Lauren Chattman, a pastry chef-turned mom, shares tips on how she transformed her professional baking experience into real life solutions for cooking and entertaining children. Learn how to store and reheat pancakes, bake easy birthday cakes, make kid-friendly breakfasts and party-perfect pizzas.
How to Make Breakfast
A basic, easy pancake recipe is offered with variations made to suit the mood of finicky eaters. Start plain, then try oatmeal raisin, berry, buttermilk or cornmeal-cheddar varieties. Waffle lovers will find healthy versions and ginger, pumpkin, even ham and cheese options. Mix up the dry ingredients, add the wet, stir in each recipe's unique ingredients, then pour into a waffle maker or griddle. Recipes for muffins, biscuits, quick breads and scones will keep the kitchen a breakfast stop year round.
How to Bake Treats
Cookies, brownies, bars, pies, tarts, quiches and cobblers are well covered in Mom's Big Book of Baking. The cookie jar chapter is baking inspiration enough. Chocolate-Currant Rugelach, Rolled Gingerbread Cookies and four versions of Chocolate Chip Cookies will have even a non-baker drooling.
How to Bake Birthday Cakes
Not everyone is a natural born cake baker, but using a store-bought mix leaves a lot to be desired. Learn to bake a real birthday cake with these step-by-step instructions from a professional chef. Ms. Chattman shares how she has foregone the fancy cakes of her restaurant years for simpler versions that a busy mom can both bake and be proud of.
How to Make Bread and Pizza at Home
There is nothing quite like homemade bread, yet most home cooks fear attempting it from scratch. Mom's Big Book of Baking will lessen that fear by taking a simple step-by-step approach that is perfect for a new cook. Being able to make pizza dough from scratch means there is always an emergency dinner at hand.
Recipe Excerpt:
Cranberry Orange Muffins
- Nonstick cooking spray (optional)
- 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons grated orange zest
- 1 cup buttermilk or lowfat plain yogurt
- 1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries, picked over for stems and coarsely chopped
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners or coat it with cooking spray.
- Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium mixing bowl.
- Whisk together the cooled melted butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, orange zest and buttermilk or yogurt in a large mixing bowl. With a wooden spoon, stir in the flour mixture until just combined. Stir in the cranberries.
- Fill each muffin cup about three-quarters full. Bake the muffins until they are golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 22 to 25 minutes. Let them cool in the pan fore about 5 minutes, invert them onto a wire rack, and then turn them right side up on the rack to cool completely.
- Cranberry-Orange Muffins will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to two days, or wrap them individually in plastic and then aluminum foil and freeze them for up to one month.
Title: Mom's Big Book of Baking
Author: Lauren Chattman
Publisher: Havard Common Press, 287 pages, $21.95
ISBN: 978-1-55832-295-7
