desserts

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Butter, Flour, Sugar, Joy (cookbook review)

I’ve reviewed and enjoyed Danielle Kartes’ previous books “Rustic Joyful Food: My Heart’s Table” and “Rustic Joyful Food: Generations” but it’s her appearance on Food52 with Kristen Miglore that I remember best.  They made Coconut Custard Macaroons together, and the synergy was hilarious. So I had a very vague idea of what to expect in her newest book, “Butter, Flour, Sugar, Joy.”  A couple of previous “Joyful” recipes are reprinted in the new book (including the macaroons), and there might be other reprinted recipes as she’s authored 11 books total. (As I’ve mentioned previously about this cookbook series, there’s some faith-based commentary in it. I’m not passing any judgement. You do you.)

The book is simply divided into:

  • Cookies
  • Puddings, Possets, and Panna Cotta
  • Bars and Bakes
  • Pies and Galettes
  • Cakes

Some of the recipes I dearly want to try are:

  • Chew spiced molasses cookies
  • Perfect apricot and chocolate chunk oatmeal cookies
  • Gloria’s chocolate drops with cream cheese glaze
  • Hummingbird oatmeal cookies
  • Swedish cream with port wine and berries
  • Real pistachio pudding
  • Old school tapioca cream pudding with rhubarb compote
  • No-bake blackberry cheesecake slab
  • Skillet s’mores brownie
  • Cranberry bread pudding with cream cheese glaze
  • Rhubarb and frangipane galette
  • Silky smooth cream cheese pumpkin pie
  • Creamy mango lime tarts
  • Tender gingerbread cake
  • Gramma Thora’s walnut and sour cream cake
  • Buttermilk, cherry, and pistachio cake
  • Buttermilk yellow sheet cake with glossy fudge frosting

The first recipe I made was for snickerdoodle bars.  The ingredients are fairly typical of snickerdoodles, but I noticed that there is no baking soda in this recipe.  The twist here is that the dough is cooked in a 9×13 pan.  I made a half batch and used an 8×8 pan, but no other changes (even though I was really tempted to throw a pinch of baking soda into it).  They smelled lovely while baking.  When I pulled them out, I realized that my bars looked nothing like the book photo.  I was really confused for a few days.  I do think I overbaked them, compared to what Kartes intended but I couldn’t figure out why they looked so different.  While mildly disheartened, I kept reminding myself that they were pretty tasty cookies.  I even brought a few to a friend’s house and they were quickly consumed.

At some point, it occurred to me to image search for snickerdoodle bars, and to my surprise (and delight?), my results look like what most people published.

Out of curiosity (and maybe masochism), the second recipe I made was for the “ultimate rye chocolate chip cookie.”  I wanted to make this cookie because there are no leavening agents listed… no baking soda, no baking powder.  But the cookies look gorgeous in the book.  Was it possible?  (Also, the trend for the rye and chocolate combo has been pretty strong for the last 5 years or so, but I had not tried baking it yet.)  These cookies call for: browned butter, dark brown sugar, salt, eggs, vanilla extract, all-purpose flour, rye flour, and chocolate of your choice (disks, chips, or chunks).  Again, I made a half batch (to save my waistband).  And the results?  They were not what I expected.  Luckily, they weren’t too dense, but they simply did not have the texture the photo conveys.  I know that I chose to use chips instead of disks or chopped chocolate, but the cookies never spread.  They were very “tight” looking.  And my cookies didn’t have nearly enough chocolate.  There are no instructions for banging the cookies a la Sarah Kieffer style.  There are no instructions for pressing them flat (which I tried for the second tray that went into the oven… but it didn’t help much).  

I’ve done some research on this (yes, it mattered that much to me lol!) and I think the issue comes down to two things.  One, baking soda helps develop color and helps the cookie dough to spread when it bakes.  I wonder if Kartes leaves it out because there’s not enough water in the recipe to activate it.  A lot of recipes that use browned butter will ask you to add a small amount of liquid to replace the water that was cooked off in the browning process.  Two (and more importantly here), I think Kartes is scooping her cookies larger than the printed “heaping tablespoon.”  Dough of a relatively small size bakes fairly evenly.  So, the way it looks when it goes into the oven will be similar to the way it looks when it comes out.  If the cookies were baked larger, then the cookies would spread out more as the edges melt more quickly than the center can.

