I’m going on vacation in a few weeks and I’m trying to work my way through as many cookbooks as I can because I have so many to tell you about!

One of the blessings of having a food blog is the opportunity (the honour!) to have a peek at the amazing cookbooks that are being produced.

First and foremost, I wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed Giada de Laurentiis’ latest: Giada at Home: Family Recipes from Italy and California.

Thanks to the kind folks at Clarkson Potter and Random House, I was able to take part in a conference call a few months ago were several bloggers got to ask Giada some questions about her new book.

Believe me when I say she’s just as charming in person as she is on the air! She answered everyone’s questions and made some really good points about the importance of fresh ingredients. Another great point she made was how easy it is easy to marry the ideas of Italian cooking and Californian cooking. In many ways, that’s what Giada at Home is about.

If you’re familiar with Giada’s previous books, the usual hallmarks are all here. Beautiful photos, well laid out, lots of recipes that work. Giada at Home is no different. Hope you give it a look if you haven’t already.

I made the Pea Pesto Crostini, which were easy and delicious!

The second cookbook I wanted to share with you today was Mario Batali’s latest: Molto Gusto: Easy Italian Cooking.

I own all of Mario’s cookbooks and this one will happily take its place beside its siblings. The idea behind this book was to give the home cook the chance to make a lot of the great food served at Batali’s Otto Enoteca Pizzeria at home. If buying it for all the pizza recipes isn’t tempting enough, then buy it for all the ice cream recipes.

I tried the Pennette with Cauliflower Ragu (opening picture) and loved it. Actually, sous chef honours must go to Mamma Cream Puff who helped me out by making the pasta dish. I photographed it! Much like Giada’s book, Batali’s book is filled with lots of great photos and easy instructions. Another keeper!

Okay. That’s two books off my list.

So many more to go!

Ciao!

There is nothing more disappointing than disappointing buttercream.

It doesn’t matter how tremendous the vehicle is, if the buttercream isn’t top notch, you and your baked goods are going nowhere in a hurry.

While I wasn’t planning a buttercream post, especially in the thick of summer’s heat and humidity, I decided this was as good a time as any to mention this particular buttercream as a segue to a particular blog I wanted to introduce you to (if you haven’t already been introduced).

I’m baking cupcakes for a baby shower and the party hostesses asked me if I could bake a small batch so they could taste them. They asked for chocolate cupcakes with chocolate buttercream and my go-to recipe is Tish Boyle’s Silky Chocolate Buttercream from her tremendous book: The Cake Book.

This particular buttercream is made with egg yolks, into which is beaten a hot sugar syrup. Once the mixture is cool, you slowly work in softened butter and finally, melted chocolate. What you end up with is a luscious buttercream that tastes deeply of chocolate, first and foremost. The chocolate flavour is rounded out with a butteriness that’s never greasy. Best of all, it’s not too sweet.

For those of you that are long-time readers, you’ll know that I am a huge Tish Boyle fan. In fact, her cookbook The Good Cookie is one of my prized possessions.

Tish has a blog called Tish Boyle: Sweet Dreams and it’s a delicious place, let me tell you. I hope you’ll take a moment and visit and maybe even drop her a line or two.

As for me, I’m trying really hard not to eat the leftover buttercream sitting in the fridge.

Trying …

Ciao!

Note: The cake part of these cupcakes is from this recipe. For the Silky Chocolate Buttercream, check out the recipe on Tish Boyle’s blog.

For as long as I can remember, I have detested store-bought mayonnaise. It doesn’t matter the brand, the very sight of that off-white, jiggly stuff in a jar (or worse … squeeze bottle) is enough to make my stomach turn.

While I am generally a card-carrying member of the condiments appreciation club, I cannot do store-bought mayonnaise. Sorry.

This aversion to mayo unfortunately extended to the real thing as well. While I have tonnes of cookbooks that feature mayo recipes and while I have thumbed through many a magazine article extolling the virtues of making your own mayo, I have never even batted an eye.

Until Paris. And Alice Waters‘ In the Green Kitchen.

While in Paris, without even realizing it, I enjoyed a sandwich on some crusty french bread that had been slathered with mayo. “What is this glorious sauce?”, I thought.

Mayonnaise. Homemade.

