The Art of the Cookie: Baking Up Inspiration by the Dozen


Shelly Kaldunski - 2010
    This book differs from others on the market in its focus on the art of decorating cookies, rather than the technique of baking them. Recipes are selected for their visual appeal as much as for their flavor.A beautifully crafted cookie is a work of art and beloved by all. Still-warm cookies fresh from the oven are irresistibly enticing but decorating the treats doubles the fun. Whether it's a cookie exchange, holiday gathering, or Mother's Day tea, decorated cookies are a sweet and memorable addition to any special occasion.The Art of Cookie presents over 40 delectable recipes and inspiring decorating ideas. With a focus on transforming a simple cookie into a masterpiece, each recipe promises both exceptional flavor and visual appeal. The cookie recipes are divided into two main chapters. The first offers favorite and versatile roll-and-cut dough recipes, such as brown sugar cookies and gingerbread, followed by clever, yet simple ideas for decorating them: vibrant vanilla-sugar flowers; alphabet shapes flooded with icing and sprinkled with colorful sugars; and petits fours stacked to resemble a miniature wedding cake. The second chapter includes classics with a modern twist, such as sparkly macarons; wreath-shaped sugar cookies baked with lemon and thyme and decorated with icing ornaments; and striped cookies that taste and look like peppermint sticks. Recipes for various fillings to use with many of the cookies round out the collection. Packed with gorgeous colorful photographs, this book has all the encouragement and know-how you'll need to create artful cookies that look as if they were purchased from a pastry shop.

Whoopie Pies


Sarah Billingsley - 2010
    This adorable volumethe only cookbook devoted entirely to whoopie piesfeatures more than 40 mix-and-match recipes, including the classic chocolate with marshmallow cream and a range of bright flavor combinations such as red velvet, green tea, pumpkin with a tangy cream cheese filling, and oatmeal with, yes, maple-bacon buttercream. With a puffy cover as soft as cake, plenty of color photos and hand-drawnillustrations, dozens of DIY decorating instructions, fun facts and baking tips, Whoopie Pies will make a welcome addition to any baker's bookshelf.

Rose Petal Jam: Recipes and Stories from a Summer in Poland


Beata Zatorska - 2011
    Included are more than 60 recipes for traditional Polish home cooked meals, from poppyseed cake and pierogi to fruit-flavored summer liqueurs. The photography—ranging across locales such as Warsaw, Poznan, the Tatra Mountains, and the Baltic Sea—showcases the Polish landscape and its influence on the country’s distinct cuisine.

Bourke Street Bakery: The Ultimate Baking Companion


Paul Allam - 2009
    The bakery's long queue of customers waiting for their daily fix is testament to the popularity of their utterly delicious wares - from rustic breads such as their famous spelt sourdough to the flaky pork and fennel sausage rolls and the most addictive sweet pastries such as the ginger brulee and pistachio tart. "Bourke Street Bakery" is the ultimate baking companion with clear and concise instructions aimed at the novice home baker while remaining an inspirational and technical reference for professionals of the crust and crumb world. Passionate owner-bakers Paul Allam and David McGuinness share their secrets for more than 90 of their exceptional creations. This book's beautiful and inviting photography captures the mouthwatering detail of the buttery, crumbly fare as well as the infectious vibe of the bakery itself.

Bread Alone: Bold Fresh Loaves From Your Own Hands


Daniel Leader - 1993
    

Rao's Cookbook: Over 100 Years of Italian Home Cooking


Frank Pellegrino - 1998
    Its tables are booked months in advance by regulars who go to enjoy what The New York Times calls its "exquisitely simple Italian cooking" from traditional recipes, many as old as Rao's itself. You may not get a table at Rao's, but now with this book you can prepare the best Italian home-style food in the world in your own kitchen. Here for the first time are recipes for all of Rao's fabulous classics--its famous marinara sauce, seafood salad, roasted peppers with pine nuts and raisins, baked clams, lemon chicken, chicken scarpariello, and on and on.The recipes are accompanied by photographs that re-create Rao's magic and testimonials from loyal Rao's fans--from Woody Allen to Beverly Sills. Here too is a brief history of the restaurant by Nicholas Pileggi and a Preface by Dick Schaap. Both will convince you that what you have in your hands is a national treasure, a piece of history, and a collection of the best Italian American recipes you will ever find.

