Martha Stewart's Cupcakes: 175 Inspired Ideas for Everyone's Favorite Treat Review

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(More customer reviews)i *love* Martha Stewart's cupcake book! for years i've been searching her web site for cupcake ideas for baby showers and my kids' birthday parties. this book is chock full of wonderfully creative cupcakes for all seasons, holidays and special occasions! i've already made the shark and beach parasol cupcakes for my son's ocean-themed birthday party and the beautiful buttercream chrysanthemum cupcakes for a baby shower. you may think you need some special talent to pull her creations off, but all you need is a little practice and patience! there is no way you can leaf through this book without getting inspired...and drooling! After 287 pages of pics of and recipes for mouth-watering cupcakes, she includes informative pages on tools for baking, how to prepare a piping bag, working with fondant and marzipan, pastry tips and even how to display your treats. my husband agrees that this was a wonderful investment since he's seen how many of her baking ideas have come to fruition in our home...plus he's hoping i make him those yummy tiramisu or choc. salted-caramel mini cupcakes for his birthday! ;) yummo! ENJOY!

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The perfect cupcake for every occasion.Swirled and sprinkled, dipped and glazed, or otherwise fancifully decorated, cupcakes are the treats that make everyone smile. They are the star attraction for special days, such as birthdays, showers, and holidays, as well as perfect everyday goodies. In Martha Stewart's Cupcakes, the editors of Martha Stewart Living share 175 ideas for simple to spectacular creations–with cakes, frostings, fillings, toppings, and embellishments that can be mixed and matched to produce just the right cupcake for any occasion. Alongside traditional favorites like yellow buttermilk cupcakes swirled with fluffy vanilla frosting and devil's food cupcakes crowned with rich, dark chocolate buttercream, there are also sweet surprises such as peanut butter and jelly cupcakes, dainty delights like tiny almond-cherry tea cakes, and festive showstoppers topped with marizpan ladybugs or candy clowns. The book features cupcakes for everyone, every season, and every event: Celebrations (monogram heart cupcakes perfect for an elegant wedding); Birthdays (starfish-on-the-beach cupcakes sure to be a hit at children's parties); Holidays (gumdrop candy ghouls and goblins ideal for Halloween revelers); and Any Day (red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for a picnic, or caramel-filled mini chocolate cakes for grown-up gatherings).In singular Martha Stewart style, the pages are both stunning in design–with a photograph of each finished treat–and brimming with helpful how-to information, from step-by-step photographs for decorating techniques to ideas for packaging and presenting your cupcakes. Whether for any day or special days, the treats in Martha Stewart's Cupcakes will delight one and all.From the Trade Paperback edition.--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

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The Black Family Dinner Quilt Cookbook Review

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(More customer reviews)I've enjoyed owning The Black Family Reunion Cookbook for many years, not only for its excellent recipes but also for the many narratives.
Once again, the Council has issued a winner. The recipes I've tried out of this new book have worked as well as their original cookbook. Actually, I didn't notice that these recipes are supposed to be 'healthier' until I began to write this review!
I've particularly enjoyed the black-eyed pea soup, the mustard greens and potato soup, and the collard greens and turkey wings. The pound cake recipe is standard, but the pear upside-down cake is terrific. The banana oatmeal cookies will be a hit for you. The chicken broccoli casserole is yummy!
I could go on, but I'll just say that every recipe I've tried has worked well. This is good home-style cooking, nothing too fancy, and the recipes are well written.
However, it's the stories and parables running through the book that make it special. I've always been a fan of Ms. Bethune, and the narratives here about her are particularly enjoyable.
This book is not only excellent, but it's also an excellent buy!

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As a shared meal nourishes the body, so a quilt, passed from generation to generation, warms and nourishes the spirit. Both recipes and quilts preserve the culture and history of a people and their social, historic, and artistic connections to their past and their future. Celebrating both these traditions, The Black Family Dinner Quilt offers recipes based on both traditional and contemporary African-American cuisine with recipes full of down-home flavor but lower in fat, salt, and sugar. Southern Ham and Shrimp Soup, Country Chicken and Biscuits, Jamaican Pork, Creole Beans and Rice, Creamy Macaroni and Cheese, and even Bethune Sweet Potato Pie are just a few of the healthful and soul-satisfying dishes you'll find in these pages.

