by Editor | Mar 17, 2008 | Books
By Elena del Valle
Baking and photos by Gary Cox*
Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins & More book cover
On a recent Sunday morning, I had yummy, gooey, melt-in-your mouth miniature sticky buns for brunch at home. A week later the next batch was even better. The secret to these fabulous treats was a new book, Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins & More 200 Anytime Treats and Special Sweets from Morning to Midnight (Clarkson Potter Publishers; $35.00) by Carole Walter.
What makes the book special is the author’s vast experience, the recipes she shares and the way in which she wrote and organized the book. Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins & More is divided into chapters by topic and includes useful tips for each type of recipe. The step by step detailed instructions have the potential to inspire confidence and guide novice and veteran, professional and amateur bakers alike to produce professional quality delectable sticky buns and tasty baked goods at home.
Our miniature sticky buns right before they went in the oven
Sticky buns from the first batch Gary made
The hardcover 408-page book features recipes for pound cakes, coffee cakes, muffins, quick breads, scones, sweet biscuits, Bundt cakes, and babkas. In addition to the recipes, there are two sections of full page color photos. Part of the book’s appeal is the At-a-Glance boxes which outline baking pan sizes, oven temperatures, baking times, and any special equipment needed. Walter, a James Beard Award Winner, also shared extensive general information on outfitting home kitchens for baking, common ingredients, and techniques.
Author Carole Walter
“Baking is a wonderful activity, it’s a relaxing outlet from daily stress, a project to share with kids, it’s fun, and best of all, the rewards make everyone smile,” said Walter, a baking teacher and author, authored two baking books before this one. “When the weather is cold, there is no place I would rather be than in my warm, cozy kitchen with something delicious baking in the oven.”
Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins & More has nine chapters: Perfect Pound Cakes; Home-style Coffee Cakes; Muffins and Quick Breads; Biscuits and Scones; Easy Does It Yeasted Coffee Cakes; Brioche, Croissants and Danish; Strudel: Then and Now; Coffee Break Bites; and Streusels, Glazes, Frostings and Spreads.
Some of the recipes included: Plum-Topped Pound Cake Squares, Brown Butter Almond Cake with Stewed Fruit, Sour Cream Marble Cake, Chocolate Chip Scones, Sweet Potato Drop Biscuits, Nut Crusted Rugelach, Crumb Topped Whole Wheat Peach Muffins, Double Chocolate Walnut Babka, Apple Walnut Strudel, Holiday Stollen, and Brioche Buns with Dried Pears and Camembert.
The other recipe we tried was for Powdered Sugar Pound Cake and the results were less than stellar. The sticky buns were so delicious we think the book holds much promise and plan to keep sampling recipes.
With more than 20 years of teaching experience, Walter seems able to anticipate many of the questions that come up during the baking process. Walter has studied with renowned pastry chefs in the United States, France, Austria, Italy, and Denmark and has taught baking classes for more than twenty years at places such as Sur la Table and Williams-Sonoma. She is a Certified Professional and charter member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) with 15 years service to culinary scholarships. She is a past president of the New York Association of Cooking Teachers, and a founding member of The Bakers Dozen East.
*Book and author photos courtesy of Clarkson Potter Publishers
Click here to buy Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins & More
by Editor | Jan 28, 2008 | Books
Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Khadromas and the Way of the Pilgrim cover
In a recently published photo book, Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Khadromas and the Way of the Pilgrim: A Transformative Book of Photography and Pithy Sayings (Orange Palm Publications, $79.95), Montreal based Simhananda, an amateur photographer, and Dadi Darshan Dharma, a book author, dedicated 224 pages to images of Buddha and Buddhism through the ages.
Almost every page of the book features a photo. There are 100 large and 201 small images of art depicting Buddha and Buddhist art. There is a glossary in the back of the book for readers, who like us, don’t know the meaning of some of the exotic words used in the book. Bodhisattva, for example, means a Buddha who has unselfishly given up his liberation temporarily to help mankind.
The hardcover book allows armchair travelers, Buddhists and spiritual enthusiasts to view art depicting Buddha from the comfort of their homes. Each page includes one or more photos and short sayings, in English, French and Italian, intended to be inspirational, spiritually uplifting and sometimes humorous. Although we couldn’t find any descriptions of the photos, when or where they were taken in the book, they capture crisp, blurry, stunning, striking, and colorful images set next to short inspirational words. The combination of the words and images is designed to further the author’s desire to “help elevate the mind toward the Divine” and to console and comfort worldwide suffering and death.
Simhananda, which means lion’s roaring, only appears in silhouette in the book and is described in promotional materials as a private man. He recently produced four calendars and is working on another photography book about nature. He also authored a book on Zen Buddhism. Dadi Darshan Dharma, also in silhouette and a resident of Canada, authored several books on spirituality including Paradisal Plums from which the sayings in Bodhisattvas, Khadromas and the Way of the Pilgrim were reproduced.
Click here to buy Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Khadromas and the Way of the Pilgrim
by Editor | Nov 12, 2007 | Books, Restaurants and Food
Complete Baking Cookbook
Have you been looking for a gift for that someone special in your life who loves to cook or bake? Does he or she have all the gadgets and classic cookbooks? Consider a newly published selection of old favorites; holiday recipes or a completely novel cooking style like safari dishes or modern Indian food to spice up their life.
