From Amazon.com
Lauren Chattman is both a pastry chef and a mom, so she's in the perfect position to offer
Mom's Big Book of Baking, a cookbook filled with recipes the whole family will love. This collection of 200 recipes for simple, home-style baked goods lets already busy moms bake for bake sales, slumber parties, the family cookie jar, and other special occasions, without spending what little spare time they might have tied up in the kitchen. Tips called "Kids Can Help" describe different ways to involve children in the kitchen, and there are also plenty of funny sidebars, entitled A Good Excuse to Make..., that will give you a chuckle whether or not they convince you to try the recipe. Chattman includes favorites like Caramel Swirl Brownies, Rolled Sugar Cookies, Lattice-Top Apple Pie, and Chocolate Milk Pancakes. You'll be well prepared for birthdays with recipes such as Strawberry Cupcakes with Vanilla Whipped Cream and Strawberry Roses, a "magical" Marble Pound Cake, and Chocolate Birthday Cake Frosting.
--Leora Y. Bloom
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From Publishers Weekly
Author of the highly successful dessert cookbook Instant Gratification, Chattman now offers her skills as a mother as well as pastry chef. The book covers baking from pancakes, waffles and muffins through cookies and cakes to pies and breads. The recipes are clearly written and prefaced with short descriptions and notes. Many of the recipes offer tips on ingredients, variations and how and when to involve children. The Instant Homemade Microwave Brownies, recommended for kids seven and older to help in the baking fall well within their capabilities, although she suggests, "The dish will be hot... so removing it from the microwave should be mom's job." Her use of butter as the fat of choice, while not for cholesterol watchers, makes the recipes rich and inviting, particularly when she pairs it with the large quantity of blueberries in Best Blueberry Muffins to give a very berry satisfying result. One or two recipes, such as the Sprinkle Cookies, are slightly disappointing, although the description did prove to be accurate, as her daughter says, that "these taste like cupcakes." However, with such a wide variety of baked goods and the effortlessness needed to produce good results, this book will be a solid bake book for the busy mom, particularly one who wishes to involve her children.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
by Carole Walter