And then not too long ago I was perusing the heart (and stomach) nourishing In The Green Kitchen and I came across a recipe for Garlic Mayonnaise and I experienced the most urgent desire to make mayonnaise.

If you aren’t familiar with In the Green Kitchen, you should become so quickly. What a beautiful book! When I say it’s “heart-nourishing” I mean it has a quality that strikes the heart right through the stomach. It is a deep and lovely affirmation of simple cooking.

It has all the hallmarks of an Alice Waters book: fresh ingredients, responsible cooking, local food, ambitious but never inaccessible and most of all, delicious.

The book is a gentle stroll from making a beautiful salad all the way to cobbler, with stops at biscuits, peperonata and roast leg of lamb.

As for me and my homemade mayonnaise, well, it was a revelation.

It was creamy and lemony and luscious. I spread it on anything that wasn’t nailed down.

I ate it all up.

Ciao!

If you’re interested in making mayonnaise at home, consider these recipes:
Aioli, Lemon-Dijon Mayonnaise and Olive Oil Mayonnaise.

I’m not ashamed to admit it.

When it comes to “social media”, I’m just a tad behind the times. I’m still trying to figure out Twitter and while I have a Facebook account, let’s just say I’m apt to forget about it for weeks on end.

It’s not that I don’t like interacting with people, it’s just that I’m a Cream Puff and my thing is baking. I’m in the kitchen … a lot.

Perhaps one day I will graduate to a laptop that I can have in the kitchen that will allow me to bake and tweet and facebook and who-knows-what-else but I’m still having a hard time accepting the end of VCRs so give me time.

Give me time.

Having said that, I do acknowledge the deep and significant influence that social media have had on all of our lives.

Since I became a blogger in 2005, I have come into contact with countless people whom I probably would have never met, much less heard of.

One of these people is Judy Witts Francini of Divina Cucina.

To be honest, I don’t recall exactly when I first heard of Judy but I suspect that it was years ago and it was probably through David Lebovitz’s site. I do remember visiting her blog and thinking, “Here is a great teacher of cooking.”

In a day and age when we’re inundated with words and images about food, when food bloggers must number in the thousands (if not many, many more), in my opinion there are surprisingly few people whom I would consider genuinely capable of teaching others about food.

It’s one thing to have a blog and bake or cook and take pictures. That is certainly a worthy endeavour that many, myself included, find fulfilling.

But just because I make a great cake, it doesn’t mean I have what it takes to teach other people how to do it.

Judy knows how to teach people how to cook. I’ve never met Judy in person, but I know this. I know this as certainly as I know that fresh basil is a gift from heaven, butter is is my middle name and chocolate is a basic human right.

Not too long ago, Judy contacted me via Facebook and asked if I would like a copy of her cookbook, Secrets From my Tuscan Kitchen.

Would I?!

Shortly thereafter I came home to a little bundle waiting for me. I unwrapped it and immediately fell in love with a cookbook that’s a throwback.

Printed on beautiful paper, the book is akin to taking all those handwritten recipes, written my your mother, or grandmother or aunt, hidden away somewhere, and binding them together in an homage to the home kitchen.

It’s simple, honest, direct and authentic. Just like the best teachers.

Judy … grazie!

Ciao!

Note: I bought a spectacular bunch of spinach from the farmer’s market. A day or two later, I bought some fresh ricotta and the idea to make Judy’s Crespelle alla Fiorentina (ricotta and spinach-filled crepes) was born. Smothered in a delicious besciamella (béchamel sauce) and fresh tomato sauce, this dish was delicious. You can buy a copy of Judy’s book here. Please take a look. It’s so worth it.

I love cheeky cookbooks.

This is probably what first attracted me to the charming, shameless and utterly delicious cookbook Bite Me: A Stomach-Satisfying, Visually Gratifying, Fresh-Mounthed Cookbook.

I remember it well. It was a Friday night, after work. I had taken my weekly trip to the local bookstore and was cruising the cookbook section for my latest conquest, er, I mean cookbook.

My eyes were immediately attracted to Bite Me after seeing it piled high on a display table. I flipped through it, fell in immediate love with the humour and funny recipe titles and purchased it right then and there.

Not too long after, I was looking for some information about the authors, Julie Albert and Lisa Gnat, when I came across their site for the book. Pure delectable fun. I’ve rarely seen cookbook authors that approach the sale of their cookbook with the humour and gusto that these authors do.

