Cookbooks for the Baking Beginner

I have to have about 100 recipe baking cookbooks, and almost half of them have to do in some form with Chocolate. And half of those are all about chocolate chip cookies, and YES, there are a lot of chocolate chip cookie cookbooks. My son absolutely loves chocolate cookies, so I spent time looking for cookbooks for Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Now you have to watch what you buy, because, as I found out, some chocolate chip cookie books, even though the name is different, have the same recipes (actually by the same author). Yes, I did happen to buy two chocolate chip cookie books, from the same author, with different titles, but the same recipe. They were both by author Gwen Steege, and one was titled: 101 Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies, the other was titled: The Search for the Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie. The recipes themselves were excellent, and I ended up giving one away to my neighbor, so it wasn't such a bad story.

Now, lets get to some good beginner cookie recipes books:

If you like chocolate chip cookies, then take a look at: 101 Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies. This cookbook is perfect. This cookbook has an excellent discussion on basic cooking tips as well as an education about what the ingredients do for the cookie. Did you know that cornstarch can be used in place of some recipes and makes for a wonderfully crisp cookie?

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The recipes in this cookbook are easy to understand and easy to make. I wish there were more pictures, but the recipes themselves are excellent. I have made 11 out of the 101, and the Prize Winning Double Chocolate Chip Cookie is my favorite.

One More Cookie Cookbook:

Another one of my favorites cookie cookbooks is; The Golden Book of Cookies with 330 cookie recipes. The recipes are quite simple, but you have to be careful not to skip a step, as the recipe instructions are written in a single paragraph separated with a star.

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I love the Glazed Orange Crisps. The Double Chocolate Cheery Cookies are awesome and one of my favorites from this cookbook. However, my all-time favorite (and I have made over 50 different cookie recipes from this cook) are as simple as the Lemon Drops. They are amazingly light and more than tasty. I can make a batch of 30 and they will be gone in 3 days.

You can only eat so many cookies before you want to venture out into other things, like cakes, pies, brownies. the cookbooks above focus on just cookies. Let's take a look at a combination book;

One of the first dessert books I purchased was Maida Heatter's Book of Great American Desserts (recommended by a good friend). The introduction is excellent, talking about ingredients and how they work, equipment and what you will need for the book (if you make all of the recipes), and then my favorite part, and I read this often, techniques. I had always wondered how to "Fold" ingredients together and her explanation is SPOT ON.

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One of my first ventures into this book was a Boston Cream Pie, it was amazingly easy and a hit at the party. Then one after another, New York State Apple Cobbler, Kentucky Cake, The American Chocolate Layer Cake, The Chocolate Moose Pie, Savannah Crisps, and my favorite Apple Cream Cheese Pie. One look at this recipe and I had to make it, Cheese cake on top, cinnamon apple pie on the bottom, and delicious. 

The book has sections for; Pies, Tarts, and Turnovers, Layer Cakes, Cakes made with Fruits or Vegetables, Chocolate Cakes, Other Cakes with my favorite - Oreo Cookie Cake, Sweet Breads, Yeast Pastries, Muffins Cupcakes, and Tassies, Shortcake, Cobblers, Pandowdy, etc, Mouse, Flan and Puddings, Cheesecakes, Brownies, Chocolate Cookies, Other Cookies, Fresh Fruit Desserts, Ice Cream, Candy, and Sauces. 

One wish for this book would be to have a table of contents for just the sections, however, and I remind EVERY beginner to do this, Mark your favorite recipes with a piece of paper slipped between the pages, or write it down in a log. I don't know how many times I have searched for a recipe, paging through book after book, eventually finding it, so NOW I write them in a cookbook log. If you happen upon any of Maida Heatter's cookbooks, buy it, they are an excellent collection of phenomenal recipes that will make you the hit of every party you bring a dessert to.

Now that you have just picked up some of the basics and musts for every kitchen, let's talk about some other cookbooks.

If you are a chocolate lover, are married to a chocolate lover, know a chocolate lover, Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate, and I am repeating myself because I happened upon my favorite chocolate cookbooks of all time;

Marked, sticking out of the top, are 18 pieces of paper of recipes that I have made, I have loved, everyone has loved them, and I make over and over again. My neighbor begs me to make the White Chocolate Cheesecake, his kids the Deep Dark Chocolate Fudge Cookies. I made the Chocolate Strawberry Moose cake and I could bet Marcel sold 25 books to the people that at that cake. I made the Chocolate Espresso Fudge Cake and I believe my next doors neighbors kids were in a chocolate coma.

