Nick Malgieri

The book is divided into clear sections which makes it easy to flip through as you look through recipes. It's wide enough that it lays open without help on the counter, which is wonderfully helpful. The directions are clear. I do find it annoying that he assumes everyone owns a stand mixer with lots of fancy attachments.

I tried 4 recipes:
Banana Walnut Squares - I used an extra mashed banana instead of the apricot jam. I found them kind of bland, but the banana kept them soft and moist for show more days and we happily ate them all. I really like his method for lining the pan, easing the entire cake out, then cutting the squares carefully.

Sour Cream Cinnamon Drops - easy, simple, wonderful cakey texture - boring boring flavor. Recipe makes at least twice as much cinnamon sugar as needed. I'll be keeping this recipe.

Dark Chocolate Sables - the dough went together nicely, and tasted good - but it all fell apart when I baked them. The texture was crumbly and dry, the flavor was barely chocolately. Sort of a sadder version of store brand chocolate graham crackers. Threw these away.

Ginger Snaps - Good flavor balance of the ginger and molasses. Cookies spread thinner than I expected. the recipe says bake 15-20 minutes. I pulled the first batch out at 10 and half were burned (if it were my oven, then the other 3 recipes would have gotten it too, right?) The pan that got baked for 7 minutes came out great. This may be partly an altitude thing - but that's a really big adjustment. Expect to make the time-adjusted recipe again. show less

A gorgeous, useful cookbook that that will help you create works of art in your own kitchen. First off, I love a cookbook with nice photographs. These go way beyond nice with a large format, pictures of almost every recipe, and a lot of pictures showing helpful techniques. The recipes are apealing and well-written making them easy to understand and they produce good results! One of my favorites so far is Fennel, Fig and Almond Bread. Its as easy to make as any standard quick bread but with show more updated and modern flavors. This was truly delcious and the fennel really makes it unique. I brought it to a work potluck and it was a big hit. Another favorite is the Caramel Crumb Bars. They are light and buttery with an oozing caramel center. The recipe makes a big 9 x 13 pan, so these are perfect for a bake sale or party. There are so many more recipes I plan to try from this cookbook! Starting with Cocoa Banana Muffins, Rosemary, Olive Knots, and Marbled Chocolate Brioche, and moving on to One-Step Croissants, Lemon Ginger Pound Cake and Spicy Hazelnut Biscotti!
This is a great gift for the baker on your Christmas list..... show less

Mmmm...best, easy oatmeal bread recipe. It captures the...oatmealness of oatmeal by having you add actual cooked oatmeal rather than dry oats. The result is a dense, hearty texture. Delicious with butter and honey, and makes excellent toast, too. Actually, everything I've made from this book has been great, but that's one of my all-time favorite recipes.

I love this book! The explanations are clear, accessible, and well-written, which I've found hard to come by in a baking book thus far. The Maryland Brownies are the bomb diggity. Yes.