And they’re pretty sweet too since, after I contacted them, they kindly arranged for a copy of their book to be sent along for review at The Daring Kitchen (you can read the review here).

After spending months perusing the book, it was high time to try a few recipes and my goodness were they good!

I tried the recipe for Mona Lisa’s Fontina and Arugula Pizza (except I used Asiago instead of Fontina) and loved it. Lightly dressed arugula on a hot, cheesy pizza is hard to resist.

But the recipe I really and truly loved was the Chocolate-Crusted Creamy Caramel Cheesecake. Apparently if you drench unbaked cheesecake with caramel sauce it bakes up all sugary and golden and delicious and crunchy and I should probably just come clean and tell you that I ate the entire cheese cake myself.

Don’t judge me.

Bite me.

Ciao!

You can check out some of the great recipes from Bite Me here.

I always heed Cath’s call.

Whenever she asks if I want to participate in a book event, I’m there.

Especially when the author of the book is someone like Deborah Madison. Some people are born to write cookbooks and Deborah is one of those people.

Her latest cookbook, Seasonal Fruit Desserts: From Orchard, Farm, and Market, is another example of Madison’s ability.

The hardest part for me was getting over the unfairness of not being able to try so many of the tempting berry recipes because we are nowhere near berry season here.

The book covers all fruits, but I have pretty much had my fill of apples. Thankfully, though, Ontario rhubarb has begun to make its appearance this spring so I didn’t feel too badly.

What to say about the book?

It’s beautiful. It’s imaginative. It has depth.

I am relatively new to rhubarb but I love it. The recipe for Baked Rhubarb with Vanilla, Orange, and Clove immediately caught my eye so I couldn’t resist.

I cannot explain how happy I was as the gentle perfume of baking sugar, rhubarb and vanilla filled the kitchen.

I was even happier when I enjoyed the baked rhubarb alongside some five-grain cereal for breakfast.

The rhubarb will keep me happy until the berries arrive.

The book will make me happy every time.

Ciao!

I have been fortunate enough to have a few brushes with the pastry world.

I have had the tremendous honour of having lunch with Dorie Greenspan and many, many, many years ago, shortly after completing my university degree and enrolling in a publishing certificate program, I had the opportunity to talk to Regan Daley.

For about 30 seconds.

I was working on an internship with a publishing company and it was around the time that In The Sweet Kitchen, Regan Daley’s tremendous baking book, was being produced.

I no longer remember the circumstances, but I do remember being asked to call her to confirm a few details.

I believe the entire conversation lasted about 30 seconds. Or at least I was so nervous that it seemed like 30 seconds.

What I do remember was how sweet Ms. Daley was, especially when talking to a most nervous intern fresh out of school.

When In The Sweet Kitchen was published, I wanted it immediately. Strangely, though, over the years I have never picked up a copy. Do not take that as a sign of the book’s merits.

This is a tremendous baking book. It’s thorough, detailed and innovative without being intimidating.

What is particularly unique about the book is that the recipes don’t actually begin until more than halfway through. The first half of the book is an exhaustive look at everything from ingredients to baking methods.

I don’t care if you’ve never turned your oven on in your entire life, there is no way that you cannot come away from this book with a basic understanding of baking and more importantly, inspiration to start baking.

The recipes themselves are gems. Daley doesn’t go for the run-of-the-mill recipes but rather builds the recipe chapters with some really interesting recipes that are destined to become favourites.

The recipes are meticulous and the head notes to the recipes are both informative and often entertaining.

Once again, had I all the time in the world I probably would have baked my way through this book.

Instead, I settled on shortbread.

But not just any shortbread. Butter-Toffee Crunch Shortbread.

In the recipe directions, Daley writes, “I should warn you, at this point, that this dough now smells better than any cookie dough you have ever experienced. Restrain yourself …”.

She’s not kidding, people.

I have to confess that I was in very short supply of retraint and ate a significant portion of this dough. Raw.

These were quite simply the best shortbread cookies I have ever eaten or baked. And then eaten.

For good measure, I thought I should try another recipe and I settled on The Ultimate Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chunk Cookies only because I happened to have a bag of chocolate chunks lying around.

I can confirm that the cookies were the ultimate, were definitely soft and were also chewy.

