{TWD} Cinnamon Swirl Sour Cream Bundt Cake

This week Dorie Greenspan made me feel old. In the headnotes for her Nutty, Chocolaty, Swirly Sour Cream Bundt Cake - this week's assignment for the Tuesdays With Dorie baking group - Dorie says:

"One of the nice things about having baked for so many yeears is being able to see sweets come into fashion, go out of fashion and come back again. That's the case with this sour cream cake. I saw it come into fashion in the 1970's..., fall out of favor and make a comeback recently."

Really? I clearly rememer this kind of cake and have baked it often throughout the years. In fact, I have a recipe for sour cream cake on a card in my metal recipe file box. Come to think of it that file box should make me feel old all by itself, I guess. But at any rate, I had no earthly idea that sour cream pound cake had become a dinosaur, or that anything so simple and good could go out of fashion.

n.o.e.'s notes:

- Jennifer of the blog Cooking for Comfort is responsible for choosing the bundt cake and you will find the recipe by clicking over to her blog.

- This cake was headed for the homeless shelter during Christmas week, on a platter with several different treats. I wanted the cake to have seasonal flavor so decided to emphasize the cinnamon. Here's how: I left out the dried fruit and the nuts in the swirl (both can be controversial in baked goods, and I wanted this to be of general appeal) and used cinnamon chips instead. So my swirl ingredients were 1/2 c brown sugar, 1/2 cup cinnamon chips and 2 tsp Vietnamese cinnamon.

- I baked a full recipe in a super-large decorative loaf pan that is equivalent in size to full bundt pan.

- Although the loaf pan I have is the same capacity as a bundt, it is much thicker (and shorter I guess, than a bundt would be if you stretched it out straight), so the cake takes a lot longer to bake. I'm pretty sure mine was a bit under-baked; in fact now that I look at the pictures again, I'm positive it was.

- Dorie says that it's fine if the batter doesn't close over the swirl when you put it in the pan. Now, I really hate to contradict Dorie, but you really do need to worry a little bit about covering up your swirl with cake batter. I was carefree about the whole issue and my batter didn't close up during baking. When I unmolded the cake and turned it right side up, all of the swirl fell out. I tried to stuff it back in but, really, there was no way it was going to stay there when the slices were served.

- I sliced the cake for the dessert platter and got a chance to taste the trimmed ends of the loaf.



the verdict:

Although sour cream cakes are classic for a (good) reason, I can't say that I remember the sour cream poundcakes of yore being this moist and fabulous. But Dorie's version is perfection itself, and when a cake is this good, it should never, ever go out of fashion.

Iowa Pork Chops

For over two years I have loved receiving my weekly order, which I fondly refer to as my "farm box," from Moore Farms and Friends. With the help of hoop houses, the associated farmers in Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee manage to grow a pretty impressive array of wonderful vegetables and fruit throughout the winter months, and of course there is a veritable cornucopia in summer. We can also order eggs, dairy, and meats. The farm box pork comes from Thompson Farms and Riverview Farms, and because of its freshness and quality I've found myself cooking more pork. Availability changes from week to week, so I order a cut of meat when it's offered and keep it handy in the freezer until the occasion and recipe arise.

One recent winter day I found myself with a cool cookbook from the library and a bunch of pork chops in the freezer, so I put the two together and made Iowa Pork Chops from the Savoring the Seasons of the Northern Heartland cookbook.

n.o.e.'s notes:

- I've included the recipe at the end of this post, just scroll down.

- Despite a fairly long list of ingredients, the recipe came together quite quickly. I used my coffee grinder/spice mill, which ground up the whole spices and garlic all at the same time.

- Even without a spice grinder, this would still be an easy recipe using pre-ground spices.

the verdict:

These pork chops were a big hit at our house. The various spices in this recipe combined to give a lovely savory flavor, and the simplicity of the recipe makes it even more of a favorite. In fact, this recipe was such a nice find that I've put the cookbook on my wish list.

the recipe:

Iowa Pork Chops

from Savoring the Seasons of the Northern Heartland

2 bay leaves
1 T freshly ground pepper (I used peppercorns)
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1 T dried thyme, or 1/4 c chopped fresh
2 tsp ground cloves (I used whole)
1 T ground nutmeg (about 1 whole nutmeg, grated w microplane)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
4 thick premium loin pork chops (10 oz ea)
1 T olive oil
1 T each, butter and olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. In a coffee grinder, spice mill, or blender, process the bay leaves, pepper, garlic, thyume, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, and cardamom until completely blended (the bay leaves might not be completely crushed).

