The Craft of Baking: Cakes, Cookies, and Other Sweets with Ideas for Inventing Your Own

This is an excellent cookbook, for a number of reasons. First, the directions are clear and accurate in all of the recipes I have tried. Second, the recipes are not, for the most part, fussy; they are do-able if you have any experience in the kitchen. If you've never rolled piecrust before, a more basic book, like Dorie Greenspan's "Baking" or Marion Cunningham's "The Fanny Farmer Baking Book" might be more useful. Third, some of the recipes will make you see old things in new ways; the jasmine rice pudding (especially with the added rum raisins) is simple and brilliant. You can put it together while you're making dinner. Fourth, the recipes are well chosen and, thank heavens, limited in number. There's no need to contemplate a whole bunch of chocolate cakes, wondering which one is REALLY good, as you must do with a more extensive volume, like Greenspan's "Baking" (an excellent book in its own right). Finally, the recipes are delicious. I certainly haven't had a chance to make all of them (although I can speak for the trifle, which speedily disappeared from the Christmas dinner table), but it's easy to see that it's the kind of book I'll want to work my way through. It's worth adding that "The Craft of Baking" includes recipes that never see an oven, like the wondrous cashew brittle or the ones in the chapters on puddings (the lemon steamed pudding!) and ice creams. Even if you are as guilty as I am of owning too many cookbooks, you will want to get this one. M. Feldman

I am a beginner chef and I just finished making the cashew brittle . I am so proud and so excited to start working on other recipes. It was probably the simplest thing to do and it looks and tastes gourmet. I think a batch of brittle and this book is going to be my gift for many this year. I made the gingerbread, and although it has lots of ingredients it's very simple and you can make a few batches to share. I love the simple ingredients and the fact that it's really made me love learning a new "craft". I am already putting in my request for a volume 2 !!

I just received the book as a gift and decided to make the gingersnap cookies. They are truly delicious. The use of freshly grated ginger and blackstrap molassis really makes an impact on this little treat. I can't wait to bake more from this masterpiece.

Hello to anyone who is reading this! Just wanted to post about The Craft of Baking. I purchased the book a couple of weeks ago and am loving it. I have a pronounced sweet tooth and believe that any proper dinner ends with a delicious dessert. The problem for me with desserts cookbooks, though, is that so many of them go for the sugar jugular: recipes for frou-frou items that might look pretty but don't have much of a flavor profile beyond SWEET. For me, the best desserts are cooked with a savory sensibility--layering flavors and textures on top of one another, showcasing seasonal ingredients, complementing/responding to/riffing off the preceding meal. Karen DeMasco has always taken this approach, and it's why I've long thought she's one of the most genius pastry chefs in the country (yes, in the country, not just in New York City). The fact that I can now crack open this book and, basically, pick Karen's cooking brain at will is one of the most exciting things that's happened to my kitchen in recent memory. And the recipes are all clear, straightforward, easy to follow. If you have any interest, passing or intense, in cooking desserts and sweets, then this volume should really be in your library! I cannot recommend it highly enough. And I'll be putting wrapped copies under more than one Christmas tree this year. Enjoy, and happy baking! Meeghan

Even before this book was released, I was a big fan of Karen DeMasco's baking and approach to sweets. A recipe of hers - toasted almond semifreddo - appeared in the online version of Food & Wine magazine earlier in the year and I used it as the basis of a dessert course for a dinner party. It has since become my signature dessert. This elegant, abundantly photographed and descriptive cookbook is a must for anyone who enjoys the sweet side of the kitchen. There are basic recipes for everything from cakes, cookies, pies and quickbreads to ice creams, sauces, candies, marshmallows, brittles and everything in between. Though I consider myself somewhat knowledgeable in the kitchen, I picked up some new tricks from the book - how to bake in soup cans, making marshmallows without egg whites, and, most exciting to me, making fruit jelly candies. Written with Mindy Fox, the book contains a helpful and very explicit guide to the sweet pantry and ingredients and how to improvise on a recipe to make it a signature dish. This is going to be one of my top holiday gifts this year. Love it.