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The Secrets of Baking: Simple Techniques for Sophisticated Desserts Review

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(More customer reviews)Sherry Yard, pastry chef at Spago Beverly Hills, has written the very best book for the amateur baker. If you bake, I advise you to stop reading this review and order this book from Amazon. Do it now ....
If you are still here, I'll tell you why I believe this book is so good.
First, there is the simple, illuminating organization which breaks major baking products down into twelve master recipes and explains all the things which distinguish each category from others and explains the factors which make these preparations work and which actions can lead to unsatisfactory results. There are so many good books on baking that promise this kind of systematic treatment but don't deliver. I was disappointed, for example, in reading Nick Malgieri's book, `How to Bake' when I saw that it was not much more than an organized collection of good recipes. Another recently reviewed book did an excellent job of presenting `modular' recipes where various preparations could be mixed and matched, yet they failed to advance our understanding of baking technique by proper grouping of, for example, cheesecake with custards rather than with cakes.
The twelve topics in this book are Ganache, Caramel, Curd, Vanilla Sauce, Pate a Choux, Pound Cake and Genoise, Financier, Cookies, Pie and Tart Dough, Brioche, Laminated Dough, and Fruit.
Second, the grouping of recipes makes learning several recipes within a group much easier than if each were tackled independently. The discussion of each preparation begins with a `family tree' which shows the relation between different recipes which fall within that method and the variation to the method which produces the branches to the tree. The first general method, ganache, has three variations. The medium consistency recipes give us soufflé, fondue, truffles, and sabayon. The firm (more chocolate) consistency gives us tortes, frosting, and candy bars. The soft (more cream) consistency gives us whipped cream, hot chocolate, sauce, and mousse. This presentation reveals connections between old favorites and new possibilities. I am particularly fond of making and eating carrot cake, and I have been quite happy with my recipe from Nick Malgieri. But, I was delighted to find that carrot cake is just one species of a baking genus called `financier'. If I were a professional pastry chef and I did not know about the virtues of financier, I may be willing to sign over my next year's salary to Ms. Yard for revealing the secrets of this batter. It seems that financier batter can accept all sorts of leftovers when it is mixed. It can then be stored in the refrigerator for many days, to be pulled out in an emergency to be baked up into a delightfully moist cake. The fact about the recipe that creates this moistness is it's using unwhipped egg whites that have more moisture and relatively more stabilizing protein than either whole eggs or whipped whites.
Third, the book explains virtually everything important about the science of baking. It has quite effectively done for baking what Alton Brown and Shirley Corriher have done for savory cooking in providing a roadmap to baking technique. This is not mere handwaving. Most culinary authors make reference to acidic (vinegar, citrus, buttermilk, cream of tartar) versus basic (baking soda) ingredients. Some advanced writers may refer to the fact that untreated chocolate is acidic and this needs to be balanced by baking soda in recipes. Ms. Yard gives us the whole 14 yards, covering the entire pH scale from battery acid (1) to Drano (14) and how all of this is relevant to baking. One most interesting fact is the relative acidity of lemon juice to orange juice. The two practical advantages of this presentation is that it gives you the means for rescuing recipes from problems and it gives you a safe path to developing your own baking recipes.
Fourth, the book explains the reasons behind small differences in technique. I have read a dozen recipes for the pair of doughs, pate brisee and pate sucree and perfectly good explanations for what the two different doughs are best used. No one, up until now, has given me a really good explanation for the difference in technique based on the fact that the sugar in the pate sucree is replacing part of the LIQUID ingredients in pate brisee. My hero Alton has often explained that sugar is treated as a liquid ingredient, but he has never explained in such depth what it is that makes both sugar and butter act like liquid ingredients and not like solid ingredients.
After you contemplate dealing with all these details, you may fear that Ms. Yard's recipes will be more complicated than others. The opposite is true. After a dozen recipes for pate brisee have advised me to add water to flour and butter as if I were working with explosives, I am surprised to see Ms. Yard splash all the water into the blender in one fell swoop and pulse away with abandon. On the other side of the coin, her discussion of pate brisee versus pate sucree points out that the resting time in the fridge must be longer for the sugar dough than for the dough without sugar, due to the hygroscopic nature of sugar. Ms. Yard's recipes are no more complicated than any others and, by providing an understanding of what is going on, they can be done with more confidence in the success of the outcome.
The final chapter gives the reader recipes for combining preparations like puff pastry combined with vanilla sauce to give Mille-Feuille Napoleon for example. The book ends with superior appendices on baking terms, tools, and ingredients.
The book does not deal with every baking subject in detail. Only an excellent chapter on brioche represents bread baking. But, there are several excellent books on bread. Ms. Yard would be sure to recommend the book by Nancy Silverton.
If you bake, buy this book. You will not be sorry!