3. Rub the chops with the olive oil, then rub the spice blend over all of the chops. Cover and set aside for about 30 minutes to 1 hour at room temperature.

4. Sear the chops in the butter/oil in a heavy skillet over high heat about 3 to 4 minutes per side, until they are golden brown.

5. Place the chops on a rack over a baking sheet in the oven for about 30 minutes or until the juices run clear.

{TWD} Lemon Poppyseed Muffins - Guest Post

Earlier this month my oven suddenly failed. I quickly ordered a new one and arranged a delivery date. Then we had 6 inches of snow, followed by too-cold-to-melt-things temperatures, making delivery impossible. It has finally thawed around here and my new oven is scheduled to arrive at dusk this evening, that is, after I could photograph the muffins. I was faced with the prospect of a missed or delayed Tuesdays With Dorie posting, but luckily my daughter Allison, previously known here as A.L.E., agreed to bake and photograph the muffins and write a post for me.

Allison is an artist, writer, entrepreneur, and cook/baker. She chronicles it all on her blog, Friends and Hammers. I'm her mom, so I'm biased, but any time I need a smile or a laugh I head over to her blog.

Here's her post:

My mom asked if I could bake these lemon poppy seed muffins for her, since she's in oven limbo right now and, while you can fry an egg on the sidewalk in Atlanta in the summer, you can't bake muffins on the sidewalk in Atlanta in the winter.

They're super easy and I could do the (few) dishes as I went along. I had all the ingredients except for sour cream, so I used yogurt. You'll notice that my poppy seeds were seriously antique, and I didn't taste them beforehand per Dorie's recommendation, but they were fine.


Best of all, we had guests staying over last night and I was able to greet them with a big basket of baked goods. I like to be able welcome guests with food, especially if they're coming in from a road trip. (I think I get that from my mother!) My usual "impress visitors with minimal effort" standby is Dorie's Swedish Visiting Cake, but these muffins might just become my alternate.

the verdict:

Guests loved the muffins. Roommates loved the muffins. I loved the muffins. They were like fluffy muffin-shaped clouds of perfect lemon flavor.


The muffins were chosen for TWD this week by Betsy, of the blog A Cup of Sweetness, who has posted the recipe here.

{TWD} Chocolate Madeleines

One of the treasured purchases I brought back from my afternoon of shopping for kitchenware at E Dehillerin and Mora in Paris this summer was a little madeleine pan. With just 6 molds, it met my requirements for pack-ability. I've never made madeleines, but I knew there were several madeleine recipes that would be coming up in Dorie Greenspan's book, Baking From My Home to Yours, and I wanted to meet the challenge with this pan!

The Tuesdays With Dorie group made traditional madeleines nearly 3 years ago; this week it was time for Fluff-Filled Chocolate Madeleines, Dorie's French-inspired approximation of a beloved American classic, the chocolate snack cake.

n.o.e.'s notes:

- Margot of the blog Effort To Deliciousness chose this week's recipe. Her blog is always a fabulous read because of the ingenious way that Margot rates the recipes that she makes, with an effort-to-deliciousness ratio, thus giving a ready answer to the age-old question, "is it worth the bother to make this?" Margo's madeleines are adorable, and you can find the recipe and step-by-step photos if you click over to her madeleine post.

- I used Double-Dutch Dark Cocoa powder from King Arthur Flour.

- I made half a recipe, and there ended up being just a bit too much batter for my molds. When I was filling them it was hard to tell because my chilled batter was pretty much solid - like cookie dough. I had to scoop it into the molds. Luckily the molds did not overflow terribly as the madeleines baked, but they turned out a bit too large and a little odd in shape. There were pock marks from where bits of butter had melted as the batter baked. But regardless of their flaws my madeleines came out with lovely ridges!

