Rose Levy Beranbaum

Ohhh, this book makes me so happy.

I go on Food Network (more specifically, Worst Cooks in America) binges from time to time, and Anne Burrell heavily emphasizes the importance of mise en place–in essence, gathering all your ingredients together before you start cooking (and in the right format … so that 1/4 cup chopped pecans is, in fact, already measured and chopped). So I chuckled a bit to see Beranbaum’s first “before you begin” tip involve mise en place; I might have read it in show more Burrell’s voice. (At least it wasn’t another Burrell maxim, browned food tastes good? :D)

I love, love, love the sheer practicality of Beranbaum’s tips, too; I feel like I’m finally “adulting” the right way as I nod incessantly while reading them–whether the importance of trying the recipe at least once as written before incorporating substitutions, or separating equipment used for more odorous ingredients like garlic and using dedicated baking equipment. I might have panicked a little at the emphasis placed on weighing versus measuring, but that’s a great challenge I’m starting to enjoy more as I do it (who’d’ve thunk?). Beranbaum’s exhaustive tips list is incredibly helpful and informative, reminding me that even though I’ve been casually baking for years, there’s always something new to learn, or different (maybe even better, sometimes!) ways to do things.

Comparing (in the best way) The Cookie Bible‘s tip list with Dorie Greenspan’s upcoming release Baking With Dorie (which I also reviewed on the blog here) also proved insightful. I enjoy seeing where different bakers overlap, or diverge, in their advice–as well as contemplating the why behind either. (Maybe there’s a little mini English major in me after all!)

The sheer variety of cookie recipes included here does seem nearly on biblical levels show less

Is there any food that embodies “pure comfort” more so than cookies?

The smell, texture, taste of chewy, crunchy, pillowy cookies; memories of cookies clutched in toddler fists, chocolate chip smears on faces unable to wait for those melty warm cookies to cool and set. Reading this book, an unadulterated cookie heaven, was like floating in a pool of pure love.

Bar none (no pun intended) this book is the ultimate treasure trove of cookie goodness - from its beautifully clean and show more easy-to-follow layout, to the gorgeous full-page photos, and culminating with its incredibly complete coverage of cookie favorites, including the tried-and-true as well a whole slew of new goodies to savour.

I really liked the chapters organized by cookie style, including : rolled by hand, dropped or piped, shaped by hand, rolled and cut, holiday cookies, bar and cake cookies, meringues and candies, and a final chapter on extra specials.

For each recipe, Ingredients are provided both by weight (European style, and since I’ve started baking bread, my new favorite) and imperial/cups (North-American style).

Three food preparation options are provided for each recipe: food processor, stand mixer, and mixing by hand.

Recipes also include multiple variations, increasing the coverage of this book to cookie-loving dizzying heights.

And best of all, this book is absolutely gorgeous. Thumbing through the mouth-watering full page photos of most recipes, I found myself bookmarking so many to try so many, bookmarks became superfluous.

A few of the must-tries I noted:

🍪 Tahini cookies
🍪 Chocolate crackle cookies with almond flour
🍪 Coconut snowball kisses -mmade with decadent sweetened condensed milk, I dare you not to lick the spoon.
🍪 Chocolate phantoms - richly crunched with macadamia nuts)
🍪 Cashew comforts - crunchy and cushiony with cashews and sour cream)
🍪 Churro nuggets - donut like little nuggets with or without
creamy filling. My fellow Canadians will recognize as a delightful version of Tim-bits.
🍪 Rugelach - cream-cheese pie crust dough - the variation with apricot walnut filling looks amazing.
🍪 Biscotti Biscotti Biscotti (did I tell you I love biscotti) - candied pineapple, pecan, chocolate. I have to try the pistachio and lemon zest variation.
🍪 Bourbon balls-who needs to wait for the holidays?
🍪 For those of you like me who love caramel - chocolate and pecan pralines, or butterscotch toffee both look divine.
🍪 Dulce de leche - another of my absolute favourites - it was a treat to find this recipe here in the “special extra” section, along with lemon curd and chocolate ganache.

5 “I just adore these cookies” stars.

A very big thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and the author, Rose Levy Beranbaum for an advance review copy of this book. All thoughts presented are my own. show less

First let me say that every cookbook should be required to come with a pretty pink ribbon bookmark. No other color will do now, lol.

This cookbook is mislabeled. The recipes are not 'the basics'. RLB doesn't do basic. These recipes are The Essentials.

This is not the book for you if you're looking for anything new and different. (No cronuts in sight.) This book is about honing technique, reinforcing the foundation that you've built on, even if you've been building on it for over 35 years like show more I have.

If you're new to baking, don't bother with the rest- start here and get it right the first time. If you're an experienced baker, get this book if you're ready to level up. show less

Fall is the time I really get into cooking, so I've been experimenting with Rose Levy Beranbaum's new version of The Baking Bible -- mostly with good results. She has a scientist's approach to method that makes her instructions precise and her rationale for each step clear. It can be a little intimidating, especially when she says things like "only use Gold Medal bread flour and spoon the flour gently into the measure before leveling" but on the other hand, her recipes rarely go wrong for show more me. And when they do, it is usually my fault for taking a short cut.

My favorite thing so far is an apricot-walnut made with regular flour, but a rye-based starter. I left the starter to sit for several days before I used it, and it got very tangy. The bread itself has no sugar, the only sweetness comes from the dried fruit. (It called for golden raisins as well as apricots, but I used dried currents). It's great with a side of sharp cheddar, or some marmalade.

But the thing I really like about the book is that because she explains the "why" of each step, you can use any recipe as a guide to creating your own version. I'm already wondering if I couldn't create a variation that uses a slightly different starter, pecans and sour cherries. Or hazelnuts and cranberries.

I love to bake, and Beranbaum's cookbooks have been standards for me for years: I've tried every recipe in her "Rose's Christmas Cookies" with the exception of the Notre Dame Cathedral gingerbread house, and more than a few of them have become Christmas standards. (I'm on my third copy of the book, because it gets so much use. And I've attempted pretty much every recipe in her Cake Bible and Pies & Pastries book. So I have no doubt The Baking Bible will get the same treatment, with the same generally good outcome. show less