cookbook review: Joy the Baker Cookbook by Joy Wilson {Joy the Baker Cookbook Spotlight & Cook-Off}

Joy the Baker Cookbook: 100 Simple and Comforting Recipes

author: Joy Wilson
publisher: Hyperion
soft cover: 246 pages
photos: yes - photographed by Joy - beautiful

chapters/sections:  joy the baker kitchen tips - pancakes pancakes pancakes - i need a hug or a brownie. maybe both - oh, happy day! - i think i just ate chocolate for dinner - have dessert, will travel

fun features:  I love Joy's introduction in which she talks about her approach to baking, how she started her blog, and how you should use this book.  Her first section/chapter on kitchen tips is fantastic for the beginning baker...okay, even some of those who've been baking for a while.  She shares some of her own helpful tips that have saved her an extra trip or two to the grocery store such as making buttermilk in a pinch, what to do if you're out of brown sugar, unveiling the mystery that is cake flour, when and why you should sift your flour, the size of eggs, making the most of citrus zest, and getting that beautiful bundt cake out of its pesky pan.  Not to mention seasoning a cast-iron skillet, how to make your own vanilla extract, how to brown butter successfully, and some butter talk (why to use cold in some recipes and how to soften it quickly for other recipes).

(a few of the many) recipes destined for my kitchen: Bacon Black Pepper Waffles, Coffee Bacon, Chocolate and Black Pepper Goat Cheese Truffles, Chocolate Malt Bread Pudding, Avocado Poundcake, Lavender Lemon Bars, Browned Butter Peanut Butter Crispy Rice Treats, Strawberry Cookie Dough Ice Cream, Blueberry Orange and Almond Pancakes w/ Orange Maple Glaze, and last (but definitely NOT least) Peanut Butter Bacon Cookies (which my mom snagged the recipe for, made, and brought to work w/ reported fantastic success)

my thoughts/review: Basically, I love this book.  I love picking it up and looking at the beautiful, colorful pictures.  I love swooning over a different recipe every day depending on my mood.  I love sharing it with friends and family who come over and seeing them have the same reactions that I do.  You will find everything from pancakes, waffles, coffee cake, and quiche to cookies, brownies, cake, and frosting to crackers, biscuits, and biscotti to smoothies, shakes, and ice cream amongst the pages.  Each section and each recipe within the section is introduced in true "Joy" fashion - inviting fun, playfulness, and grumbling bellies.

I find Joy's recipes very approachable, but that said,  I know that I am not a beginning baker...which is one reason I'm so fortunate to be able to host Cookbook Spotlights like I did for Joy's book.  While I know that I'm in love with this book and every single thing (no joke) I've made from it so far, I do see that I take for granted having made my fair share of crackers, biscuits, and even frosting over the years.  I also love being able to see 20-some other people's approach to baking the same recipe.  Or seeing which recipes they choose to make that I did not.  Overall, I've felt a great outpouring of love for Joy's new cookbook...from everybody involved.  Some people (comfortable bakers) couldn't get enough.  Other people who may have been more timid or inexperienced enjoyed the chance to step out of their comfort zones and maybe make crackers or biscuits or buttercream for the first time.

So.  What I'm saying is - this book has earned a permanent spot on my working bookshelf.  That's the one in my kitchen.  The one that gets the most use.  I seriously may wind up cooking my way through the entire 100 recipes before too long.  Heck, 18 down already. Technically, I guess it's actually 20, because the Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting on the birthday cake and the Best Chocolate Buttercream Frosting on the Brownies are recipes all in and of themselves.  So.  If you'd like to hear more opinions about Joy's book, please check out the main page of our Joy the Baker Cookbook Spotlight & Cook-Off, where you'll find links to all the participant's posts including recipes and reviews throughout our four week period cooking with Joy!

recipes I have already tried:

Chocolate Fudge Brownies w/ Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Cornmeal Molasses Pancakes w/ Blackberry Vanilla Sauce

Flax Seed & Cracked Pepper Crackers

Giant Cinnamon Rolls w/ Buttermilk Glaze

Kale, Spinach, Banana, Peanut Butter Smoothie

Mini Chamomile Cakes w/ Honey Frosting

Peanut Butter & Jam Milkshake

Peanut Butter Birthday Cake

Peanut Butter Ice Cream Sauce

Pineapple Malted Milkshake

Toasted Oat Smoothie

Whole Wheat Honey and Goat Cheese Drop Biscuits

Crunchy Cocoa Roasted Nuts

Extra Crumb Coffee Cake

Leek and Asparagus Quiche

Vanilla Bean Snickerdoodles

Avocado Fries

Bourbon-Spiked Banana Bread

about the author:  Joy Wilson is a self-taught cook who lives in L.A. In 2008, she began the Joy the Baker blog, which has been named Best Baking Blog by Foodbuzz and was nominated for Best New Blog in the Bloggies. It was named one of the Top 50 Food Blogs by The London Times.