- In spite of the fact that for many of my grade-school years I subsisted on fluffernutter sandwiches, or maybe because of it, I couldn't get behind the marshmallow fluff filling. If someone had handed me the requisite number of tablespoons and I didn't have to buy an entire jar, or better yet, if that same someone also offered to pipe it into the madeleines, that would have been fine. But that person did not appear in my kitchen, and so my madeleines didn't get filled.

- There was some extra Dorie ganache in the freezer, so that's what I used for dipping my madeleines.

the verdict:

My madeleines were not exactly light and tender; they had a sturdy, somewhat dense crumb. They tasted like little devil's food cakes, especially with the ganache icing. Although we enjoyed the madeleines well enough, there are too many other chocolate recipes I prefer so this isn't a recipe that I'm likely to repeat. Now that I've used my new madeleine pan, however, I'm excited to try making traditional madeleines!

Thick Hot Chocolate

Some of you will undoubtedly chuckle as you read this, but the big news around here is that we got 6 inches of snow last night; today everything is closed up tight and we are all snowbound.

Snow is not exactly unheard of in Atlanta, but it is always a cause for excitement. If we get more than an inch or so, we end up with a communal snow day, since the city has no plows, sanding or salting equipment. The snow sits on the streets until it melts, helped along by the inevitable rising temperatures and the cars of those intrepid souls who will brave the conditions and the other - bad - drivers on the roads. But generally, schools and businesses close, the mail does not get delivered, and folks stay home with their newly-acquired hoards of bread and milk and wait for the eventual thaw.

With every winter storm that comes our way the biggest question is whether the electricity will go out; this time we were thrilled to have our warm cozy house and full use of our kitchen, with the backdrop of winter wonderland outside the windows. Time for hot chocolate!

When I was growing up in the foothills of western Massachusetts, we would play hard, or shovel hard, in the snow, then go to the basement and in front of the furnace we'd peel off our wet snow suits, mittens and socks (two layers of each if it was really cold). Then it was time for hot chocolate, always made with milk, which we heated on top of the stove, stirring in Hershey's chocolate syrup. We drank it straight up, eschewing marshmallows big and small, and it warmed us to the tips of our frozen fingers and toes.

Today I thought I'd try a hot chocolate recipe that I bookmarked last winter, one that sounded decidedly grown up, the Thick Hot Chocolate recipe from Renee Shettler, who writes, beautifully, for Leite's Culinaria.

n.o.e.'s notes:

- The recipe for Thick Hot Chocolate is here, along with a recipe for Thin Hot Chocolate, in case you are the type who likes to taste the milk through the chocolate.

- I made 1/4 recipe, which was just enough for two full mugs of steaming hot chocolate. It's rich enough that splitting it 3 ways - if I had to - would have been fine.

- The article includes a recipe for homemade marshmallows, but since I've never liked marshmallows in hot chocolate, so it was just fine that want to take the time to make any today (although they have been on my cooking "bucket list" for a while).

- I've made hot chocolate with chocolate syrup and with cocoa poweder (and with the powdered mixes, but we won't talk about those) but never with solid chocolate. This recipe specifies finely chopped chocolate, with around 64% chocolate solids. For half of the chocolate I used a Dagoba mocha chocolate bar, and I filled in with other random bits of bittersweet chocolate that were hanging around the corners of my chocolate drawer. (The little flecks in my hot chocolate in the picture above are bits of coffee beans from the mocha chocolate that I used.)

- I forgot the fleur de sel, which is pretty funny because as I was making the hot chocolate, my husband was setting up the two salt grinders that he recently ordered after hearing about them at a party on Christmas Eve.

the verdict:

One sip of this hot chocolate and I was spoiled forever. Two sips and I realized that I needed to snap a picture quick so that you could be spoiled also!

{TWD} Midnight Cinnamon Ice Cream Sandwiches

As is true every week, Tuesday is the day when I post baked goods from Dorie Greenspan's book Baking: From My Home to Yours as part of the Tuesdays With Dorie baking group. But this is no ordinary Tuesday, it's the third anniversary of the founding of TWD by Laurie of the blog Slush. The recipe this week is Midnight Crackles, which are chocolate cookies. I thought I'd do something special to celebrate TWD's birthday and made the cookies into ice cream sandwiches, with David Lebovitz's Cinnamon Ice Cream! I've never really made ice cream sandwiches, and found that it was a fun and fairly simple process.

n.o.e.'s notes:

- If you want to find the recipe for the cookies, click on this link from the Tuesdays With Dorie website.

