A few months ago, I wrote a blog post where I reviewed the second volume of the Bake From Scratch cookbooks. I was able to get this one from my local library and figured it would be best to “try before I buy.” You can read the full review here, but in a nutshell, I wasn’t too impressed with many of the recipes in the book. I did find the book to be well-made and the quality of the food photography is some of the best I’ve seen. However, at that time, I decided against buying that book or any of the Bake From Scratch cookbooks.

Despite this, I decided to give another cookbook in the series a try and I was able to purchase the first volume online at a steep discount. This time around, I was much more intrigued with the recipes between the pages than I was with the one I checked out from my local library. Gone was the high-end ingredients and acquired taste flavors. This isn’t surprising since the cookbooks are a compilation of all the recipes that are published in the magazine throughout the year. Being that this new-to-me cookbook was from the first year of the magazine, they needed to appeal to a wide audience. It’s just good business practice.

While I still haven’t baked anything out of the first volume, thumbing through it did convince me to give the series another serious look. This first volume contains interesting and eye-catching recipes such as Chai Butternut Squash Bundt Cake, Red Wine-poached Pear Tart, Pumpkin Cake with Browned Butter Streusel, Nutella Crunch Braid, and Petite Beurre.

Luckily for me, there’s many additional cookbooks to me to consider: to date there are a total of seven cookbook volumes published. Late last week, I decided to purchase another one in the series. This time a slightly more recent publication; the fifth volume.

This book was billed as the Fifth Anniversary Cookbook. And it even has a beautiful gold colored spine and title. It sparkles in the light and it makes me smile. It really is a cookbook worthy of being added to anyone’s shelf. It’s also 50 pages longer than the first one, which is insane to me. That’s a lot of recipes. This amazing cookbook is loaded with tons of cake recipes: Kugelhopf, Triple-Marble Pound Cake, and Twice-Baked Meringue Brownie Loaf. There’s also bread recipes that are both sweet and savory like the French Onion Bread.

Just looking through the pie chapter gives me the confidence I need to NOT fear pie-baking just so I could make the Black Forest Pie. Have you ever had a Carrot Cake Sandwich Cookie? I haven’t, but now I have a recipe for one. Or how about Browned Butter, White Chocolate, and Macadamia Cookies. It’s basically like three of my favorite things in one single cookie. I don’t think it’ll be too long before a tray of those comes out of my oven!

Much like the other cookbooks that I’ve seen from this series, the book is well-made, full of recipes, and bright, engaging food photography. The staff over at Bake From Scratch are really proud of what they have developed and their work shows it. They created a community for bakers, created by bakers. And I don’t mean bakers who occasionally bake for work or a special event. I mean bakers who love the art of baking. Bakers who aren’t afraid to take risk; those who want to up their game, test their skills.

It is because of this reason alone that I feel inclined to support their efforts. I do enjoy getting magazines, so maybe I’ll subscribe to the actual magazine and have all the recipes at my disposal multiple times per year, instead of just waiting for the cookbook to come out. The cost comes out to be about the same. That said, I’m starting to enjoy the fact that I have two beautiful cookbook tomes with colored spine sitting on my shelf. Perhaps they need another friend or two….?

After seeing these other two books, and even looking through some more recent issues of the magazine, I do have to admit, I jumped the gun on Baked From Scratch. I put all of my eggs in one batter, as bakers say (do they say that?). Volume 2 of the cookbooks wasn’t a real winner for me, but so far the other volumes I’ve seen have been. If you’re looking for intermediate to advanced baking recipes, interesting in learning new baking skills, or introducing new flavors to your repertoire, then I highly recommend investing in one of these books. You won’t be sorry. And, if you find that none of the recipes are “for you,” at least the pictures are pretty.

Until next time, readers….