This deeper dive into cookie science honestly reminded me that sometimes you have to go with your gut instinct.  Re-watching Danielle Kristen and Kristen Danielle bake together reminded me that it’s how Kartes operates.  Are the recipes in the newest book simple and sweet?  Yes, but maybe don’t equate that with “good for beginners.”  If you think your cookies need to be larger, or needs more mix-in’s than listed, then go for it.  A new baker may prefer more guidance.  And more importantly, don’t beat yourself up if your results aren’t as pretty as you wanted.  They will still taste good and provide joy.  

Disclaimer – I kindly received this book from Sourcebooks for this review.  I’m not getting paid for this post. The views and opinions expressed are purely my own. The book is available for purchase from your preferred vendor, and will be released on November 6th.

Reference Links:

https://rusticjoyfulfood.com/

https://read.sourcebooks.com/author/A4034/danielle-kartes

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Sweet Little Cakes From Mrs. Zabar’s Bakeshop review

I love baking desserts.  The only downside is that it means I am one person with too many desserts in the house.  Enter “Sweet Little Cakes From Mrs. Zabar’s Bakeshop” by Tracey Zabar.  This book offers 6″ cakes, 5″ bundt cakes, some of 8″x8″ bakes, etc.  Most of the recipes are meant to serve 4 people. Perfect.

The book is simply divided into the seasons: Fall, Winter, Spring, and Summer.

All of the recipes seem approachable, and appetizing.  Some of the desserts you’ll find here are:

  • Honey cake,
  • Pecan bars,
  • Almond-topped cake,
  • Pear cake,
  • Mango cake,
  • Lamingtons,
  • Pistachio cherry cake,
  • Pineapple-coconut cake,
  • Cheesecake with cherry sauce,
  • Chocolate roll,
  • Blueberry cake,
  • Apricot right-side-up cake,
  • Berry and fig muffins

The first recipe I tried was for chocolate chip muffins, mainly because I had all the ingredients: butter, sugar, egg, sour cream, vanilla extra, flour, baking powder, and chocolate chips.  It’s a pretty standard cake method where you cream the butter and sugar first.  And then you add the egg, and then the rest of the liquids.  Finally, you mix in the dry ingredients until just combined.  This recipe makes four cupcakes, but I admittedly made two jumbo cupcakes instead.

Then you have a choice of making a vanilla frosting or a chocolate frosting.  I went with the chocolate frosting, specifically a ganache frosting.  I had never made a proper ganache before.  My cream got too hot and I broke the ganache.  Luckily, it’s pretty easy to fix (with a little help of the internet).  I let mine cool down, added a touch more cream, and then re-whipped.  A related observation… Troubleshooting tips aren’t part of the format of the book – I think mostly because this isn’t a large book. You’re not getting any long recipe introductions or stories here.

The texture of my cupcakes didn’t quite look but that’s totally on me, not the recipe.  It wasn’t the jumbo size that caused the slightly dense texture but the fact that I baked them in my air fryer.  The outside set too quickly.  I thought perhaps that, since the batter was divided, it wouldn’t be a problem. (A more detailed post about baking in my air fryer to come in the near future.)

Texture aside, these were lovely cupcakes!  My frosting skills could use some work, but I really liked the cupcakes themselves.  They weren’t too heavy or too buttery, and the chocolate chips gave pops of flavor.  Above all, I loved that I didn’t have to worry about a load of leftovers.

Because I still didn’t want to go shopping for ingredients, the second recipe I tried was the everyday chocolate cake.  This recipe is technically for a 6-inch loaf cake, but I don’t own such a pan.  I do own a 6″ round cake pan, so I used that instead.  This cake is made with butter, sugar, bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, Dutch process cocoa, eggs, vanilla extract, cake flour, baking powder, and salt.  There’s also an option to add grated orange zest but chocolate and orange is not a flavor combo that I adore.  Making this cake was a lot like making brownies.  You melt the chocolate and butter together, then mix in the cocoa powder.  In another bowl, you mix the sugar, eggs, and vanilla.  Then you mix the two liquids together.  You finish by mixing in the dry ingredients until just combined, and bake.