- The cool thing about this group and this book is that the author, Dorie Greenspan, has a blog where she often discusses her recipes. In the past I've learned things such as that Dorie's Swedish Visiting Cake can be baked as an apple variation. For this week's recipe, Dorie had posted about making the Midnight Crackle Cookies as cut out cookies rather than drop cookies. I was intrigued, and decided to use that method to make fancy cookies for the TWD anniversary.

- Once I planned to make cut out cookies, I figured I should make some sort of sandwiches with them. I had some cinnamon ice cream in the freezer, from David Lebovitz's book The Perfect Scoop, and knew that would be a great combination with the chocolate cookies. You can find the recipe for the cinnamon ice cream here. The ice cream is made with cinnamon-stick-infused cream and it has a subtle depth of cinnamon flavor.

- The secret to making ice cream sandwiches that will last until a photo is taken is the freezer. Every stage and every element needs to spend time chilling, including the plate your will use. I froze the baked cookies while I softened the ice cream, spread out in a flat 3/4 inch thick patch on the lid of a leftover container and refroze it. After the ice cream had hardened, I cut it with the cookie cutter and placed it back in the freezer. Half and hour or so later, I removed the frozen plate, put a frozen cookie on it, put the shaped piece of ice cream on it, topped it all with another cookie, pressed just a bit, and voila!

- Yes, you read it correctly. I made one ice cream sandwich. The rest of the cookie dough I rolled out inside of a large zipper freezer bag and froze. The next time I need cookies, I can pull out the frozen dough, cut with cookie cutters and bake.

- To see the midnight crackle cookies as they were written, puffy with crackled tops, check out the posts of the other TWD bakers.

the verdict:

Some day I'll try the recipe as it was originally written and make crackly pillowy chocolate cookies, but this week I had fun trying the roll-out variation Dorie had suggested. I discovered a wonderfully versatile, easy, and delicious chocolate cut out cookie that was great for ice cream sandwiches and would also be good for decorating or sandwiching in a number of other ways.

Happy Anniversary to the Tuesdays With Dorie group! I've enjoyed every week that I've been a member.

Sweet and Spicy Nuts

It's Friday, the day that cooks and bloggers scattered around the globe post food they've prepared from Dorie Greenspan's book Around My French Table as part of the French Fridays With Dorie cooking group. Each month there is a list of recipes, and we can cook and post them in any order, as we have the time and inclination. This week I've chosen to post the Sweet and Spicy Nuts. According to Dorie, the French are most likely to serve something simple, such as nuts, along with drinks. And whether you are French or not, these nuts are the perfect nibbles to serve at a party, making this just the thing to post for New Year's Eve!

The first time I made these nuts was back in November when I attended an event in Madison, Connecticut, where Dorie read excerpts from her book and gave a little talk before giving each member of the audience personal attention as she signed our cookbooks. Dorie was, of course, utterly charming, and meeting her was a highlight of 2010 for me.

I knew that I wanted to bring something edible to the book signing for Dorie. My initial thought was, "Oh, I know, I'll make something from Dorie's book." I chose the nuts, because they would travel well, and didn't really realize how daunting it was - to cook Dorie's own food to serve to Dorie herself - until the nuts were already in the oven.

n.o.e.'s notes:

[edited to add: you can find the recipe for the Sweet and Spicy Cocktail Nuts on Dorie's blog]

- I used pecans, because I wanted to have something from my home state of Georgia for Dorie.

- Although Dorie gives lots of possible variations on seasonings for the nuts, I used the chili powder as specified in the main recipe.

- The nuts are quite easy to prepare. First you mix the nuts with egg whites then coat them with sugar and spice mixture. Then the nuts are baked until they are dry and a bit browned.

- I substituted palm sugar for the granulated white sugar.

- Pecans have lots of little crevices that catch and hold the egg whites and spices.

