The Book Corner. Guestblogger Julius Elefante

Thanks, Britt for having me as your guest this week.

Baking from my Home to Yours by Dorie GreenspanProlific baker and cookbook writer Dorie Greenspan was once told by Julia Child that they got on very well because they were both home cooks. This is of course believd by Ms Greenspan's culinary pedigree - she has been in the kitchens of the great chefs Pierre Herme, Jean George Vongerichten and Daniel Boulud. Her numerous collaborative and solo works are multi-awarded and tend to favour stylized Parisian pastries. Her newest outing, Baking From My Home to Yours, published last year and now widely embraced by bloggers all over, is perhaps the tome that many occasional bakers will find to be the most familiar and accessible. It has become my one favourite baking cookbook.Leafing through the gorgeously photographed pages, I honed in on her Best Chocolate Chip Cookies. I set out to bake a batch:
True enough, these are exquisite enough and deserve being called the "best." They are moderately thin, crunchy around the edges but substantial and chewy at the centre. They are also very of the moment: lately, I have been noting that high-end bakeries are retiring their puffy, chewy, doughy cookies in favour of these thin, craggy-edged beauties. Ms Greenspan provides the recipe for these cookies on her website.
Once in a while, one may want a treat but without all the fuss associated with making a cake. The Dressy Chocolate Loaf is as easy as it is delectable.

After creaming butter, sugar, and eggs, one adds sour cream and the sifted dry ingredients. I counted three, maybe four, steps. Follow this up with an even easier sour cream ganache, then you'll have something that is the epitome of beautiful simplicity. Which is probably why Ms Greenspan loves this recipe - it appears in another of her cookbook as "Chocolate Midnight." A recipe can be found in Cooking the Books.Of course, what good is a cookbook without its show-stopper cake? Without a doubt, the one cake to trump them all is her Devil's Food White-Out Chocolate Cake. This is shown on the cover of the book, and here is my rendition of it:

Thanks Julius for being my guest blogger.

I have already put this book on my wish list.......and Christmas is right around the corner......

You can visit Julius at his blog:

http://occasionalbaker.blogspot.com