Melissa Murphy: Sweet Melissa Baking Book

By JULIETTE ROSSANT Melissa Murphy's The Sweet Melissa Baking Book: Recipes from the Beloved Bakery for Everyone's Favorite Treats (Viking 2008) lives up to its promise of focusing on great recipes for unfussy, everyday desserts and special occasion sweets. Perhaps every town should have a bakery like Sweet Melissa, where you can find great cookies, brownies, cakes, and pies, but most don't anymore. Reading the book, and cooking the recipes, you'll find yourself remembering those old fashioned bakeries with thick wedges of pie, or your third grade best friend's mother's terrific after school cookies – or even the one's you made. This is a book to have fun with, to cook with, and not to fear that there is anything too serious or intimidating in its pages. I'm not interested in desserts that involve ten components, exotic ingredients, and structural supports. I want to make everyone's favorite desserts better than they have had them before. Now you can to. (p. XIII) As if to prove that, the first chapter is titled Desserts for Breakfast. There are no components, just single recipes that make muffins, cakes, waffles, and cookies – Melissa tells us she favors warm chocolate chip cookies and cold milk for breakfast. Though the recipes aren't complicated, they are far from dull. There are plenty of variations and professional tips to make sweets come out better. Orange-Scented Scones (p. 10-11) are a long-kept secret because of the addition of oat flour. Guinness Gingerbread (p.12-13) a great post-St. Patrick's Day treat, that includes cocoa and white pepper and spices along with Guinness. The Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe (p. 58) is actually in the After School Snack chapter. They are rich with almonds – which pop up in plenty of Melissa's recipes. She claims that these are her biggest sellers, and though they are straightforward cookies, using the best chocolate and following her instructions to chill the dough leads to great results. A more unusual recipe is her Chestnut Honey Madelines (p. 62). The title refers to chestnut honey, with added hazelnuts to transform a temporal cake into an ethereal one. At the end of the book is a chapter on Favorite Gifts: Truffles, Brittles, and Candies. Get a thermometer and try some of these old fashioned treats like Pistachio Opera Fudge (p. 224 ), Sweet Melissa's Peanut Brittle (p. 226) and Honey Cream Caramels (p. 228) instead of buying Easter candy for the kids. In fact, this is one of those books full of homey sweets and uncomplicated desserts that would be great to make with children on a rainy Sunday. Previous articles: [Cookbook Reviews - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging, Melissa Murphy --> back to Super Chef