- It's a bit tedious to take each nut out of the seasoning and place it individually onto the baking sheet, but Dorie says that's how it's done, so I did it.

- There was a good bit of egg whites and spices left in the bowl, so I tossed in some more pecans and coated them also.

- I've also made this recipe with almonds and curry powder, pictured below.

the verdict:

Maybe it's as surreal for Dorie to taste her recipes, but cooked by other people, as it is for us to make her recipes and have her taste the results? Any musing along that line, however, was rendered irrelevant by the graciousness of Dorie. "Oh, these are good," she said, "your nuts are so nice and separate; mine always stick together." I had to laugh, "Dorie, I just placed them individually, as you said to do!" And then I had to admit that I'd changed the recipe by substituting the kind of sugar, although, the nuts were delicious that way. Unfortunately, in all the excitement, I didn't take a single picture of those pecans.

My next batch, the almonds with curry, was also quite good. The third time I made the nuts, I went back to the pecan/chili powder combination. These got just a tad too toasty in the oven, as you can see in the top picture, but luckily were still enjoyed by all.

Happy New Year!

{TWD} Pecan Sour Cream Biscuits

One of the appealing parts of the Tuesdays With Dorie baking group is the variety - and essential unpredictability - of the recipes selected. With a different "host" each week, the chosen recipes reflect not only the season but also the tastes of the various TWD members, as they choose the recipes from Baking: From My Home to Yours which attract them.

At busy times of the year, it can be a little bit tricky to fit the TWD recipes into the menu, planning, so this week, just like at Thanksgiving, we were free to choose a "rewind" recipe; something that we previously missed. After a bit of searching and thinking, I decided to choose a breakfast item. We had house guests for Christmas week, and at such times it's nice to pull something fresh from the oven first thing in the morning.


n.o.e.'s notes:

- These biscuits were originally chosen by Ashley of Eat Me, Delicous, in February 2008. You can find the recipe on her post.

- I baked these for breakfast on Christmas Eve and I was doing a million things at the same time. I mixed, rolled, cut and popped the biscuits in the oven, and was in the middle of congratulating myself on what a great job I'd done, when I realized that I'd left out the brown sugar. Luckily the biscuits are incredibly easy to throw together that I whipped up another batch immediately. This time I mixed up my steps and added the liquids without working the butter into the flour first. So I tried to mix the dough enough to incorporate the butter without overmixing and making the biscuits tough. No matter how they turned out, I wasn't going to bake these a third time just to get it right. Too much else on the "to do" list on Christmas Eve.

- I used a cutter that was slightly smaller than the specified 2 inches. Despite my worries about them, both batches of biscuits rose quite well in the oven, and I ended up with very tall petite biscuits.

the verdict:

I ended up liking both versions of these biscuits. The unsweetened ones were particularly good with salted butter or a piece of smoky bacon. The brown sugar version had a nice sweet edge, but I wouldn't exactly say that they tasted very strongly of caramel. The pecans provided a nice textural interest. From the way these biscuits disappeared from the serving plate, I'd say they were a big hit with everyone on Christmas Eve.

Eggnog Cheesecake

Eggnog by itself, as a drink, is a fairly divisive substance. On one side is the majority vocal "eeewww" crowd and the smaller, but passionate "best thing ever" camp. My family falls pretty squarely in the second group; we love nothing better than a glass of eggnog, big or small, spiked or not, before or after meals.

Turning eggnog into baked goods gains it a bigger audience; I've made eggnog scones, eggnog cinnamon rolls, and when I saw Sunset Magazine's recipe for Eggnog Cheesecake, I knew it would be the perfect thing to bake for my daughter A.L.E.'s fiance, K., who was visiting our home during the Christmas holidays and who loves cheesecake.

n.o.e.'s notes:

- You can find the recipe here

- I made a half recipe into a mini cheesecake in a 6 inch springform pan.

- Rather than the graham cracker crust in the recipe, I substituted gingersnaps for a little spicy bite.

- This cheesecake uses a fair amount of nutmeg, so a microplane comes in very handy to grate the fresh nutmeg.

- I skipped the whipped cream on top.

the verdict:

This was a lovely, creamy cheesecake with a mild nutmeg-y eggnog flavor. K. enjoyed "his" cheesecake and generously let us help him polish it off!