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The Cake Mix Doctor Bakes Gluten-Free Review

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(More customer reviews)Leave it to the very creative Anne Byrn to be right on top of food trends with her latest cookbook entry - The Cake Mix Doctor Bakes Gluten-Free. We love the layout of this book which is easy to read, contains a helpful recipe reminder panel on some recipe pages where you can jot down your own notes,and offers just plain old good advice, like how to prevent a bundt cake from sticking to the pan! Be sure to read the "Cake Mix Doctor Says" tips listed at the bottom of most recipes.
Byrn proves that just because a dessert recipe is gluten-free doesn't mean it has to be dull. Among her more than 50 recipes is an Almond Cream Cheese Pound Cake, Caramel Melted Ice Cream Cake, German Chocolate Cake, Coconut Cake with Fluffy Marshmallow Frosting and even a Gluten-free Wedding Cake! Recipes cover layer cakes, bundts, sheet cakes and bars, brownies, cookies and cupcakes, too. Just browsing through this book has us ready to get out our mixing bowl and bundt pan.


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Baking in America: Traditional and Contemporary Favorites from the Past 200 Years Review

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(More customer reviews)Patent sifted 200 years of cookbooks, journals and newspapers to select these 250 recipes, tested and adapted for the modern kitchen. Organized by type, from yeast breads to quick breads to doughnuts, pound cakes, layer cakes, pies and tarts, cheesecakes and more, this is a solid all-round baking book, with clear directions. Sidebars sprinkled throughout offer quotes from old cookbooks and advertisements and brief prefaces give the provenance of the original recipe, serving suggestions and a few words about its character. Patent also offers tips on choosing and handling ingredients, and cooking techniques, such as deep-frying doughnuts, pound cake pointers and step-by-step layer cakes.
A section of full-color pictures (Coconut Layer Cake, Lemon Genoise with White Chocolate Buttercream and Raspberries, Rhubarb Strawberry Pie) should be kept away from dieters. From Martha Washington's Currant Cake to Jalapeno, Cornmeal and Cheddar Bread, Patent does justice to the American baking scene.

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Fresh Every Day: More Great Recipes from Foster's Market Review