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The recipes in these books are easy to make, the instructions are excellent (I wish there was some BOLD to mark steps, but you can follow). Not only is there an ingredients section, but there is an "equipment needed" section, as well as "The Chef's Touch". The Chef's Touch section talks about what wine goes with the dessert, or how expensive it might be due to a certain ingredient, or how long they last in the refrigerator (if they last). I find the Chefs Tough quite interesting and sometimes even funny or sentimental. 

Once I bought one "Death by Chocolate" by Marcel Desaulniers, I had to have them all:

.

For even the beginning baker, I would recommend these cookbooks, or if you love chocolate! they are well written and the recipes are easy to make. Once you have tried one recipe, you will want to make another and then another......ask my neighbors, I don't eat my baking (yes, that's weird), but I enjoy baking so much, I make it and drop it off at my neighbors.


How about a few more beginner cookbooks, and let's stay away from chocolate a bit. Let's talk CHEESECAKE! I love cheesecake, so much, that I buy every cheesecake book that I can find. The White Chocolate Cheesecake in the Death by Chocolate book is by far my FAVORITE (and everyone else's), but man can't live on just one cheesecake. 

I picked up the Joy of Cheesecake from a very large city-wide garage sale. I was surprised because most of the baking cookbooks usually disappear before I arrive. I flipped through the cookbooks, and there it was, The Joy of Cheesecake ($3.00). It was a bargain at $3.00 and would be a bargain at any price. 

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There are a ton of cheesecake books, and this may just have been the one I picked up that I enjoyed, however, there is something in this book that I truly needed, A PIE CRUST section. This section has saved me several times when I had to come up with a pie crust or cheesecake crust. Although there are no pictures, the instructions are numbered and the ingredients are separated by functionality (i.e crust, filling, topping, etc), and this is one of the easiest cookbooks to use. I also recommend finding the hard-cover, as I am not a fan of paperback cookbooks, as they it is too easy to flip them over or flip the book closed.

Other then that, my favorite cheesecake from this book is the Lemon Meringue Cheese Pie. However, the Sour Cream Cheesecake, the Hazelnut Cheesecake, and the Chocolate cheesecakes are excellent (still working my way through the book).


I am not a fan of Best recipe books, however, I decided to pick up this cheesecake cookbook, The 50 Best Cheesecake Recipes in the World, Winning Recipes from a contest.

I made the mistake of picking up the paperback and the book is very small  (not quite sure why they make COOKBOOKS like this because you have to figure out a way to keep the book opened to the recipe you are making at that time). I end of taking another cookbook and flattening out the cheesecake book with it (laying it across the top of the book).


That being said, the Chocolate Orange Cheesecake and the Mocha Rum Cheesecakes are awesome!!! There is a Chocolate Truffle Cheesecake that is, as my niece would say, "to die for" and of course my son's favorite, the Snicker's Cheesecake. The recipe book itself is easy to read and the instructions are good, just make sure you get it in hardcover.




Ah, the Sweet Melissa baking Book.... one of my all time favorites, well except for the Death by Chocolate series and Maida Heatter's series of books. If you are looking for something DIFFERENT, but easy to make, and the instructions are easy to read and numbered, pickup this cookbook. I love layered cakes and the front of the layered cake sections talks about how to put together a layered cake including crumb coats and stuff like that. My first cake was the Sweet Almond Cake with Lemon Curd and Lemon Mascarpone Frosting, not only was it easy to make but it was absolutely delicious. Then the Brooklyn Brownie Cake, OH and my favorite, Carrot Cake (for all of you Carrot Cake Lovers!!!) with fresh Orange Cream Cheese Frosting. No pictures in this book, but a good baking cookbook for the beginner.



 

There are a couple more baking cookbooks that I would like to mention, and the only reason being that I purchased these books and got more than recipes out of them. The first is The Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum. The recipes are NOT easy, in fact they are downright hard to make, but when you get done, not only do you have a delicious baked good, but you also might get an education. For me, It was like going to baking college by reading this book. Every detail is covered on how to make, bake, cut, ingredients, cooking times, etc. 

