Baking

Title: Baking

Author: Better Homes and Gardens

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Genre: Cookbook, Baking

Rating:

My Thoughts:

I absolutely love this book- it has some amazing recipes and I can't wait to try all of them out! It is awesome because they show you the technique of how to make a recipe in general (let's say a standard white cake) and then they show you how to make more complicated recipes using those basic techniques (a white cake with berries, etc.). They also include step by step pictures which really helps! In addition, they have a review of basics of baking: flours, sweetners, eggs, etc., baking tools and bakeware. They also have a list of substitutions which I thought was fantastic- no matter how carefully I plan out my baking, I often end up with either the wrong ingredient or am missing an ingredient, so this will definitely come in handy! As if that wasn't enough, they also have a few pages on how to store (short term and freezing) your baked goods and a "trouble shooting guide".

The book is divided into Cookies, Bars & Brownies, Cakes & Cupcakes, Decorated Cakes, Pies &  Tarts, Cheesecakes, "Down-Home Desserts", Yeast & Artisan Breads, Quick Breads, Morning Favourites, Coffee Shop, Holiday Baking, and Everyday Baking. No matter what recipe you need, it seems to be in this book! As I flipped through the entire book to try to decide what to make, I was amazed that every recipe looked better than the last. I made a list of the recipes I wanted to try, and pretty much ended up writing out each of the recipes in the book. In the end, I tried two recipes- a Key Lime Tart recipe from the Pies & Tarts section, and the Make It Mine Whoppie Pies.

The Key Lime Tart was good, but nothing special. Everyone who tried it said it was a good key lime tart, but there was nothing extraordinary about it. That's fine, sometimes its nice to just have a "regular" pie instead of something crazy.

The Make It Mine Whoppie Pies were very delicious. I decided to do a white cake with multi-coloured sprinkles and a white icing. My icing was a little runny, no matter what I tried to thicken it with, but it still tasted delicious inside the whoppie pie. I think next time I might make a cake from scratch instead of using a store bought because I much prefer the taste of homemade cakes, but for something fast, simple and delicious, I would definitely make these again. My other problem was the size of them- it said to make the scoops of batter 1 tbsp. and I did, but that resulted in gigantic cookies. I would definitely make them smaller than 1 tbsp.

My Overall Impression:

This book was awesome with its techniques and with the variety of recipes. I can't get over how many of them I thought sounded absolutely delicious. If you are interested in baking, then I highly recommend this book. I will definitely be recommending this book to others and purchasing it for my Sister-in-Law for Christmas. I will also be baking a lot this coming holiday season. Better Homes and Gardens- keep up the good work!