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(More customer reviews)`Fresh Every Day, More Great Recipes from Foster's Market' is Sara Foster's second book in about three years, with a new co-author, Carolynn Carreno, a co-author of the very good New York City bistro / bakery book, `Once Upon a Tart'. Whether it is from the change in collaborator or some other reason, Ms. Foster has succeeded in giving us a book which is not only better than her first, but it is better than books from her nearest competitors, Paula Deen and fellow Martha Stewart alum, Ina Garten. While Deen gives us very good renditions of classic Southern dishes, Ms. Foster and her allies have done a `fusion Southern' cuisine which has all the charm of the original models with maybe just a little less fat and a little more flavor. Compared to fellow caterer, Ms. Garten of Long Island, Ms. Foster gives us much more bang for our $35. I have always thought Ms. Garten's books are just a tad overpriced for their content. Sara Foster has delivered a lot more content, and more interesting content, for the same price.
While it took a fair amount of careful reading before I gave Sara's first book my five stars, my visceral pleasure with this book kicked in almost immediately, which is a sure sign that this is a quality cookbook. Very good and very bad books usually show their colors in the first few pages. When you have to look for the good stuff, it is surely an average book.
The book has just a slightly different focus than the first book, in that it covers a lot of things Ms. Foster cooks at home for her family and dishes she demonstrates when she is doing book tours and cooking classes.
For starters, I always give high marks to books with good breakfast recipes. For every decent book on breakfast dishes, there are fifty or more on desserts, so, we are always in need of more and better breakfast dishes. None of the recipes are really unusual, but that isn't what you want from a rural milieu caterer. You can get the fancy breakfasts from The Plaza and the Hiltons. The scrambled egg recipe(s) are a fine sample of what Ms. Foster and company do so well in this book. She gives the basic technique that is effective, but simple. No James Beard water bath cooking for 40 minutes here. Then, she gives us six different variations plus the courage to throw in most different kinds of odds and ends leftovers from the fridge.
I thought the following page with breakfast tortilla recipes goes a long way to showing how far Mexican cuisine has influenced our cooking in that Ms. Foster uses the terms chipotle, burrito, quesadilla, and enchilada with no explanation of what they mean and really assumes the reader will have no problems following an instruction to `fold it like a burrito'. Later in this chapter, chipotle finds its way into several different recipes. The chapter also covers such essential subjects as grits, smoothies, biscuits, muffins, and granola.
The next chapter is `Simple Soups' which opens with a sidebar on soup making which has almost as many spiffy soup suggestions as several soup books I have reviewed. Like the breakfast dishes, most soups are pretty standard and pretty hearty, with a heavy emphasis on roasted ingredients and pureed preparations. There are some interesting surprises such as the golden gazpacho soup, but the big value is in teaching us to use soup toppings and garnishes.
The third chapter is on `seasonal salads and salad meals'. The content which impressed me most was the number of different vinaigrette recipes, including summer herb, sweet basil, balsamic, blue cheese, tarragon, sweet and spicy, sesame ginger, red wine with chives, tangy Italian, black olive, and pad thai vinaigrettes. And that just the vinaigrettes!
The fourth chapter is `seasonal sides' with lots of stuff on using fruits and root vegetables. The most interesting section is the general suggestion plus several recipes on mashing vegetables OTHER than potatoes. This notion, plus the variations on doing corn on the cob are worth the price of the chapter.
The fifth chapter is `quick and tasty meat main dishes' which throws lots of Southern, Italian, Greek, and Mexican ideas into a pot and comes up with great nouveau Carolina cuisine. The featured sidebar is on grilling. The best `extras' are recipes for `fridge pickles and pan seared duck breasts.
The sixth chapter is `fast and fresh fish, pasta, and risotto meals'. This chapter is heavy on the shrimp and scallops plus halibut, snapper, sea bass, and lots of condiments such as lemon chive oil, Cajun aioli, and green goddess dressing. The sidebar on fish cookery is excellent.
The seventh chapter is `meals that cook themselves' which, of course, is not literally true. It is a collection of recipes that cook for a long time with little or no fuss or attention. Lots of classics appear here, many with the addition of Sara's favorite ingredient, chipotle.
The last chapter is `a little something sweet' which tend to be quick assemblies rather than elaborate cakes and pies, although there is a pretty standard recipe for a piecrust and a blueberry pie. The recipe uses all vegetable shortening, and I am partial to pastry crusts done with butter. I don't thing Sara will mind if you use a classic French pate brisee in place of `Judy's Flaky PieCrust. Her sidebar on making piecrusts may not have every little detail, but it's very good if this is the only book you have.
Ms. Foster's pair of books is the perfect example for those of you who don't want a lot of cookbooks, but you want interesting recipes. Getting these two books will give you great value with no risk of recipe overlap. I certainly recommend these over books from Ms. Deen and Ms. Garten, although both of these ladies have done some very nice volumes.
Highly recommended!


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Little Cafe Cakes Review

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(More customer reviews)Not to say this isn't a fine book. What I wish I'd realized is that it's from New Zealand. I am in the United States. Some measurements are metric. Some aren't. Many measurements are by weight, so have a kitchen scale handy. Temps are celsius. I'll have to do many conversions. Other problems: many things have different names than we use here, so I have to translate to figure out what they are. Also, some things are not foods available here, as far as I know, like quark. What is that?
Cookbooks are better if they are from your region, in terms of measurement and temperature systems -- and available ingredients. Some of the cakes sound bizarre to me for that reason, but there are lots of interesting-sounding items to try!