The results were delicious but I would describe it as a cakey brownie overall.  I’ve had long conversations with my best friends (both of whom prefer chocolate cakes over brownies, while I think brownies reign supreme), and when they have chocolate cake, they don’t want it to taste like brownies.  I think it’s ultimately “a melted chocolate” vs “cocoa powder only” in the batter debate.  All that is to say this recipe is good but might not be what you imagine from an everyday chocolate cake.  I realized afterward that there is a recipe for a checkerboard cake that is vanilla and chocolate layers.  That recipe doesn’t utilize melted chocolate, so I might have to experiment with a half batch of that recipe.

Weirdly, this last comment relates to my only critique of the book – there’s quite a bit of chocolate related recipes.  There’s a chocolate babka, a flourless chocolate cake, an everything cake (which I think actually is a brownie recipe without saying brownie in the title), and chocolate chip madeleines.  Oh, wait – there’s also the fudgy cake recipe which is a second flourless chocolate cake. I love chocolate but I’m not sure I needed that many chocolate recipes. (I guess time will tell.)

For non-U.S. readers, it should also be noted that this book is only in volumetric measurements, no gram measurements.  It’s kind of a bummer, but I can see the argument that it’s less of an issue since you’re baking on a smaller scale.  Some ingredients wouldn’t weigh well unless you have a gram scale/pastry scale anyway.

But boy oh boy, if you like baking desserts and just don’t want too much in leftovers, this is a much desired book! I also appreciate the aesthetics of the book. The photos are bright and simple, simply concentrating on the baked goods. The book is focused on cakes. If cookies are more your thing, it looks like Zabar has an older release titled “Chocolate Chip Sweets: Celebrated Chefs Share Favorite Recipes”.

Disclaimer – I kindly received a copy of this book from Rizzoli New York for this review.  I’m not getting paid for this post. The views and opinions expressed are purely my own.  This book is available for purchase through your favorite retailer, and will be released next week on September 5th.

Reference Links:

https://traceyzabar.com/

https://zabars.typepad.com/zabars/

https://www.rizzoliusa.com/book/9780847873623/

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Happy New Year!

I meant to post this earlier but I was having technical issues. Anyway…

I thought it’d be fun to do a year in review, even though 2020 was basically a hot pile of garbage. But cooking-wise, it wasn’t so bad.

I discovered that I love the Basque style cheesecake. Even better, so does my family and it’s pretty easy to make gluten free.

It was also the year I revisited sourdough bread making. My previous attempts were too sour, lackluster, and generally ugly. I started by going to a cooking class with Eric Henning, and I learned a lot. But I was still making terrible looking loaves.

I discovered Bake with Jack and Foodgeek on Youtube shortly after my cooking class, and now my bakes are much cuter.

Self-quarantine started two months after that. My days were soon filled with trying to clean out my freezer, and experimenting with recipes that I normally might have been too lazy to make.

I was feeling pretty good about my cooking skills.

And then I ended up with tenosynovitis in my dominant hand. Cooking really suffered after that. I tried my best to cook with short cuts or minimal ingredients. On occasion, I’d try something more interesting.

I discovered a deep appreciation for the creative minds of Chef Stephanie Izard and Chef Lucas Sin.

And I closed the year off with lots of delicious BBQ from a local chain.

Here’s hoping that my hand/wrist continues to heal in 2021, and there will be a lot of successful cooking. I also dearly hope that I can sit down to a delicious meal, in person, with my favorite people. May 2021 go well for you too.

Reference Links:

Foodgeek – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7eLtGAzNECUqurqMdiNYJg

Bake With Jack – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTVR5DSxWPpAVI8TzaaXRqQ

https://www.instagram.com/lucas.sin/

https://www.goldbelly.com/girl-and-the-goat?ref=search

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Cherry Bombe, The Cookbook, a cookbook review

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When I first saw the cover for Cherry Bombe, The Cookbook, my first thought was “is this just a collection of cherry recipes?”  A quick look proved me very, very wrong.

From its website:

Cherry Bombe celebrates women and food through our biannual magazine, the weekly Radio Cherry Bombe podcast, and our Jubilee conference. What rocks our world? Sharing the stories of everyone from industry icons to notable newcomers, encouraging creativity in the kitchen, and bringing the Bombesquad together whenever possible. Our first cookbook, featuring 100+ recipes from 100+ of the most inspiring women around, will be out this October from Clarkson Potter.