{TWD} Cardamom Crumb Cake

With all of the Christmas cookie and special occasion dessert baking going on at this time of year, I'll have to say that a breakfast-appropriate cake - one that Dorie Greenspan describes as "not too sweet" - was a very welcome Tuesdays With Dorie baking assignment this week. The Cardamom Crumb Cake contains the flavors, cardamom, orange zest, and coffee. I had a hard time imagining how those tastes could possibly combine, so I just had to bake it the way Dorie wrote it to see how it turned out.

n.o.e.'s notes:

- We can thank Jill of Jill's Blog for choosing the crumb cake this week. For the recipe, check out her blog post.

- I made half a recipe in a medium loaf pan, saving a few spoonfuls of batter for a tiny loaf.

- The only variation I made was to add a pinch of salt and a tiny bit of additional sugar to the crumb topping.

the verdict:

This is definitely not a run-of-the-mill crumb cake. Dorie says it's "exotic" and I couldn't agree with her more. It took me three bites to decide what I thought about the cake, then I loved it! The individual flavors combined in a mysterious yet appealing way and it had a pleasing crunch from the walnuts and the browned edges.

Here are reactions from family members:

My daughter JDE: "I'd eat it again. The salt in the topping is compelling"

My daughter ALE: "I'm tired of regular coffee cakes that are so sweet and not nuanced. This is definitely a cool coffee cake, very challenging, with surprises all along the way, and deeper layers of flavor. Ooh, now I taste the coffee."

My husband: "I like it. Please make more."

Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Shallots

If Christmas can be said to have a vegetable, I think the honor would go to brussels sprouts. They are a fabulous winter accompaniment to a hearty meal, but they rarely get to play a memorable role. This recipe for Skillet-Braised Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Shallots, from the The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook, just might change that. With bacon and bits of caramelized shallots, brussels sprouts get gussied up for the holiday (but they're just as comfortable at a weekday family meal.)


n.o.e.'s notes:

- The recipe, which I've included below, is pretty simple:

- I used Benton's bacon, and because it is so strong in smoky flavor, I used a little less than the recipe specified.

- I found that my sprouts cooked a bit quicker than the recipe advises, so my advice is to watch them carefully - the first time I made this, they were almost overcooked. Since I like a little more crispness to the sprouts, I've reduced the cooking time.

the verdict:

I'm glad to find such an easy and delicious way to prepare brussels sprouts. There was enough bacon to lend the sprouts great flavor but not so much that it overpowered the goodness of the sprouts. This has definitely become my regular brussels sprouts recipe, but it's also my company-worthy brussels sprouts recipe!

the recipe:

Skillet Braised Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Shallots

4 oz bacon (4 slices) sliced about 1/4 in wide
2 shallots, sliced
1 lb brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved through stem
1/2 c water
salt
1 T unsalted butter
1 T red wine vinegar

1. Cook bacon and shallots together in skillet over medium heat about 10 min. Transfer to paper towels to drain.

2. Add brussels sprouts, water and 1/2 tsp salt to skillet, cover and simmer over medium-high heat until brussels sprouts are bright green, about 9 minutes or less.

3. Uncover skillet and cook until the liquid has evaporated and sprouts are tender, about 5 minutes or less.

4. Remove from heat, and stir in bacon and shallots, butter and vinegar. Season with salt and pepper as needed.

Best Cookbooks - Links and Lists

If you like cooking, or reading, or cookbooks, or if you just like reading about cookbooks, this post is designed for you. Round about early December I started seeing, and reading, year-end lists of best cookbook. I saved the links and now I have a sizeable collection from various sources. Most are lists of books actually published in 2010. There are books that appear on nearly all of the lists, and there are some that show up only once. But each book has a reason for being listed, and it makes for fascinating reading, and wonderful gift-planning, to sort through them.

I've arranged the links thus: the first group contains lists from familiar media sources, such as major newspapers and food magazines; the second group has lists from food writers and bloggers. Next I've singled out a few notable cookbook review projects that are a bit out of the ordinary, and finally I've provided my own list of the books, some new and some older, that were most useful in my kitchen this year.