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Chocolate Lover's Cookbook For Dummies Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a great book for anyone who loves chocolate. The author clearly explains how to choose and use chocolate to make great desserts. There are recipes from simple to sublime with something for everyone. If you love chocolate (and who doesn't???) this is a MUST have. Highly recommended!

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Find foolproof tips and techniques for working with chocolate"Dessert-lovers rejoice! Another great chocolate book from the authority."--Lora Brody, author of Basic BakingLooking for tempting but easy ways to indulge your passion for chocolate? In this book, you'll find everything you need to make delectable chocolate desserts that will wow everyone - including yourself! Fun recipes for goodies like cookies, cakes, brownies, ice cream, sauces, candies, and even a chocolate souffle give you dozens of ways to reach chocolate nirvana.

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Coffee Cakes: Simple, Sweet, and Savory Review

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(More customer reviews)I heard about this cookbook on a local public radio station. So far, I've only baked one recipe, "Apple-walnut mosaic coffee cake". It was delicious with many kudos received! I am looking forward to trying the other recipes in this wonderful coffee cake cookbook.

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Sinfully Vegan: More than 160 Decadent Desserts to Satisfy Every Sweet Tooth Review

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(More customer reviews)To begin: I love this book. Love, love, love. I do have one complaint, though. With 140 recipes, it's going to take me forever to try them all! Especially since I just want to keep making my favorites over and over again.
Anyway, I could gush for hours about how great the recipes themselves are. [The Richer Than Fort Knox Cake was a huge hit at my husband's workplace. Everyone was shocked that 1) it wasn't from a bakery, and 2) it was 100% vegan. And I always love showing people that you don't deprive yourself of good things by making vegan choices.] But before I get carried away, I'd like to point how how much I love the organization of the book. Each recipe is divided into simple steps, and recipes are subdivided into sections--like the cake, the frosting, the garnish, etc. Also, Ms. Dieterly includes serving info, prep and baking time, and nutritional information, and also notes whether the recipe freezes well. And for those with wheat allergies, all of the wheat-free recipes are specifically marked as such.
She has recipes for the following dessert categories: cookies and brownies; cakes and quick breads; Boston cream pies; pies and tarts; cheesecakes; puddings; donuts and candy; beverages and smoothies; and frostings, toppings, and crusts. Sadly, there are no vegan ice cream recipes. But I'll be so busy eating brownies and cheesecakes and donuts, I won't have time for ice cream anyway!
The ingredients she uses should be familiar to most vegan cooks, and I don't have any trouble finding them. However, if you're new to vegan baking or live in an area where it's difficult to find, for example, silken tofu, then the author provides an introduction to the vegan ingredients you'll need, as well as a list of mail-order companies from which you can purchase the necessary ingredients. And if you're still searching, a quick Google search can reveal numerous places on-line to purchase vegan foodstuffs.
Finally, I'd just like to comment on the writing style. I really enjoy reading the author's recipe descriptions and other comments. She's clear and informative, but also sounds like a friend who's hanging out in your kitchen while you're baking.
All in all, this is a great cookbook. Buy it and amaze your friends with your delicious--and compassionate--desserts.

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What better way is there to end a meal than with a luscious piece of cheesecake, a rich slice of chocolate cream pie, or some chewy peanut butter cookies--all made with easy-to-find vegan ingredients? In this newly updated and expanded edition of Sinfully Vegan, Lois Dieterly shows you how to do just that, with more than 160 dairy-, egg-, and cholesterol-free recipes.
Sinfully Vegan offers desserts from every shelf of the pastry case: cakes, candies, cookies, brownies, pies, tarts, puddings, and quick breads. Complete with essential baking and preparation tips, creative recipe variations, nutritional breakdowns, and wheat-free alternatives, Sinfully Vegan is the ultimate vegan dessert resource and an essential addition to any kitchen. And since there are no eggs in the batter, plenty of sampling is encouraged!