Okay, that's a really shabby "about the author" when it comes to fabulous Joy.  Please take a few minutes to check out the page on her blog entitled Meet Joy.  Read the words.  Enjoy the pretty pictures.  And if you're anything like me, cry like a baby at the video.    And if by chance you don't tune in to Joy's awesome podcast Home Fries with Tracy of Shutterbean every week - might I recommend it?  I always get a good laugh and endanger my laptop of projectile liquids shooting from my nose while listening.  You know.  Just for reference.

further info: blog | facebook | twitter


*I received a free copy of this book to review from the publisher.  All thoughts and opinions stated in this post are 100% mine.

*This post is part of the Joy the Baker Cookbook Spotlight and Cook-Off sponsored by Hyperion and hosted at girlichef*

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Peanut Butter Ice Cream Sauce {Joy the Baker Cookbook Spotlight & Cook-Off}

It's a funny thing.  With all three pregnancies, I craved different foods.  With both of my boys I craved comfort foods.  And fried foods.  But couldn't stand the thought of chocolate.  With my first...bear with me, I always tell this story...I once ate Long John Silver's everyday for an entire week.  And I wanted everything.  I had to have chicken, fish, shrimp, hushpuppies, fries, and coleslaw on my plate and a bottle of malt vinegar its side.  A full week.  Man, I could not get enough of that stuff.  Plus, I started liking pickles again.  I know, so totally stereotypical, but true.

Skip to child number three.  More comfort food.  From meatloaf to chicken sandwiches to burgers to tacos and chilaquiles.  And big, tall glasses of milk.  And again, I wasn't really feeling the chocolate.  It was mostly ice cream when I had a craving.  And lots and lots of cheese.

But my point today is child number two.  My sweet girl.  My drama queen.  I don't know if it's the fact that I was constantly active, working in busy kitchens until I was so big I could barely reach the grill over my belly.  Or that the majority of my pregnancy stretched through the warm parts of the year (Spring-Fall).  But I ate so incredibly healthy with this pregnancy.  I craved mango and pineapple and had it pretty much on a daily basis.  Big, heaping plates of it.  I enjoyed salads and foods that seemed to fall on the healthier side, along with my normal Mexican fare.  So yes.  Completely healthy.  Well, almost.  I craved two less-than-healthy things on a fairly regular basis as well.  One was Cherry Coke.  Crazy because I hadn't had a drink of "dark" soda in years. YEARS I say.  Well, or coffee...but that was nothing new.  I needed caffeine with this one, even though I knew it probably wasn't the best thing for me. It was my one vice throughout the pregnancy.

But what I really wanted to talk about was less-than-healthy craving number two. That would be vanilla ice cream drizzled with a fat glob of warm peanut butter sauce with banana slices scattered over that and a smattering of chocolate chips to top it all off. As much as I craved my tropical fruit and salads, I equally craved this. And I don't know if it was the hormones or what, but the peanut butter sauce was THE best thing in the whole wide world. I used to eat it at work. It came in a tub. I was never able to duplicate it. Of course, I never really tried...so...no wonder. I would always just scoop a big heap of peanut butter from the jar and plop it on my ice cream. We're talking post-pregnancy (this would be the past nine and a half years.

UNTIL NOW! I had a little conniption when I turned a page and saw Peanut Butter Ice Cream Sauce in the Joy the Baker Cookbook. And then I made it and had a huge conniption. IT WAS EXACTLY THE SAME AS I REMEMBERED. No. Actually. IT WAS BETTER! There's only one problem. Now I can make it anytime I want. Which means I can eat it anytime I want. And more times than not, the little devil on my shoulder shoves the angel into the peanut butter just to shut it up.

Peanut Butter Ice Cream Sauce

by Heather Schmitt-González

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Keywords: condiment dessert vegetarian peanut butter butter birthday ice-cream American

6019030

Ingredients (~½ cup)

• 2 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted
• ½ c. creamy natural peanut butter
• ¼ c. powdered sugar
• pinch of salt
• ½ tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1 Tbs. heavy cream

Instructions

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan over low heat. Once heated through, peanut butter mixture should be smooth and easily pourable.