Another winner.

If you already own In The Sweet Kitchen, then you know the joys this book has to offer.

If you don’t own it, what are you waiting for?

Ciao!

In the moments when baking seems most impossible, I think of cookies and I smile.

That’s because I know that as soon as I can get back to baking, I will be baking cookies.

Is there anything more perfect in baking then a warm cookie, fresh out of the oven?

How about a heart-shaped warm cookie, fresh out of the oven, smothered in creamy goodness and then sandwiched with another heart-shaped cookie?

Come on! You can’t resist that. Not even the most hardened soul could be immune to that kind of baking firepower.

As I ease my way back into baking after a prolonged (for me) period away from the kitchen, I give myself over to the will of the baking fairies who clearly wanted me to bake these cookies.

They’re from Nigella Lawson’s Feast: Food to Celebrate Life. The baking fairies had their way with me on this one.

Not a day after I found myself pondering what to do with a mostly full canister of Bird’s Custard Powder (left over from this Daring Bakers’ challenge), I happened to be flipping through Nigella’s book and came across a recipe for Custard Cream Hearts which uses, you guessed it, Bird’s Custard Powder in both the cookie and the cream filling.

I bow to the wisdom of the baking fairies.

I went into the kitchen and engaged in the beautiful act of baking cookies.

I mixed and rolled and cut out and baked and mixed some more and filled and sandwiched and ate.

And I smiled.

Ciao!

Butter Cookies with Custard Cream à la Nigella
Based on a recipe from Nigella Lawson’s Feast: Food to Celebrate Life.

Note: I used a roughly 2-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter and was able to get about 20 sandwich cookies out of this recipe (that means I made about 40 heart-shaped cookies). I altered the original recipe by making it more of a butter cookie and adding some cinnamon for flavour. Store the cookies in an airtight container. They should keep for a few days.

For the cookies:

1-½ cups all-purpose flour (you will need extra flour to roll out the cookies)
3 tablespoons Bird’s Custard Powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 large egg
1 tablespoon whole milk (you may need a bit more)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Put all of the dry ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and pulse a few times to combine. Cut the butter into small cubes and add to the flour mixture. Pulse 15 to 20 times, or until the butter has been cut into the flour mixture so that it looks crumbly.

Mix the egg and milk together in a small bowl.

With the processor running, slowly drizzle in the egg/milk mixture until a dough forms around the blade of the processor. You may not need to use all of the liquid. If you use all the liquid and the dough is still dry and won’t come together, drizzle in a tablespon or so of extra milk.

Once the ball of dough has formed, stop the processor and remove the dough. Shape it into a round disk and then wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least half an hour (you can refrigerate it for up to a day).

Once the dough has chilled, remove it from the refrigerator and roll it out on a floured surface. You can roll it out to whatever thickness you like. I prefer thicker cookies because they remain a bit more tender after baking.

After rolling our your dough, begin cutting out cookies and transferring them to the baking sheet.

Bake the cookies until golden (I rolled my cookies out to about a 1/4 inch thickness and baked them for about 18 minutes). Once baked, remove the cookies from the oven and let cool for about five minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the cream filling:

1 tablespoon Bird’s Custard Powder
¾ cup icing sugar
¼ cup unsalted butter, at room temperaute
Hot water (you’ll need a bit to help cream the mixture together)
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

You can make the filling in a bowl using a wooden spoon or with an electric mixer.

Place the custard powder and icing sugar in a bowl and mix. Add the soft butter and using a wooden spoon mash it into the powder/sugar mixture a bit.

Add a few tablespoons of hot water to loosen the mixture. Continue beating with the wooden spoon.

If it’s too dry and not creamy, add a few more tablespoons of hot water and keep beating with the wooden spoon. Continue doing this until you have a creamy and light mixture.

Add the vanilla extract and cinnamon and mix well.

To assemble the cookie:

Take one heart cookie and spread about a teaspoon of cream filling on one side. Take another heart cookie place on top of the cream filling to form a sandwich.

Enjoy!

I am a four-season child.

By that I mean I have to live somewhere that has four distinct seasons. I can appreciate the allure of a place that is sunny and warm all year long, perhaps I might even visit said place for some rest or relaxation, but to live there permanently?

Don’t think so.

