Joy Wilson (1)

My husband does almost all of the cooking in the house, so I do all the baking – that is by choice too; I am horrible with cooking – but baking… I LOVE baking.

Joy the Baker Homemade Decadence was a wonderful baking book. When I saw the cover online I knew I had to have it, the picture of the beautiful cake covered in icing and pretzels, it as just the kind of wacky but fun baking I like to do. When the book arrived I was on a mission to bake 2 birthday cakes and my husband requested lemon squares. While baking I normally just kind of wing it but I used the Joy the Baker book instead.

The instructions were very easy to follow and I really liked that the icing/ toppings/ batter instructions were all separated out of one another – I can’t tell you how many times I have followed a recipe that has called for 2 eggs only to put both of them into the batter when one is meant for the next step – I really hate that, especially when I am baking in a rush. (I know, I should read the thing all the way through first…)

The recipes were very simple, most of them were standard ingredients I had on hand already. The cakes and the lemon squares were both great recipes and I plan on continuing to use them. I think the lemon square recipe is my favorite so far.

When I first got the book, I was enchanted by the stunning photos of the cakes, pies, brunch recipes, and ice creams, I wanted to dive right in. My mother even stopped by and tried to steal the book to use some of these simple yet beautiful recipes. I learned a good amount too – specifically I had no idea that Vegan chocolate cake was made with avocados. I am glad I found out, I am allergic to them so now I know to steer clear.

Overall, this was one of the best cookbooks I have come across in a long time and am loving it.… (lisätietoja)

I made several recipes from this book. So far I have made the cheddar chive biscuits, whole wheat goat cheese biscuits and Flax Seed Crackers. I loved the cheddar biscuits, the whole wheat biscuits were just OK and the crackers were a learning experience. I had always wanted to make crackers and my first attempt here wasn't a fail but it wasn't totally successful either. But that was on me as I needed to roll the dough out a bit thinner.

Pros: The book is lightweight and not cumbersome to carry or keep open on the counter when cooking. I love the "kitchen tips" section at the beginning and started with one (making your own buttermilk) with my first recipe. The photos are very nice and instructions are clear and easy to follow. (I recommend the cheddar biscuits.)Also, the book is well indexed.

Cons: It's hard for me to ever find a "con" about a cookbook! Yes, there are some recipes I wouldn't make but hey - I have had many cookbooks where you find a few recipes that just don't rock your world.

Overall this book gets an A and I would recommend it for the baking obsessed kitchen rat. You will be quite pleased with the buttery, sugary delicious recipes and photos to drool over.

It's in the plans to make the peach cobbler muffins and bread pudding using copious quantities of bourbon. Absolutely.… (lisätietoja)