Pour over scoops of vanilla ice cream. And whatever else suits your fancy. Enjoy. Immensely!

ever-so-slightly adapted from the Joy the Baker Cookbook

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*This post is part of the Joy the Baker Cookbook Spotlight and Cook-Off sponsored by Hyperion and hosted at girlichef*

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Seared Bean Sprouts w/ Beef and Sesame Orange Sauce {the Food Matters project}

I'm pretty sure this winter will go down as one of the strangest, weather-wise, in Northwestern Indiana.  We didn't have very much snow.  A couple of good days, but that's about it.  Not a single snow day for the kiddos.  We've had lots of rain.  Recently some crazy wind and storms...fortunately tornadoes have passed us by, but completely ravaged some Indiana towns to the South.  I kid you not, we even had a couple of days when it threatened to hit 70.  Degrees.  Fahrenheit.  Strange.  

I believe it was this past Thursday when it hit 68°.  Yeah.  That was March 1st.  The next day it rained and it rained and it rained.  And I made a big bean-sprouty meal for dinner.  To celebrate the rain.

Okay, not really.  I do love rain.  But I'm not the kind of girl that celebrates with bean sprouts.

I just happened to be planning this meal in honor of today's The Food Matters Project choice: Seared Bean Sprouts w/ Beef & Sesame Orange Sauce chosen by Dominica of Food Wine Love.

In addition to the bean sprouts and beef, I decided to add a good heaping handful of both julienned carrots and snow peas.  I was feeling the need to add extra veggies.  Plus, I almost tripled the beef to keep up with the full pound of bean sprouts in the dish.  Overall, I thought this dish was decent...but not memorable.  The "sauce" was more of a watery pool at the bottom of the bowl, so I scooped everything out of the wok and whisked in a little slurry...just to add a little body to the sauce.  Surprisingly, what I thought actually "made" this meal?  The toasted sesame seeds.  They added a deep, nutty finish.  Dimension.

I wound up eating it over rice, though I think soba noodles would have been a good accompaniment, as well. And honestly, the kids...all three of them...didn't care for it.  Hubs thought it was okay, like myself.  I can honestly say this is the first non-memorable Bitty-inspired dish I've ever made.  It was bound to happen one day...

So. Two days ago- rain.  Today- snow.  Two days from now- predicted 54 and sunny.  Strange days, I say.

This post is part of the Food Matters project: hosted by Dominica of Wine Food Love this week (where you can see the original Mark Bittman recipe).

Giant Cinnamon Rolls w/ Buttermilk Glaze

I consider myself a bit of a cinnamon roll slash sweet roll slash sticky bun connoiseur.  I've talked about them before.  Talked about finding the perfect bun.  Tender on the outside.  Gooey on the inside.  Sweet, but not cloyingly so.  Cinnamon-sugar filling, citrus-scented, raisin and/or nut-studded....thick icing, thin glaze, no glaze at all...a layer of sticky, caramely nuts or not...I'm willing to give all forms a try.  

So.  When I opened my copy of the Joy the Baker cookbook, you can bet that one of the first things that I fastened a sticky-tab on was the page featuring a mouthwatering pan of giant cinnamon rolls.  With a buttermilk...oh yeah, buttermilk...glaze.  I almost wanted to set the book down right then and there and start making the dough.  But I waited until I'd made my way through the whole book.  And then I waited a few more days for the weekend to get here.  You know - so that I'd have other people in the house when they came out of the oven.  So that I wouldn't be tempted to eat them all.  Okay, not that I actually could, because these babies are HUGE.  And rich.  And absolutely, fantastically delicious.  Plan on these being your meal.  And have a tall, cold glass of milk within your reach.  And maybe a bed.

My Legume Love Affair (MLLA) #45 {Event Announcement}

I'm so excited to announce that I will be hosting My Legume Love Affair (MLLA) an event created by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook this month.  MLLA has been going strong since 2008 and this is the 45th edition - how amazing is that!?


This event is all about celebrating the amazing variety of legumes out there.  We're not only talking the vast assortment of beans, pulses, and lentils - but also the ones you may not automatically think of like peanuts, tamarind, fenugreek, and carob.  You can use fresh or dried or the sometimes edible pods that contain the seeds and products derived from those like tofu or besan.  These are all examples of the type of legumes that are accepted in this event, but the list is not limiting.  This is not to be confused with the French term legumes, which can mean any vegetable at all. 

