Baking

Starred review from September 18, 2006
Greenspan, coauthor of books with culinary icons such as Julia Child (Baking with Julia
), Daniel Boulud and Pierre Hermé, shares her favorite recipes in this tantalizing collection, which covers all the baking bases, from muffins, cookies and brownies to spoon desserts, pies and cobblers. Instructions are clear and easy to follow, and Greenspan uses everyday ingredients readily available to the home chef. Recipes like Perfection Pound Cake and All-American, All-Delicious Apple Pie convey a comfortable, almost homey, familiarity that will bring readers back to this collection again and again. In addition, she provides insight into matters many cooks may not often consider, such as leaveners, technique and choosing the right pan. Numerous mouth-watering photos dot the book throughout, making it hard to choose which one to make first. Especially helpful is the Indispensables: Base Recipes section at the end of the book, which includes pointers for making key ingredients such dough, pastry cream, lemon curd and faux crème fraîche. This is baking at its best. Over 100 full-color photos.

Starred review from December 1, 2006
In her ninth cookbook, "Bon Appétit" columnist Greenspan once again tackles sweets, this time ranging over muffins, cookies, cakes, pies, and, interestingly, things you eat with a spoon. While this last category is not featured on "Jeopardy!" (at least not yet), it includes puddings, custards, crisps, and ice cream; the ice cream is not "baked," but what would pie be without a scoop on top to complete it? Within each category, there is a nice variety of recipes, along with serving and storage tips. While some of the recipes are definitely more ambitious, they are all still within the range of home bakers. Each recipe also begins with some narrative background, which makes it that much more interesting. The book itself is large and lavishly illustrated; even the black-and-white photo proofs looked delicious. Highly recommended for cookery collections. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 7/06.]Susan Hurst, Miami Univ. Lib., Oxford, OH

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