In the Sweet Kitchen: The Definitive Bakers Companion By Regan Daley

The renowned IACP Cookbook of the Year—now in paperback!

What makes a book so special and deserving that it gets chosen cookbook of the year? It's the wealth of information, the experienced voice, the eagerness to share. Celebrated pastry chef Regan Daley unravels the mystery of the baking process, explaining the how and why behind the components that go into making the perfect dessert, and provides the tools and information home bakers need to create delicious recipes of their own—in their own sweet kitchens.

Regan shows us that anyone, from complete culinary virgins to accomplished dessert-makers, anyone can make a fantastic dessert. The secret is in the ingredients. Her more than 140 original recipes, straightforward enough for any home baker to prepare, focusing on simple techniques with an emphasis on high-quality ingredients, range from the awfully impressive, Guava Cheesecake or Quince and Brioche Bread Pudding with Dried Sour Cherries, to the familiar—Really, REALLY Fudgey Brownies or World's Sexiest Sundae.

For experts, this book will serve as a comprehensive, professional-quality reference of ingredients from basic to rare and an incredible collection of unique flavorings. For the novice, it's a practical and palatable guide to the once mysterious art of baking.
In the Sweet Kitchen: The Definitive Bakers Companion

One of the best books out there for baking and pastry.
Hands down a must have for any baker.

I'm a pastry chef and I use this book frequently Hardcover The best book ever for learning how to cook the sweet stuff. I'll admit I started with just the recipes, but over time I have used her flavor pairings chart with great sucess. You can look at a fruit bowl and say, Oh, I have an apple sitting here, what could I do with an apple? Something interesting... Oh look, it's right there! Hardcover A friend ordered a copy of this for herself and announced Now I will have the secret baking powers you have too! Indeed, this book does seem to confer a magic ability to produce the most scrumptious desserts. It does so by being filled with information about how to bake, descriptions of nearly every baking ingredient, and finally, recipes for some wonderful and different desserts. Mine is slowly being annotated with all the occasions I've baked these treats for (11.04.08 Obama wins! or 08.03.07 cake in the desert). And I love the comments scattered throughout like I recommend this cake for breakfast or a truly sexy dessert. Hardcover I purchased this book as a birthday gift, and, of course, I read it beforehand (Sorry, M--I'm ordering another copy right away)! This is one of the most useful baking cookbooks I've found--and it's well written. The recipes don't start till around page 300--what precedes them is actually the most fascinating part of the book. I especially love the sections on oysters of chocolate and what marries well. I'm baking the white carrot cake today--it has parsnips of all things. Can I count this as a vegetable serving?

Hardcover I made the most amazing dessert yesterday! It's called, Sticky Spiked Double-Apple Cake with a Brown Sugar-Brandy Sauce. It was absolutely fantastic! I would give this recipe book 5-stars based on that recipe alone that's how good it was! The book's subtitle is The Definitive Baker's Companion & that's just what it is. The first half of the book is devoted to all kinds of interesting information related to baking. There are a few color photos in the center, then, the second half of the book is devoted to recipes. These recipes are innovative. The author has put together tastes & textures in a really creative way. It's like art. I am totally buying this book! Hardcover

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A must-have for any serious baker. The first half of the book is a dictionary of ingredients and an explanation of how they work in a recipe. The second half of the book has recipes that are twists on classics. Though I love the first half of the book, I didn't really care for any of the recipes. They use a lot of expensive ingredients. Hardcover I love desert cookbooks, and this one is fairly comprehensive. I got tons of requests for the sugar cookie recipe after I gave them out as holiday presents. Hardcover This book is GREAT. The first half is all science-like - how stuff works together to magically transform inside your oven into tasty baked treats. The second half is delicious recipes - pecan-caramel sandwich cookies, anyone? The cover inspired my someday-I-will-get-it tattoo. Hardcover What?! The very last recipe in the book is a standard pie crust? Organization could use some tweaking. Plus there must have been some way to integrate the information at the beginning of the book into the recipes or chapters where that information was more relevant. Hardcover Holiday season is the time I have to bust out the baking / dessert cookbooks. This, along with Baking by Dorrie Greenspan, is one of my go to sources. Great educational info for those that want to ramp up skills quickly or just get the overview necessary to not bomb the final course. Hardcover