Your Time to Bake: A First Cookbook for the Novice Baker

Using the same comprehensive, visual approach as his first book, Your Time to Cook, Blakeslee includes “step by step photo instructions, with a finished shot of each recipe,” making this collection extremely easy to navigate and use. He provides recipes for every simple sweet treat imaginable, and even the most inexperienced, wary baker will be inspired to whip up an array of brownies, such as marble, soufflé, blondies; an assortment of cookies like chocolate chip, biscotti, ginger snappies; and pies, muffins, cakes, and more. Explaining that baking is “more about chemistry,” Blakeslee includes a section in the intro “Before You Bake, Read This” that discusses “important baking variables and how to control them,” with helpful tips: measuring ingredients exactly and making sure ingredients such as eggs and butter are the correct temperature. Also very helpful are sections on essential items needed for baking—such as different flours, sugars, spices and cheeses—important equipment, and baking terms from A to Z. In this solid guide, there are more than 150 recipes, 1,500 color photos and illustrations, and a final chapter on decorating cookies, tarts, and cupcakes and making fondant. (Jan.)