Baked New Fronteirs in Baking

Peanut Butter Crispie bars

I had pre-ordered this baking book in 2008. I reckon that in Jan 2009 I must have tidied it into the baking pile of books, and then forgot about it. I was having a book trawl online and found the sequel volume from this bakery and went and dug out the first one from my pile (it is a pile having long overflowed the shelves).

I can hardly believe I put this book away without giving it a fair trial - my loss I tell you!

It's a fabulous book, I really love it. Baked New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito published by Stewart, Tabori and Chang in 2008 . This is a bakery cookbook, as the authors have a bakery "Baked" in Brooklyn, New York. It's done in a very masculine way, brown, orange and white being the main colours used, though they do have a very handsome stag motif too. The layout is good, decent introductions to recipes and also a "Baked Note" with hints and tips for recipes. There are also a number of eat-me-now pictures, but not one for every single recipe by any means. Chapters are *A Field Guide to Baking* Breakfast* Cakes and Cupcakes* Pies and Tarts* Brownies and Bars* Cookies* Chocolate Candies and Confections* and finally *Drinks*.

My first three makes were The Baked Brownie, Brown Sugar Caramel Sauce and Peanut Butter Crispy Bars.

Baked Brownies

These were truly faultless. Dense, fudgy, moist, rich, dark and just screaming CHOCOLATE!!

Brown Sugar Caramel Sauce

You do need to be comfortable making sugar caramel, but I loved this quite compulsive sauce. It uses light corn syrup, but golden syrup could be substituted.

Peanut Butter Crispy Bars

These would normally be no-cook kind of bars. They are too excepting that you need to make a sugar caramel, add a little butter and toss the rice crispies in it to give a really crispy rice crispie layer. They stayed crispy for as long as mine lasted too, even in the fridge. Another success, crispy, creamy and balanced by a dark chocolate topping.

I'm looking forward to cooking more from this book and the next volume, but more on this another time. Some of the recipes on my to make list of 25 (!) are: Brewer's Blondies, Peanut Butter Cookies with Milk Chocolate Chunks, Maple Walnut Scones (I've ordered extract from the US), Butterscotch Pudding Tarts and the recipe featured on the cover of the book Lemon-Almond Meringue Tarts.

Matt and Renato have very sure baking hands and excellent palates, all three of the recipes I tried I loved, and would make again. Now what to make next...

Next Up: Audrey Gordon's Tuscan Summer - review, interview and a copy to giveaway.