Good to the Grain: Baking with Whole-Grain Flours


Kim Boyce - 2010
    But Kim Boyce truly has reinvented the wheel with this collection of 75 recipes that feature 12 different kinds of whole-grain flours, from amaranth to teff, proving that whole-grain baking is more about incredible flavors and textures than anything else.   When Boyce, a former pastry chef at Spago and Campanile, left the kitchen to raise a family, she was determined to create delicious cakes, muffins, breads, tarts, and cookies that her kids (and everybody else) would love. She began experimenting with whole-grain flours, and Good to the Grain is the happy result. The cookbook proves that whole-grain baking can be easily done with a pastry chef’s flair. Plus, there’s a chapter on making jams, compotes, and fruit butters with seasonal fruits that help bring out the wonderfully complex flavors of whole-grain flours.Praise for Good to the Grain: “Boyce started playing with a variety of flours when she took a break from restaurant kitchens and wrote her first cookbook, Good to the Grain, a whole grains baking bible that won a coveted James Beard Foundation Award this year.” —O Magazine

Bread Science: The Chemistry and Craft of Making Bread


Emily Jane Buehler - 2006
    The science is presented in detail but in a language suitable for all bread makers. With over 250 photos and drawings, references, a bibliography, a glossary, and an index, Bread Science makes bread-making approachable and fun. This book is a complement to any bread recipe book and a must for the home baker.

Bien Cuit: The Art of Bread


Zachary Golper - 2015
    In the oven of his Brooklyn bakery, Chef Zachary Golper creates loaves that are served in New York’s top restaurants and sought by bread enthusiasts around the country. His secret: long, low-temperature fermentation, which allows the dough to develop deep, complex flavors. A thick mahogany-colored crust is his trademark—what the French call bien cuit, or “well baked.” This signature style is the product of Golper’s years as a journeyman baker, from his introduction to baking on an Oregon farm—where they made bread by candlelight at 1 a.m.—through top kitchens in America and Europe and, finally, into his own bakery in the heart of our country’s modern artisanal food scene.  Bien Cuit tells the story of Golper’s ongoing quest to coax maximum flavor out of one of the world’s oldest and simplest recipes. Readers and amateur bakers will reap the rewards of his curiosity and perfectionism in the form of fifty bread recipes that span the baking spectrum from rolls and quick breads to his famous 24-day sourdough starter. This book is an homage to tradition, but also to invention. Golper developed many new recipes for this book, including several “bread quests,” in which he brilliantly revives some of New York City’s most iconic breads (including Jewish rye, Sicilian lard bread, Kaiser rolls, and, of course, bagels). You will also find palate-pleasing and innovative “gastronomic breads” that showcase his chef’s intuition and mastery of ingredients. Golper’s defining technique comes at a time when American home cooks are returning to tradition-tested cooking methods and championing the DIY movement. Golper’s methods are relatively simple and easy to master, with recipes that require no modern equipment to make at home: just a bowl, an oven, and time—the dough does most of the work.

The Sweetapolita Bakebook: 75 Fanciful Cakes, Cookies & More to Make & Decorate


Rosie Alyea - 2015
     The world of Sweetapolita is sparkly and sprinkly and charming as can be, with 75 recipes for everything from pretty homemade cookies to decadent layer cakes. But what really sets these treats apart are interactive designs that let everyone in on the fun of decorating: Painted Mini Cakes are served with edible "paint" for guests to personalize at the table, the fondant-covered tiered Chalk-a-Lot cake is paired with homemade edible "chalk," and Rainbow Doodle cookies are made for kids to go to town on with edible markers.  Rosie Alyea, the creator of the Sweetapolita blog, frolics in flour and frosting, and she loves to get her two young daughters involved, too. The pages of her debut book are full of playful ideas that will inspire creativity in bakers of all levels—including a recipe for making sprinkles at home and numerous ways to showcase them, such as the Sprinkle-Me-Silly Pizza with rainbow jimmies and nonpareils galore.  With 75 full-color photographs of cookies, cakes, and more plus step-by-step technique tutorials, The Sweetapolita Bakebook will change the way bakers decorate, while entertaining every kid—and kid-at-heart.