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The Williams-Sonoma Collection: Cookies Review

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(More customer reviews)I have had excellent experiences using this book. Although some of the recipes call for non-standard kitchen equipment (like Madeleine trays or silicon baking sheet liners) most of the recipes are both easy to use and very good to eat. I particularly liked the chocolate chip cookie recipe; it never fails to turn out chewy and delicious chocolate chip cookies.
Here are the rest of the recipes included:
Scotch Shortbread, Sugar Cookies, Lemon Bars, Anise Biscotti, Madeleines, Linzer Cookies, Oatmeal Cookies, Brownies, Blondies, Chocolate Cookie Sandwiches, Black & White Cookies, Nutty Butter Balls, Crisp Chocolate Bites, Ruby Jewel Cookies, Almond Sand Cookies, Neapolitan Cookies, Chocolate Espresso Bars, Almond Crisps Drizzled with Chocolate, Peanut Butter Cookies, Brown Sugar Tuiles, Cigarettes Russes, Pistachio-Spice Cookies, Double-Ginger Snaps, Lizzies, Hazelnut & Dried Cherry Biscotti, Butterscotch Coconut Cookies, Oatmeal, Date, & Walnut Spice Cookies, Coconut-Macademia Triangles, Spritz Cookies, Mexican Wedding Cookies, Moravian Molasses Cookies, Brandy Snaps, Bourbon Balls, Rugelach with Apricot and Pistachio Filling, and Hazelnut Meringues.
The book also has an excellent section of decorating tips and every recipe features a beautiful full-page color photo.

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Whether it's a classic chocolate chip cookie for an afternoon snack at the kitchen table, a tangy lemon bar as a treat after lunch, or a delicate jam-filled cutout cookie shared at a special gathering of friends, we all have a favorite cookie or two that we just cannot resist.Williams-Sonoma Collection Cookies offers over 40 delicious recipes, including time-honored favorites as well as fresh new ideas. Brighten up a rainy day with chocolate cookie sandwiches, tempt guests with light hazelnut meringues after a dinner party, or celebrate the holidays with sweet and sparkly cutout stars. Here, you will find all the classics as well as cookies for making with and enjoying with kids or for sending to faraway friends. If you are planning a party or searching for a cookie to establish new holiday tradition, you'll find plenty of recipes with style inside these pages. In addition, a chapter devoted entirely to decorating provides you with simple ideas for transforming cookies into little works of art.Full-color photographs of each cookie recipe help make it easy to decide which one to bake, and photographic side notes throughout highlight key techniques or essential ingredients, making this book the ideal source to have on hand for making cookies. An informative basics section and glossary fill in all you need to know to create a wide array of irresistible cookies.

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The Great Southern Food Festival Cookbook: Celebrating Everything from Peaches to Peanuts, Onions to Okra Review

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(More customer reviews)Over 300 dishes from 75 Southern food festivals provide a fine representation of modern Southern cooking. Georgia Pecan-Crusted French Toast, Cornmeal-breaded Fried Okra, and Moon Pie Bread Pudding are but a few of the easy dishes blending old and new approaches. Photos highlight some dishes but the majority don't need them.


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Enlightened Chocolate: More Than 200 Decadently Light, Lowfat, and Inspired Recipes Using Dark Chocolate and Unsweetened Cocoa Powder Review

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(More customer reviews)I went on to Amazon looking for exactly such a book as this. I've read article after article on the health benefits of chocolate and cocoa, but rarely any good health-inspired recipes (with the exception of the ubiquitous hot cocoa made with skim milk).
Then I stumbled across Enlightened Chocolate. It's a goldmine. This is a brilliant book, and I do not use that description often. The author has created a modern classic here: comprehensive (yet clear and concise) explanation of the science news on the healthfulness of dark chocolate and cocoa (I should add an incredible, detailed bibliography on the subject, too), and stellar recipes that reflect both classic and modern tastes.
The chapter on using chocolate and cocoa in savory dishes is groundbreaking. I have only seen such attempts by the most skilled of chefs (think Iron Chef), but here are fresh interpretation that anyone can make with ease. I made the vegetarian chickpeas with spinach and Indian spices, which also has a bit of cocoa powder to enrich the flavors. Outstanding! And so simple to make. The chocolate yogurt (so simple: cocoa powder and honey mixed into plain yogurt, then topped with fresh berries) is now one of my regular breakfasts--such a light a healthy, not to mention incredibly delicious way to get so many healthful ingredients into a simple-to-make breakfast. And the baking--well, lets just say that the double chocolate cookies and chocolate cheesecake are beyond compare; taste anything but "light" and are rich with chocolate flavor.
The book has meticulous instructions that are invaluable to any level of home cook. The photographs that begin the book are gorgeous, and will tempt everyone in to baking and cooking up a storm. If you follow her directions exactly, you will have success. I love this book.
This is by far the best chocolate book I've come across in years. Cutting edge and delectable in every way. A winner in every way!

