this dessert. I think I could eat the whole thing in its entirety if given half a chance. I say whole thing because I modified the recipe. It calls for dividing the cake into six ramekins, but I put the whole thing into a souflee pan and spoon out the portions and it's just fine. Well, better than find. Especially when served over fresh strawberries. And I bet fresh raspberries would be just as good.
The book has plenty of full page color pictures, which I absolutely love in cookbooks--especially dessert cookbooks. There's nothing like seeing a dessert to convince you to try a recipe. And despite the fact that some of the pictures are foofy, they don't seem beyond what a resonable baker could achieve (unlike "Baking with Julia Child," a book I love to flip through to oggle the pictures, but as far as making a recipe... way too daunting.)
In addition to every single recipe being lemon flavored (yum!) there are a number of recipes that look perfect for summer. Cake and cookies are okay, but I prefer my desserts to be either hot or cold. (Or both at the same time, like hot brownies with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.) Aside from the whole ingredient listing thing (which annoys me), the recipes are clear, concise, and easy to follow.
If you like lemon desserts, then this is the book for you. The recipe for "Summer Chssecake" alone is worth the price.
Luscious Lemon Desserts (2001)
Alice Medrich
Cookies and Brownies (1999)
This is, hands down, my favorite cookbook.
I bought it on whim from a cookbook club, and when I pulled it out of the box, was slightly disappointed at how slender the book was. This was the only disappointment this book was ever to give.
I have a lot of cookbooks--and the majority of those are on baking. But this is the cookbook I grab first when I'm looking to bake something sweet. There are lots of pictures, which serve to make you crave sweets even more as you flip through the book. But that is all secondary to the recipes. I'm kind of picky about sweets--I have definitely likes and dislikes--so I'm used to seeing recipes that just don't appeal to me.
Not in Cookies and Brownies however. Everything in this book looks good, and everything I have tried has been excellent. In fact, some of my favories are in here. The recipe for "Bittersweet Brownies" is my absolute favorite, and has been a favorite of my co-workers. They may be the best brownies I have ever had. As long as you have bittersweet and unsweeted chocolate, the rest of the ingredients should be on hand, and even better--they're easy. After I made them for the first time, I wondered why anyone would ever bother with brownies from a box.
But that's not the only excellent receipe in here. Double Chocolate Chip Cookies are excellent--best straight out of the oven while they're still gooey, but good ever after they've cooled. I make them with peanut butter chips and I think they're even better. The Chocolate Shortbread is delicious--and also easy. Beacon Hill Cookies were a surprise--again, best out of the oven, but still yummy cooled.
I recently made the Espresso Swirl Brownies and took them to work, and they went over very well--people going out of their way to let me know how good they were.
On the off chance you aren interested in chocolate (heaven forbid), the Lemon Bars are fantastic. They're my mom's favorite recipe from this book. I make the Rugelach for Christmas because this recipe is much easier than the one in Baking with Julia.
I could go on--I haven't tried a single recipe that wasn't fantastic.
There are only two negatives about this book. Mine is starting to fall about. Despite the hardback binding, pages are coming apart, which is very annoying. The second bad thing is that Cookies and Brownies is out of print, and good luck finding a used copy (last time I checked Amazon, the low listing was exhorbitant, which is why I'm keeping my falling apart copy.)
But we can hope that someone will realize what a fantastic book this is, and get it back into print, so everyone can make and enjoy "Bittersweet Brownies" and the other wonders of this book.
Rating: 10/10
Cookies and Brownies (1999)
Additionally:
Also interesting is How to Bake by Nick Malgieri.
Some excellent vegetarian cookbooks are The Occasional Vegetarian by Karen Lee, The New Vegetarian Epicure by Anna Thomas, and The Gradual Vegetarian by Lisa Tracey.
I like The Settlement House Cookbook by Charles Pierce, it covers American cooking and has lots of basic, but good, recipes as does The James Beard Cookbook and The Joy of Cooking Irma S.Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, Ethan Becker by (1997) has been a good reference.