Spring is pretty. I love watching as nature wakes itself up from its long sleep, but after a few weeks I become impatient for the summer heat that means our garden’s bounty will soon be ready.

And while I love eating the fruits of that garden, in the midst of Toronto’s hazy, humid summer heat, I need to know that soon the trees will explode in colour and that I will wake up every morning to a crystal blanket of frost on our lawn.

And when the beauty of Autumn turns into the incessant rainy weather of November, I need to know that the bone-chilling cold, wake-you-up-no-matter-what, freeze-your-toes cold is around the corner. You may not like the winter but I would argue that there is very little as beautiful in life as stepping out your front door on a frigid winter morning with snow everywhere, a blue sky and brilliant sun. That’s a breathtaking sight.

The best part of that cold is the knowledge that you can seek warmth at any moment. You can run inside, kick off your boots, and curl up under your favourite blankie with a cup of hot chocolate.

Or, in my case, you can bake a cake.

In the middle of winter, I bake cakes.

Not just because I love to eat them, but also because I love to imagine crawling into them.

While it is shockingly cold outside, I can imagine myself crawling into a layer of the most beautiful, warm thing in the world made of butter and sugar and flour and spices.

And I would just nestle there, in my sweet, sweet bed, and be perfectly happy.

My companion in this lovely dream has been Lauren Chattman’s spectacular Cake Keeper Cakes: 100 Simple Recipes for Extraordinary Bundt Cakes, Pound Cakes, Snacking Cakes and Other Good-To-The-Last-Crumb Treats. Proof that beautiful things do come in small packages, this precious little book is filled with recipes for cakes that make you ask yourself, “Why don’t I bake more often?”

Simple cakes. Pleasing cakes. Cakes for people who are bakers at heart. Cakes that come together in the blink of an eye. Cakes that make you happy. Cakes you can put in a cake keeper (if you have one).

You may already be familiar with this book as it was featured in the October 2009 Food & Wine issue which highlighted the Nutella-Swirl Pound Cake. (I blogged about it here.)

I feel so lucky to have been given the chance to have this book and to write about it. Take my word for it. You’ll love it.

Everyone else may dream of heading south this cold winter, but not me. I’m dreaming of being wrapped in warm, puffy, just-baked cake.

How delicious.

Ciao!

Note: Besides the fabulous Nutella-Swirl Pound Cake, I tried the World’s Quickest Yeasted Coffee Cake on p. 39 (pictured above). Heaven!

Ever since the announcement in October 2009 that Gourmet magazine would cease publication, I’ve read countless tributes to the magazine and to the people who contributed to making it a favourite for those who love food and wine.

I don’t know how many times I read the word impeccable in those tributes. Ruth Reichl … impeccable. The magazine … impeccable. The recipes … impeccable.

I couldn’t agree more.

And I can’t tell you how pleased I was that a copy of Gourmet Today: More than 1000 All-New Recipes for the Contemporary Kitchen became mine right around the time the announcement of Gourmet’s demise was made.

By the (impeccable) Ruth Reichl, this book represents all that I loved about Gourmet. Beautiful recipes spanning the exotic to the comforting, it’s detailed and polished without even a the slightest hint of being impractical.

Gourmet walked that fine line between beautiful, sometimes lofty dishes and recipes that you can actually make at home.

The cookbook follows the same formula.

Be forewarned. With over 1,000 recipes this baby will take up some precious space on your cookbook shelf. And there are no pictures. That has certainly never stopped me from loving a cookbook but I know that for many, that’s a determining factor in whether or not to buy a cookbook.

If you’re wavering, consider this: the book covers every single menu item imagineable. Like the ubiquitous little back dress, this book will take you everywhere. You can go from drinks and cocktails to a dessert party with complete ease.

I have very happily sacrificed some lesser cookbooks on my shelf to make room for this treasure.

In one word: impeccable.

Ciao!

Masala Chai (pictured above). Recipe at Gourmet.com.

Note: It took me a very long time to decide what recipes to try from this book. I tried a few including a delicious Buttermilk Coffee Cake (pp. 669-70), but the one I loved the most was the Masala Chai. I was introduced to this delightful milk drink many years ago by a friend. Making it at home for the first time was lovely, both for the end result and for the process. I loved the way the kitchen smelled when I ground all those lovely spices that form part of the recipe.