There are enough links here to provide you with material to while away long winter hours - and that's without even ordering anything! You'll also find suggestions to help with your Christmas gift-giving, and truth be told, gift-receiving.

After sifting through these lists, I now have a steady stream of USPS carriers and UPS trucks bringing packages to my doorstep. Many of my intended gift recipients happen to be readers of this blog, now they can expect cookbook gifts! And I am confident that there will be *ahem* a cookbook or three under the tree for me on Christmas morning.

Whether you choose to purchase at your local independent bookseller, or order from Amazon up until the very last possible moment, if you love to cook from cookbooks it's a safe bet that you will find something fabulous somewhere in this post.

I apologize for the formatting glitches in this post. Try as I might, and I actually tried to decipher the html, I couldn't get rid of some inconsistencies.

Best Cookbooks of 2010 ~ lists from media sources

The Washington Post's Top Cookbooks of 2010
Bon Appetit's Favorite Cookbooks of 2010
Amazon's Best Cookbooks of 2010

Amazon's Top 20 "Most Wished For" Cooking, Food & Wine Books
The Guardian's 25 Best Cookbooks of 2010
Epicurious' Best Cookbooks of 2010
NPR's Best Cookbooks Of 2010

Publisher's Weekly Best Lifestlye Books of 2010 (5 editors' picks)

Publisher's Weekly (25 more favorites)
The LA Times Great Cookbooks to Give and Receive

The New York Times Year's Best Cookbooks

Best Cookbooks ~ lists from food writers and bloggers

Gluten-free girl's 10 Best Cookbooks of 2010(Plus 2 More) [not necessarily gluten-free]
Michael Ruhlman's Books for the Holidays
Pastrygirl's The Best of Baking Cookbooks 2010
David Lebovitz's Best Cookbooks of 2010
the kitchn's My Favorite Baking Books of 2010
Cheryl Sterman Rule's Notable Cookbook Releases of 2010

Of particular interest:

In his list, food writer Jonathan Gold didn't focus on newly published cookbooks but on those books in his kitchen which are the most worn and stained. Here's the resulting list: 10 most battered cookbooks in Jonathan Gold's kitchen:

In order to generate a more accurate list of best cookbooks of the year, the Huffington Post Food editors first looked at a bunch of other lists. Only those cookbooks that had been listed on several other lists made the final cut: http://huff.to/guMTUV .

More than a single list, Food writer Kathleen Flinn is writing a series of posts in the month of December that she calls 25 Important Food Books - 2010. In her words, "I’ll be showcasing 25 books that had an impact on me in the past year. They’re not necessarily new books or classics or the ones you’d expect, but rather 25 books that I think everyone should know about for one reason or another". http://kathleenflinn.wordpress.com/ (The book posts are the ones from December 6 through 31)

The 2010 Tournament of Cookbooks, aka The Piglet, is a project of the fabulous site Food 52. Sixteen top cookbooks published in 2010 were placed in brackets, and an impressive array of food-world judges rendered verdicts on each matchup. The tournament is now complete, with a final winner declared, but you can explore all of the action by checking out the links in the right hand column on the tournament page. I found this to be wildly entertaining, and promptly lost half of a morning to reading this year's match-ups. When I realized that the 2009 Tournament was also accessible online, I lost the other half.

A Baker's Dozen of Cookbooks I Enjoyed in 2010

I. Savory and/or Comprehensive

Mark Bittman, How to Cook Everything - This book may not have absolutely everything in the world, but it certainly has everything I'm likely to cook and a good bit that I'm not. It's clear, it's comprehensive, and it's good. When I want to research an ingredient or a method of cooking, I'll reach for Bittman or my old Joy of Cooking.


Dorie Greenspan, Around My French Table - As a devoted fan of Greenspan's previous book, Baking: From My Home to Yours, it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that I'd buy this 2010 book. Greenspan branches out into savory food in her newest work, and she brings to it her trademark clarity and charm. Recipes I've enjoyed include the kuri squash soup and the fish en papillote. Oh, and I've made the sweet and spicy cocktail nuts three times already.