For baking enthusiasts, the Complete Baking Cookbook (Robert Rose, $24.95) published October 2007, features 350 recipes, from cookies and cakes to muffins and pies. Written by George Geary, a baker and pastry chef, the 448-page soft cover book includes illustrations and color photos. Each recipe also lists tips and variation options. After the introduction about electric equipment, hand tools, baking pans, and common ingredients, the book is divided into sections on Cookies, Bars and Squares; Pies, Tarts and Cobblers Cakes; Frostings, Glazes and More; Confections; Grand Finales, Breakfast Breads; and Holiday Favorites.
A Passion for Baking
The 320-page hardcover A Passion for Baking (Oxmoor House, $29.95) by Marcy Goldman, a pastry chef and home baker, has 220 recipes and many color photos. Following introductory and baking secrets sections, the book is divided into: Loaves, Large & Small; Rolls, Baby Breads & Buns; Pizza & Other Flatbreads; Scones & Biscuits; The Muffin Shoppe; The Cookie Jar; The Biscotti Bakery; Bars & Squares; Quick Breads & Coffee Cakes; Pies, Tarts & Pastries; Sweet Yeast Baking; Cake Creations; Say Cheesecake; Holiday Baking; Grainy Goodness; and Baker in a Hurry.
Holiday Entertaining
Williams-Sonoma 286-page hardcover Holiday Entertaining (Oxmoor House, $34.95) has recipes by Georgeann Brennan and drink recipes by Jordan Mackay. Filled with color photos, the book is divided into Occasions, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s; and Recipes: Drinks, Hors d-Oeuvres, Soups & Salads, Mains, Sides, Desserts, Breakfast and Gifts from the Kitchen.
For those looking for something off the beaten cooking path, we recently discovered two intriguing titles, A Kitchen Safari: Stories & Recipes From the African Wilderness (Struik, $29.95) and Modern Indian Cooking, (Silverback Books, $29.95). Modern Indian Cooking was published August 2007. A Kitchen Safari was first published in 2004 and republished July 2007.
In the 191-page hardcover Modern Indian Cooking with foreword by Daniel Boulud, Hari Nayak and Vikas Khanna promise easy and quick to prepare recipes, and invite the reader to experiment and substitute ingredients for their own favorites. A brief introduction leads to Appetizers, Soups and Salads, Vegetables, Beans and Legumes, Rice, Poultry, Meat, Seafood, Breads and Desserts, Drinks and Accompaniments sections. A list of ingredients, brief instructions and colorful photos motivate eager cooks to begin their journey of culinary experimentation.
Recipes examples include Orange Chicken with Soy Ginger Reduction, Crispy Pan Fried Shrimp with Tamarind Glaze, Stir Fried Potatoes and Green Beans with Mint, and Duck Vindaloo. For the sweet tooth there is Pure Almond Milk Fudge and Valhorna Chocolate Burgi with Toasted Coconut.
A Kitchen Safari: Stories & Recipes From the African Wilderness
The not-your-grandmother’s-cooking (with rare exceptions) collection of stories and recipes from the African bush can fuel a cook’s wanderlust. The 192-page hardcover book is filled with colorful animal photographs and recipes from Conservation Corporation Africa properties. It is the work of CCA food leader Ivonne Short and Dumi Ndloou, head chef, Ngala Private Game Reserve.
Although some items like springbok (Smoked Springbok Carpaccio with Summer Greens) and Zambezi lager (Beer Bread) may be hard to find at your local grocery store, most of the ingredients listed are more common. Mouth watering names (and large color photos) like Tomato, Tamarind and Ginger Soup, Three Cheese Bread and Butter Pudding, Chocolate Pan Soufflé with Orange and Mint may inspire the adventurous chef.
To purchase click on the title of your choice
The Complete Baking Cookbook
A Passion for Baking
Williams-Sonoma Holiday Entertaining
Modern Indian Cooking
A Kitchen Safari
by Editor | Oct 15, 2007 | Books
Basilica: The Splendor and The Scandal: Building St. Peter’s
History buffs and Rome enthusiasts may find it interesting to know that Pope Julius II caused a scandal when he ordered the construction of St. Peter’s, the symbol of one of the most revered religious centers of that time. It may also surprise some to discover that the pope rejected Michelangelo, one of the world’s most famous sculpturers and an artist of renown in his own time; and later after the artist’s departure wanted to lure him back to Rome.
The author’s fluid writing style and ability to condense hundreds of years of political rivalry and architectural and building activity of the construction of one of the world’s most famous architectural marvels, make Basilica: The Splendor and The Scandal: Building St. Peter’s an entertaining and instructive read.
A religious magnet for millions of faithful, friends and enemies, the curious and the profane, St. Peter’s history is closely entwined with the history of Rome. The book is written for fans of Rome and the Vatican, whether faith or art driven. Author R.A Scotti distills centuries of history, intrigue, and religious and pagan lore, painting a picture that, though wracked with human failings, inspires.
Author R.A Scotti
By the 15th century Rome had become a broken down medieval town. The efforts of the Vatican’s most flamboyant popes and some of history’s most gifted artists and the creation of the new basilica, made Rome one of the centers of the world once again.
The Basilica took 200 years to complete, outlasted 27 popes, and sparked the Protestant Reformation. Over the centuries of its construction, Guttenberg invented the printing press, Columbus stumbled on a new continent, Magellan sailed around the world, Henry VIII married six times, Shakespeare wrote all his plays, and the Mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock.
Through Scotti’s eye the reader can see the failings and successes, the political intrigues, financial, architectural challenges and countless other obstacles the project supporters faced. In the end, it’s a tale about larger than life figures committed to making the basilica a reality.
Scotti, the author of two previous works of nonfiction, including Sudden Sea: The Great Hurricane of 1938 and four novels, lives in New York City.
Click here to purchase Basilica: The Splendor and The Scandal: Building St. Peter’s