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My Southern Food: A Celebration of the Flavors of the South Review

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(More customer reviews)From cover to cover, I have tasted the charm with my eyes and my southern heart! I have tried numerous recipes, perfectly pleased with each one. The way Devon O'Day presents the flair of the South is exactly right, on each page I can see my dear, departed mother, and can taste her southern cooking! My Southern Food is a walk down memory lane with fantastic recipes that are sure to please, and it makes a great gift! The Cathead Cheese Biscuits are to LIVE for!

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Celebrate the South with this beautifully illustrated cookbook. Southern food has rightfully earned its place as one of the most beloved and popular forms of cooking in the United States. However, Southern food doesn't have to be prepared just in the South- delicious Southern dishes can bring appreciative diners from any state to the table.My Southern Food will take readers and cooks on a mouthwatering journey with photographs, stories, and 200 recipes that make this much more than a traditional cookbook. Sunday Dinner and Other Family GatheringsBreakfast in the South Treasures from the Southern Garden Summer Celebrations What Every Southern Lady Knows Cooking for Company Glorious Southern Desserts Eating Out Southern Style

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The Essential Baker: The Comprehensive Guide to Baking with Chocolate, Fruit, Nuts, Spices, and Other Ingredients Review

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(More customer reviews)`The Essential Baker' by professional pastry chef and culinary writer, Carole Bloom presents itself as a complete baking manual, with a distinctively different organization, by ingredient. For its size, price, and claims, the book begs us to compare it to the recent `Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook', which is also a comprehensive introductory baking text.
As I first open the book, Bloom's `Essential Baker' does not readily impress me when stacked up against Team Stewart. Like Stewart, the book does not delve into a lot of the more technical explanations of baking science (as one may find in Rose Levy Beranbaum's more advanced `Bibles' on baking technique), but then the average baker really doesn't need most of this, as long as they get the message that with baking, one really needs to follow the recipe closely, even down to the size of the baking pans. Bloom does go into just a bit more detail, and may get herself into a few questionable statements, as when she states that one should not use all purpose flour for baking bread (every book I've ever seen on bread baking uses and condones `all purpose flour', with a preference for the higher protein products such as those from King Arthur.)
Based on their enormous magazine publishing resources, it's no surprise to find Team Stewart's book with wonderful pictures all along the way, especially with good series of tutorials on some basic techniques. Ms. Bloom oddly has virtually no pictures, and all she has are in two middle of the book rotogravure sections, to keep the cost down.
Two more comparisons tend to favor Team Stewart. The first is that their organization is by end product and method rather than by principal ingredient. For an introductory manual, I simply find that more useful and intuitive. Unlike savory cooking, one is much more inclined to begin with `lets bake a cake' or `lets make a pie' or `lets make some cookies' or `lets make some bread'. One of the few cases where this may not be true is with some highly seasonal local ingredients such as rhubarb. Otherwise, my baking choices are largely based on birthdays needing cake, picnics needing pies, and Christmas needing cookies. The second is that Ms. Bloom does not cover yeast breads at all. There are recipes for quick breads such as biscuits and Irish Soda bread (under the subject of buttermilk), but that's it. Team Stewart has a 70 page chapter on yeast breads with 31 recipes, including muffins, bagels, pizza, Danish, croissants, and babkas. If this were the whole story, Team Stewart would have it all over Ms. Bloom. Ms. Bloom, however, has an ace up her sleeve.
Only after reading the long and highly informative (but pictureless) introductory chapters in `The Essential Baker' did I discover that Ms. Bloom is hiding her light under a basket. While celebrating her ordering by ingredient, she neglects to trumpet the fact that her method for writing recipes is really superior. Everything is laid out in exactly the way one may wish to find it. And, on this count, she has Team Stewart beat hands down. But that's not all. I also find her recipes to be more interesting (albeit not necessarily more complicated) than those from Team Stewart. I compared at least a half dozen recipes and in all cases, Ms. Bloom had the more satisfactory recipe for the beginner. Stewart either tended just a bit too much to the simple or overembellished to fit her overriding motif of cooking for entertaining.
I'm still inclined to see Stewart's `Baking Handbook' as the superior book for the beginner, except for the fact that Ms. Bloom does something that is rare in bigger baking books. She does not `divide and conquer' by separating all her utility recipes for crusts and other pastries in a separate section, so that one must constantly be flipping back and forth when doing a pie or an icing. This is really an exceptionally good thing for the occasional baker, who wants `the recipe, the whole recipe, and nothing but the recipe' in one place.
And, although both books retail for $40, Ms. Bloom has about 200 more pages, with a corresponding 30% more recipes. She also has an exceptionally good list of sources, the best I've seen in quite some time (although Miss Martha does a good job here too).
On the arrangement by ingredient, I'm still a bit agnostic about it, and it would have been nice to see a supplementary table of contents by type of recipe, but if you happen to really like books such as Aliza Green's `Starting With Ingredients' or books on vegetable or fish cookery, you will love this book. Otherwise, you may just like it very, very much.