Rick Bayless, Mexican Every Day - Last year I was lucky enough to eat at Bayless' restaurant Topolobampo in Chicago, and at the end of the meal I purchased this book. For the most part the recipes are quite quick but the techniques and flavor combinations are far beyond the average Mexican-inspired recipes. Bayless' avocado and mango salad has become a standby in my kitchen, and I've loved several of the fish dishes as well.

Thomas Keller, Ad Hoc At Home - I bought this book when it was first published in 2009 when I got an excellent price on Amazon, but I suspected that I'd never actually cook from it. The book is gorgeous, and is sized more for the coffee table than the kitchen table, but it would be a shame to keep it for display. I read in an interview that Thomas Keller wanted the book to be used so much that it ended up spattered and stained, and at this point my copy is well on its way. Although some of the recipes are a little (or a lot) more complicated than my usual fare, Keller is clear and precise in his directions, and I've loved everything I've cooked from the book. The leek bread pudding was a favorite at Thanksgiving and we enjoyed the duck breasts for Christmas dinner last year (yes, both were in 2009 but I have continued to cook from the book this year)

Ruth Reichl, The Gourmet Cookbook - If you're feeling nostalgic for Gourmet magazine, this book might be the most comforting place to turn. You can most likely find all of your old favorite recipes between the yellow covers of this cookbook, and discover new favorites too. Since I started cooking my collard greens and kale Brazilian style, I've not prepared them any other way. And the chili is just about the best I've ever tasted.

II. Baking and Sweets

Alice Medrich, Pure Dessert - For my birthday last year I went to the bookstore to purchase a specific cookbook, but this book caught my eye and I came home with it instead. The book is organized by flavors (milk, nuts, fruit, etc.) rather than type of dessert (cake, cookie, tart, etc.) The recipes are unusual but not weird. I've made the lemon bars, Italian chocolate torte, and chocolate wafers.

I just bought Medrich's new cookie book, Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy, and I anticipate that I will love it also. I've tasted five of the cookies, baked by Medrich herself at a baking class. I enjoyed all of them, especially the ginger cookies, which are extraordinary, and which I immediately baked in my own kitchen.

Davis Lebovitz, Ready for Dessert - For this 2010 book David Lebovitz completely reworked and updated all of his favorite recipes for sweets. The result is a large book completely packed with beautifully-photographed temptingly-presented desserts. Although Lebovitz is known for his chocolate creations, non-chocolate selections make up significantly more than half of the recipes. The fresh ginger cake is beyond wonderful, and the chocolate racines cake was also delicious.

Lebovitz's previous book, The Perfect Scoop, is now available in paperback. It is a comprehensive collection of frozen confections, from the basic - but perfect - vanilla ice cream to more unusual flavors such as black pepper ice cream. I make ice cream at least once a week and this book is almost always on my counter.

Nick Malgieri, The Modern Baker - What initially drew me to this book is that it has a savory pies and tarts section, tucked in there among the cakes and specialty yeast breads and cookies. But I baked other things, including the yellow cake, the blackberry jam cake before making the delicious walnut, scallion and gruyere tart, and what I love about the book is that Malgieri streamlines the baking process for each baked good, so the preparation is simpler, and more elegant.

Elisabeth Prueitt and Chad Robertson, Tartine - This book is stylish and the recipes I've tried have been impeccable. I've especially loved the almond breakfast cake and the soft gingerbread cookies. Based on my success with this book, I'd be excited about the new-in-2010 Tartine Bread.

Dan Lepard, The Art of Handmade Bread - Dan Lepard, a baker from England, has devised a revolutionary method of preparing bread dough, and his breads have totally revolutionized my life. The only reason that this book is not constantly open is that I have memorized the recipe for his Simple Milk Loaf; it's simple and simply the best toasting bread I've ever had. There are other brilliant bread recipes, but the Milk Loaf is worth the (very low) price of the paperback book.

Peter Reinhart, The Bread Baker's Apprentice - I've been - very slowly - baking my way through this book; I've now passed the halfway mark and can truthfully say that there's not been a bad recipe to date. The book is worth owning for the bagels alone - making those homemade with his recipe is truly life-changing. Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads is similarly terrific, but I didn't use it much in 2010, as I was busy with the BBA recipes. I also have Reinhart's newer book, Artisan Breads Every Day, but haven't baked from it yet.