A few weeks ago, Chronicle Books visited my workplace, ModCloth in San Francisco. Lucky me, because as usual Chronicle had a beautiful spread of picks! One of my buys was the above cookbook by Tartine bakery's owners. It was an impulse buy, and one that I don't regret!
Monday I made their gruyeres but instead with cheddar cheese. I'm not sure if that's okay or if that just elicited a gasp or two. However, I was prepared to spend the money on good gruyere cheese. It was the thought of a homemade, fresh, warm eggy-pudding-like puff that really made me rush to make 'em. Well, they were super good, because I hadn't taken a picture of them before they were eaten up.
For my second adventure, I baked their Deluxe Double Chocolate Cookies. Wowza! They are truly rich, but not heavy. The recipe calls for you to whip the butter before adding anything else to it, and to slowly add ingredients while beating them in the mixer, which gives them the slightly fluffy texture. The richness comes from the fact that you not only use cocoa, but melted bittersweet chocolate as well.
For French-style recipes, both the gruyeres and the cookies were not difficult to make. My first foray into French-style baking was with the Miette cookbook, another beautiful piece of Bay Area baking.
I don't usually get a chance to indulge in the real Tartine because the tiny-but-impressive bakery on Guerrero and 18th is always surrounded by a line out the door. And, while I have enjoyed everything that I've eaten from them, the thing I love best is there lattes. Sadly I can't make those at home.
What about your recent baking adventures?
No comments:
Post a Comment