Last week, I told you all that I misjudged the Bake From Scratch cookbooks. The one I originally reviewed didn’t have much appeal to me. However, I will now admit that I was wrong. Baking a recipe out of the fifth volume proves it!
Continue reading “A Potential Game-Changer in the Cooke World!”
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.
Continue reading “I Was Wrong About Bake From Scratch!”
Welcome to Baking Shoulder Season!
“What is that?”, you may ask. It’s the term I coined this weekend when trying to find a recipe. It’s when it’s too late in the summer to get enough flavor from the stone fruit and berries, so you don’t really want to use them in your baking. But it’s still too early for all the “fall bakes:” things like pumpkin, apple, cinnamon, and ginger. These things are inching their way towards the spotlight, but not quite yet. Plus I can’t bring myself to bake something pumpkin-related until at least after Labor Day.
What is one to do during this time?
Continue reading “Ina Garten’s Blueberry Crumb Cake”
Last week I obtained a new cookbook for my collection. B. Dylan Hollis’s cookbook features recipes from every decade between 1900 and 1980. If you haven’t heard of Dylan, he became TikTok-famous in 2020 when he started making recipes from the antique cookbooks in his collection. When I heard he was coming out with a cookbook that featured many of the recipes he made online, I knew I had to order it.
Continue reading “Better Than Sex Cake”Earlier this week my reserved copy of Dylan Hollis’ cookbook, Baking Yesteryear arrived at my doorstep. Have you heard of Dylan? No! I’m surprised, especially if you are someone who spends a significant amount of time on social media.
During quarantine, Dylan started making TikTok shorts of him baking recipes from his vintage cookbook collection. The recipes ranged in dates from the 1900s to the 1980s. Thanks to his personality and delivery of his content, he went viral. In fact, I came across his stuff on Instagram then used YouTube to watch more. Since he became popular, he started posting a few, longer-form videos on YouTube that have a very different vibe than his TikToks. If you haven’t seen him yet, go and check him out. He’s quite entertaining.
Similar to most people who become popular online, he ended up releasing a cookbook featuring some of the best recipes from each decade that he cooked from. (Gotta diversify that income stream, I suppose.)
I am quite intrigued with his content and his cookbook, so this weekend I plan to bake one of the recipes from it. I haven’t decided which one yet, or even which decade. Though the cookies that are called
“Rocks” is really calling to me for some reason. What is interesting about these recipes is that they are quite different from the ones I’ve been using lately.
The recipes from the Depression don’t usually have ingredients such as butter because it was a lot harder to come by during those harsh economic times (though, one could argue that paying close to $5 a pound is similar). These recipes were also designed to use up with people had on hand, another requirement for large families trying to survive the period.
Much like fashion and hair styles have changed with each decade, so did America’s taste buds. There are some ingredients in his content that I would never dream of using such as Cool Whip or margarine. That’s why I want to do this. I want to expand my horizons and accept the fact that I don’t need the top quality ingredients every time I want to make something.
I can’t wait to share with you all what I baked!
After taking several weeks off from the Magnolia Bakery Handbook, I decided that I was in the mood to make a cake. Frankly, I used the need to do a practice run with a new recipe before making a cake for an engagement party later in June. But, if you’ve been reading this blog for long enough, you’ll know that I never need an excuse for cake!
Continue reading “An Easy Way to Turn Any Cake Into a Celebration Cake – MB Recipe 41”
If you’re a baker and also a reader (like me!) then you may have come across a magazine at Barnes & Noble or your local Walmart called Bake From Scratch. The colorful, bright, and salivating-inducing photography on the covers of the magazines would pique the interest of everyone, not just bakers. After a solid year of trying not to purchase a copy of the magazine, I finally told myself that the time had come.
Continue reading “Cookbook Review: Bake From Scratch”
Every once in a while, things don’t work out the way you planned. Instead of getting to your friend’s party on time, you hit unexpected traffic and arrive too late to be even “fashionably late.” When it comes to baking or cooking, sometimes a well intended idea just doesn’t get off the ground. Or, in my case, bake up the way you thought it would.
Continue reading “Reminding Myself, “It’s Just Cake!””
Hello, readers! It’s been quite a while since I posted a recipe-related post, hasn’t it? Well, I’m back this week with an Ina Garten dessert recipe that is sure to knock your socks off! I couldn’t believe how tasty and flavorful these brownies were. The Barefoot Contessa is known for combining simple ingredients and flavors to make something even stellar and this recipe is no exception.
Continue reading “Sometimes, You Just NEED to Have a Brownie – Barefoot Contessa Recipe 60”
For regular readers of this blog, you may remember that over the weekend I made an angel food cake. This meant I was left with over a dozen (yes, over a dozen!!) egg yolks. In baking, egg whites have a little more uses than just the yolks do, so I was a little sad about this. However, then I remembered I could make lemon curd. What’s even better is I found a recipe that made one the best lemon curds I’ve ever had and it even gets folded into a lovely pound cake.
Continue reading “Zoe Bakes’ Lemon Curd Pound Cake”