Oh.

And per the book’s index, there only appears to be six recipes with cherries in them.  (Just in case you were dying to know.)

So then… what is in this book?  That’s the real question, isn’t it?  I’m happy to report that I literally got the last review copy available from Blogging for Books to satisfy my curiosity and yours.

The thing about this book:  It’s pretty diverse in terms of recipe selection and sophistication.  It makes me really look forward to cooking from this book.  (No recipe testing yet at this time.  My attention is still held by Martha Stewart’s Slow Cooker book.)

The chapters are standard: Mains, Soups and Salads, Sides, Apps/Snacks/Sips, Cookies/Cakes/Pies, and Sweet Treats.

Here’s a sampling of what I’m looking forward to and why:

  • Pink Spaghetti with Beet and Ricotta Sauce – I like beets but rarely cook them.  Plus, this recipes has only 10 ingredients, two of which are salt and boiling water.  It seems very approachable.
  • Filipino Vinegar Chicken – What Filipino food I have, has always been pretty delicious.  I would love to become more familiar with it.
  • Shroomy Cheeseburgers with Maple Thyme Caramelized Onions – Just the title alone sounds amazing.  While more complicated than the burgers I normally make, nothing immediately looks scary or impossible.
  • Chicken Meatballs in Roasted Lemon Broth – The broth is nothing that readily makes sense to me.  Broth ingredients are lemons, olive oil, shallot, bay leaves, cinnamon stick, chicken broth, dried mint, potatoes, cipollini onions, and spinach.  I can’t imagine how this tastes, so I feel the need to make it.
  • Roasted Asparagus and Scallions with Burrata – I recently had dinner at The Amsterdam in Rhinebeck, NY.  My plate was fish with grilled bok choy, grilled scallions, and green goddess dressing.  I was surprised at how mild the grilled scallions were.  I imagine that roasted scallions will the same, and I bet it’s delicious with asparagus and burrata.
  • Best Friend Cheesecake – Overall, it’s a straightforward and basic cheesecake recipe.  That’s not a bad thing.
  • Dad’s Perfect Sweet Potato Pie – Submitted by Joy Wilson, aka Joy the Baker.  Also, sweet potato pie will always be my favorite pie ever.
  • Irish Soda Bread – Interestingly, this falls into the Sweet Treats chapter.  I think it appeals to me just because this recipe is baked in a 9×5 pan.  I like baking in my loaf pan.  I bake a lot of recipes in it that were meant to be muffins and such.

Other comments about the physical book, and not the content:  I suspect that the cover will be prone to wear and tear.  I haven’t even owned this book for 24 hours yet, but the corners of the front look like they’ve seen better days.

Every recipe has an accompanying photo.  The general style of the photography reminds me of current day Bon Appetite – a bit more HDR looking, a bit too brightly lit.  It’s not my favorite style, but I know it appeals to others.

As I ponder which cookbooks to cull from my collection, I feel confident that Cherry Bombe will stay in it.  There’s just too many recipes I legitimately want to try.

Related Links:

https://cherrybombe.com/

https://cherrybombe.com/cherry-bombe-the-cookbook/

Disclaimer – I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.  I’m not getting paid for this post.  

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New Year’s Eve at Harvest, a review

Last night, instead of NYE dinner at The Red House, we changed things up a bit and went to Harvest.  Both restaurants are in Harvard Square, Cambridge, but they are pretty different.  Harvest is fancier, the portions generally smaller, but still every bit wonderful and delightful.

I adore Harvest, even though I don’t eat there too often.  I’ve never been disappointed by their seasonal menus.  Although, I think my opinion of the restaurant is slightly skewed.  I took a special one-time cooking class with Mary Dumont, who is Harvest’s executive chef.  The class had a bonus appearance by Brian Mercury, who is  Harvest’s executive pastry chef.  They were both lovely people with infectious personalities and an obvious love for what they do.  It’s hard to dislike food created by them.

Last year, I had kicked myself slightly for not doing NYE dinner at Harvest.  The menu sounded amazing.  As such, I had my heart set on NYE dinner this year at Harvest from the get-go.  And it did not disappoint.

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