How to participate in MLLA #45:

1. Share a dish featuring a legume(s).  Note the term featuring - a spoonful or soupicon does not qualify*.   Recipes from all diets, courses, and cultures are welcome.  
2. Multiple recipes are permitted but limited to 10 per participant (only one submission will be counted towards the random prize drawing**).  Entries may be linked to other events.  Recipes from archives can be accepted ONLY if updated and reposted as current. 
3. You MUST include a link to this announcement post and to Susan's host line-up in any post submitted.  Use of logo is optional, but always appreciated.
4. Recipes from those who do not blog are accepted and eligible to win a prize.
5. Email your qualifying entries to me at: girlichef (at) yahoo (dot) com and include:

                     ~Your name
                     ~Your blog's name
                     ~Your location (for prize drawing**, will not be shared)
                     ~The name of your dish and the permalink to the specific post you're submitting
                     ~Attach a photo of any size (this may be resized by me depending roundup format)
                     ~Indicate "MLLA" in the subject line

    Deadline for submissions are: March 31, 2012 (11:59 pm, Eastern)


*except when using a very potent legume when only a small amount is required to flavor a dish such as fenugreek or tamarind.  When in doubt, feel free to ask.

**The following prizes will be awarded to one winner via random drawing:

•  The Complete Book of Pasta - Cook's Illustrated. This prize is offered by Susan without influence at her expense, and she will also absorb worldwide shipping charges.  F.T.C. Notice: Susan does not receive any compensation from Amazon. 

• Hurst Bean Box - A case of six bags of the winner's choice of Hurst Bean products, suitable for every diet, sponsored by Hurst Bean. (Due to shipping restrictions, this prize can only be awarded if the winner is a U.S. resident.) F.T.C. Notice: In May 2010, Susan, at her request, received two Hurst Bean complimentary products which are not available for purchase in her local markets. Susan does not generally accept free products from Hurst Bean nor is she financially compensated by them.

•  Drawing Structure - If the winner is a U.S. resident, she/he will be the recipient of both Prizes 1 and 2 above.  In the event that an international winner is drawn, a second drawing will be conducted from the U.S. pool of entrants to ensure that the Hurst Prize is awarded every month.  In these instances, the international winner will receive the book, and the U.S. winner will receive the Hurst Prize. 

If you don't receive an answer to your submission email or a comment on your post within two days of sending me the email, please contact me again (in case your submission was lost somewhere in cyberspace).   Submissions that do not meet the qualifications listed in this post will not qualify and will not be included in the roundup.  Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns regarding this event.

I look forward to your submissions.  Watch for the roundup to be posted during the first week in April.

*SEE THE MLLA #45 ROUNDUP HERE*

50 Women Game-Changers (in Food): #37 Severine von Tscharner Fleming - Beer Cheese Soup w/ Sausage

the "Gourmet" prompt...

37. Severine von Tscharner Fleming- Founder and director of the Greenhorns, the fabulous von TF’s mission is to recruit, promote, and support young farmers. The upshot: Nonindustrial farming is fun and it’s hip; it’s an explosive movement. And this is indubitably a good thing.

Severine attended Pomona College and UCBerkeley where she graduated with a B.S. in Conservation/AgroEcology.  She co-founded Pomona Organic Farm and founded UCBerkeley's Society for Agriculture and Food Ecology.  She is also the co-founder of the National Young Farmers Coalition.  She is currently based in the Hudson Valley, New York and has produced and directed a documentary film about "young farmers who are reclaiming, restoring, retrofitting, and respecting this country of ours" entitled The Greenhorns.  The Greenhorns mission is to recruit, promote, and support the growing group of new agrarians.  While growing organic fruit, herbs, vegetables, pigs, rabbits, goats, and laying hens on others property, she hopes to save up money to buy her own farm one day.*

Now.  Severine doesn't really have any recipes floating around, but she is featured in the "Kitchen Table Talks" section of the book Farmstead Chef by Lisa Kivirist and John Ivanko.  There's a link to one of the recipes from this book on the Greenhorns blog...which got me to looking around at some more of the recipes they had listed.  I came across a beer cheese soup that sounded intriguing.  I haven't made any sort of cheese soup in years...and I figured that with some tweaking, I could make this my own, yet still stay in line with something that would be von Tscharner Fleming approved.