Great Scandinavian Baking Book


Beatrice Ojakangas - 1988
    Each country—Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland—has its specialty and no one goes hungry. In this mouthwatering collection, Beatrice Ojakangas calls on her own Scandinavian heritage and wide-ranging knowledge of baking to produce the definitive cookbook for this rich cultural heritage.Because Ojakangas stresses ease of preparation, even novice bakers will be able to make filled Danish pastries, Christmas buttermilk rye bread, or a few dozen pepparkakor, better known as gingersnaps. This handy reference highlights Scandinavian traditions too. There are recipes for sweet breads to be served with morning, afternoon, and evening coffee; for trays upon trays of cookies to serve as holiday or everyday treats; and for savory meat-and-vegetable pies.The Great Scandinavian Baking Book will warm your heart and fill your stomach.Beatrice Ojakangas is the author of more than a dozen cookbooks, including Great Whole Grain Breads (1993) and The Finnish Cookbook (1989). Her articles have appeared in Bon Appétit, Gourmet, Cooking Light, Cuisine, and Redbook, and she has appeared on television’s Baking with Julia Child. She lives in Duluth, Minnesota.

Little Cakes from the Whimsical Bakehouse


Kaye Hansen - 2008
    This comprehensive introduction to baking in miniature also provides tips on glazing, icing, and making chocolate decorations and offers details on the equipment you need to get started (including a cake pan chart, so that you can use those mini rose pans, heart pans, and other fun shapes to bake unique creations). The authors are famous for their over-the-top decorations, and they'll take you step-by-step through the process of creating cakes piped and appliqued with bumblebees (white chocolate wings and nonpareil stripes make them irresistible!), blooming roses (or, if you prefer, delicate hydrangeas with lifelike shaded petals), wild meringues (dressed with tiger stripes, zebra stripes, or leopard spots), and spiky dragons (right down to the serpentine tail). The recipes in "Little Cakes from the Whimsical Bakehouse "are categorized into three levels: one star for easy, two for intermediate, and three for challenging. So whether you want to start with a charming, super-easy star-shaped mini strawberry shortcake or strive for A Day at the Beach pail-shaped cake, complete with cookie-crumb sand, chocolate shovel, and edible seashells, you'll find a cool confection that fits your skills. If you're not ready for complicated decorating, this book also provides easy presentation ideas to make simple cakes look grander, ensuring the perfect finish to any occasion. Little cakes are as fun to make as they are delicious to eat! After all, who'd turn down a bit-and a bite-of joy in their lives?

Flour Water Salt Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza


Ken Forkish - 2012
    For Portland-based baker Ken Forkish, well-made bread is more than just a pleasure—it is a passion that has led him to create some of the best and most critically lauded breads and pizzas in the country. In Flour Water Salt Yeast, Forkish translates his obsessively honed craft into scores of recipes for rustic boules and Neapolitan-style pizzas, all suited for the home baker. Forkish developed and tested all of the recipes in his home oven, and his impeccable formulas and clear instructions result in top-quality artisan breads and pizzas that stand up against those sold in the best bakeries anywhere. Whether you’re a total beginner or a serious baker, Flour Water Salt Yeast has a recipe that suits your skill level and time constraints: Start with a straight dough and have fresh bread ready by supper time, or explore pre-ferments with a bread that uses biga or poolish. If you’re ready to take your baking to the next level, follow Forkish’s step-by-step guide to making a levain starter with only flour and water, and be amazed by the delicious complexity of your naturally leavened bread. Pizza lovers can experiment with a variety of doughs and sauces to create the perfect pie using either a pizza stone or a cast-iron skillet. Flour Water Salt Yeast is more than just a collection of recipes for amazing bread and pizza—it offers a complete baking education, with a thorough yet accessible explanation of the tools and techniques that set artisan bread apart. Featuring a tutorial on baker’s percentages, advice for manipulating ingredients ratios to create custom doughs, tips for adapting bread baking schedules to fit your day-to-day life, and an entire chapter that demystifies the levain-making process, Flour Water Salt Yeast is an indispensable resource for bakers who want to make their daily bread exceptional bread.

Dump Cake Recipes - Desserts So Easy Even Kids Can Make Them (Hillbilly Housewife Cookbooks)


Hillbilly Housewife - 2013
    Sometimes the recipe will require you to mix the ingredients, but usually you don’t want to mix them. Young or old, dump cakes are a favorite dessert to make.

The Best of Cooking Light Everyday Favorites


Cooking Light Magazine - 2008
    Health-conscious readers can embrace this value-priced trade paper edition that boasts more than 500 of Cooking Light magazine's greatest recipes presented in a new kitchen-friendly format.