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Classic 1000 Cake & Bake Recipes (Classic 1000 Cookbook) Review

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(More customer reviews)So, I got my book today and before I even opened it I was disappointed. It was a different cover and a different edition of the book. I am not sure how much different books themselves (as far as recipes) are but that was a major let down. The book has very few pictures and the recipes are not easy to read. Small print and three to four recipes per page recipes per page makes it not very user friendly. Overall, I wouldn't recommend spending money on this book. Save it for a Betty Crocker book instead.

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Allergy and Celiac Diets With Ease, Revised: Money and Time Saving Solutions for Food Allergy and Gluten-Free Diets Review

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(More customer reviews)In the author's lasted installment of books and cookbooks to rescue the many folks out there who suffer from food related illnesses, (allergies, sensitivities, intolerances or malabsorptions)this one is a tresure trove of valuable information, tips, tricks and suggestions. For many years I have been recovering from food sensitivities that have contributed to migraine headaches, muscle and joint pain, and hormone imbalance.
I have searched for one book that could rescue me and the patients I see in an Environmental Medicine practice. Patients have asked me so many times I can't count, "Is there a book I can buy that will help me understand all this"? Here is the answer we have all been looking for!!
Including tips on money saving shopping, internet resources, and just her own ingenuity, Ms. Dumke leads the pack in cutting edge information. This book is great for the "seasoned cook" like myself who has thrown out a few meals in her day because they just didn't taste good. Or the novice who doesn't really love to cook but have found themselves in the position of having to change their diet and lifestyle in order to regain their health. I have already recommended this book and will continue to do so.
I will also use it as a helpful tool in my own kitchen. Ms. Dumkes' personal experience in the complicated area of food allergy makes this book REAL!!!
Patricia Grabill, Allergy Technician and Coordinator for Environmental Medicine Practice in Pennsylvania

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When money is tight, what is a person on a food allergy or gluten-free diet to do? How can we eat well on our diets with less money and limited time? Allergy and Celiac Diets with Ease: Money and Time Saving Solutions for Food Allergy and Gluten-Free Diets provides a way out of this dilemma. It provides solutions to both the economic and time challenges you deal with in purchasing and preparing foods that fit your diet. It shows how to shop economically, cook without spending all day in the kitchen, stock your kitchen for efficiency and good health, have good times with friends and family without breaking the bank, get organized, and be able to do what you need in limited time. The book contains eight chapters on how to save money and time, over 160 money-saving, quick and easy recipes for allergy and celiac diets (over 140 of them gluten-free), and extensive reference sections including a 22-page "Special Diet Resources" section to help you find commercially prepared foods you need.

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