Using locally brewed beer and locally made Dyngus-style (it's that time of year) sausage along with homemade chicken stock and organic veggies and serving it in a boule of homemade bread, I think I accomplished my mission.  I found the amount of flour used in the original recipe (2 cups!) to be excessive, so I cut it down by half and gave an option for thickening.  The result is a rich, comforting, stick-to-your bones pot of soup reminiscent of fondue.  And I'm awful fond of fondue. That's why I think it was a bonus to serve it in a bread bowl

Beer Cheese Soup w/ Sausage

by Heather Schmitt-González

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 40-45 minutes

Keywords: simmer soup/stew beer cheese sausage American

6018893

Ingredients (serves 12)

• ~1 lb. Dyngus-Style Sausage (or other)
• 4 oz. unsalted butter
• 1 medium onion, chopped (~1 c.)
• 3 fat cloves garlic, minced
• 1½ c. nibble-size broccoli florets
• 1½ c. julienned carrots
• 1 c. flour
• 2 c. chicken stock
• 12 oz. Four Horsemen Irish Red Ale (or any variety of beer you like)
• 1 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce
• 4 c. whole milk
• 1 Tbs. maple syrup
• 2 tsp. dry mustard
• ½ tsp. fennel seed
• salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1 lb. (~4 c.) extra sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

Instructions

Cook sausage in a large Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed soup pot over medium heat. Once it is nicely browned and fully cooked, remove to a small dish leaving as much fat behind as possible. You should have built up some nice fond on the bottom of the pot - leave it there, that's going to add a lot of flavor to the soup. If you have much more than a tablespoon or so of grease left, decrease your butter by that much when adding it.

Add butter to pot and once it begins to bubble, add onions and garlic and sauté for a few minutes, until onions are soft and translucent. Add broccoli and carrots and continue to cook for another 3-5 minutes.

Stir in the flour and let it cook out for at least a minute so that it loses the floury flavor. Add chicken broth and bring to a boil. Stir in beer, Worcestershire sauce, and milk. Reduce heat to low and simmer for ~10 minutes.  

Add maple syrup, mustard, fennel, and reserved sausage. Add ~2 tsp. of salt and a few grinds of black pepper.

Cook for another five minutes or so, and then slowly add sprinkle the cheese in a little at a time, stirring constantly until the cheese is melted and the soup begins to bubble.

Adjust consistency with a bit of milk or water if it seems too thick. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.

notes:

This soup reminds me of fondue...it's perfect for dipping some good substantial bread in (or even better, serve it in small bread bowls).

I sautéed a little extra broccoli and carrots just to add as a garnish when serving. Grate on some more pepper and sprinkle with a few crushed red chiles when serving for a pleasant hint of heat.

If by chance this soup is too thin for your liking, make a roux by using equal parts butter and flour. Melt butter and stir in flour with a wooden spoon. Allow the roux to cook down for at least five minutes or so. It should look like wet sand. Whisk in small bits at a time and allow to boil (since this is when it really thickens). Add more if needed. Cooled roux can be stored in a container with a lid in the fridge for a week or so if you have some left.

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In May '11, Gourmet posted a list of 50 Women Game-Changers (in Food) that runs the gamut from food writers to cookbook authors to television personalities to restauranteurs to chefs to food bloggers.  Some are a given.  Some are controversial.  Speaking the names of some brings fond childhood memories.  Speaking the names of others will make some readers cringe.  And of course, some of our favorites were not even included.  We food-lovers are a passionate bunch of people and whether we agree or disagree, every woman on this list has earned her place for a reason.  Being a woman who is passionate about food (cooking, eating, talking about, writing about, photographing), when I caught wind of Mary from One Perfect Bite's idea of cooking/blogging her way through each of these 50 women...one per week...I knew I wanted to join her.  Many of these women paved the way for us in culinary school, in the kitchen, in cookbooks, in food writing, and on television and I think it is a fabulous way to pay tribute to their efforts.  Some of the women on the list have been tops with me for years.  Some I have heard of (perhaps even seen, read, or cooked from) before.  And there are even a handful that I am not familiar with at all.  I excited to educate myself on each of these women game-changers and hope you look forward to reading along.  We are going in order from 1 to 50.

Who is cooking along with these 50 Women Game-Changers?

Mary- One Perfect Bite, Val- More Than Burnt Toast, Joanne- Eats Well With Others, Taryn- Have Kitchen Will Feed, Susan- The Spice Garden, Heather- girlichef, Miranda- Mangoes and Chutney, Jeanette- Jeanette's Healthy Living, Kathy- Bakeaway with Me, Sue- The View from Great Island, Barbara- Moveable Feasts, Linda- There and Back Again, Nancy- Picadillo, Mireya- My Healthy Eating Habits, Veronica- My Catholic Kitchen, Annie- Lovely Things, Claudia- Journey of an Italian Cook, Alyce- More Time at the Table, Amrita- Beetle's Kitchen Escapades  

*source: The Greenhorns

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