The ingredients and equipment section is over 40 pages with details not found in many cookbooks (especially all in one book). The section for professionals and passionate amateurs is over 40 pages and talks about wedding cakes and decorating.

If you want a baking education, buy this book! It is well written and an excellent baking resource guide.

This is another book by Rose, and once you step past beginner, buy this book. You can even buy it now, because baking is NOT THAT HARD!!! My favorite in this book is the baby Lemon Cheesecakes. WOW, everyone gets their own lemon cheesecake. Trust me, they will come back for seconds. My second favorite is the red velvet cake. I had never had red velvet cake or made it until I purchased this book. It is pretty dang delicious.

Rose's books are said to be for the expert, however, I have found that if you take your time, and read carefully, even the beginner can make everything in this book (and I am going to try).

Remember, baking is just a state of mind, if you believe you can do it, you can. I do warn you though, taste testing every recipe will make you exercise a little more. Make sure you don't taste AFTER you put in the raw eggs though.

New York Cheesecake Recipe with Pictures

Just a note, before we start baking. ANYONE can bake and bake like a pro. You don't need expensive gadgets or a Martha Stewart kitchen. All you really need is a couple of good recipes, the right ingredients, an oven, and some baking tool basics (check out my article on Baking Tools and Recipe Books. There is one more thing, to do anything well, you truly must enjoy what you are doing. So enjoy baking, and then enjoy eating what you have baked.

My first experience with baking was making a New York Cheese Cake for my family at Christmas. Of course, they couldn't believe that I could bake something this good, but I did, and I was quite proud of myself. The recipe I am using is from the September 2006, Issue 35, Everyday Food magazine (check out www.everydayfoodmag.com for some excellent recipes) page# 20. This cheesecake is simple to make, doesn't take much time, and is light and absolutely delicious.

To make this cheesecake, you will need the following cooking items: 

• 1 - 9 inch spring-form pan (make sure the bottom lip is down)
• Measuring cups (1/4 cup, 1/2 cup, and 1 cup), 
• A set of measuring spoons (1/8 tsp, 1/2tsp, 1tsp, and 1 tbs) 
• A food processor
• A decent stand mixer, probably the most important piece of equipment for baking
• Rubber spatulas
• Various bowls (to melt butter and other stuff)

You can make do with a bowl and hand mixer, but a good stand mixer will not only mix everything thoroughly, but it will make your baking life MUCH EASIER. I purchased my KitchenAid stand mixer from Kohl's with a 30% off coupon I received in the mail, during a big sale and this mixer hasn't missed a beat for over 5 years.

The ingredients that you will need are:

• 6 tablespoons of unsalted butter (3/4 of a stick) plus some for buttering the spring-form pan 
• 12 graham crackers (I use Keebler original graham crackers)
• 2 Tablespoons light-brown sugar
• 3 bars (8 ounces each) cream cheese, ROOM TEMPERATURE (I use Philadelphia Cream Cheese - buy it when it goes on sale, it last several months in your fridge)
• 1-3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon of salt
• 2-1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract (make sure you wipe off the lip of the bottle before you put the cap back on - or it will harden on)
• 5 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 pint of sour cream (2 cups or 16 ounces)

Before you start, take both the cream cheese and the eggs out of the refrigerator and let them sit on your counter for about an hour. If they still feel cold, you can put the cream cheese in the microwave (unwrapped) for about 30 seconds, and the eggs in warm water for about ten minutes.

Nothing in this recipe has a time constraint, so take your time with each step.

Let's start baking!

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, it takes about 8 minutes so you can go ahead and preheat your oven before you start. If you have a convention oven, preheat your convection to 350 degrees, but watch your end times closer.


Gather these ingredients for the graham cracker crust:

•    some unsalted butter for buttering the spring-form pan
•    6 tablespoons of unsalted butter (3/4 of a stick)
•    12 graham crackers (each 2-1/2 by 5 inches)
•    3 Tablespoons light-brown sugar

 

Butter the bottom and sides of a 9 inch spring-form pan. If you have never done this before, grab the stick of unsalted butter, cut off 2 tablespoons (tbsp) from the stick, peel back a little paper from the stick and by holding the paper end of the 2 tbsp stick, rub butter all over the sides and bottom of the pan. Make sure that the butter is spread everywhere, else your crust will stick to the pan (and that is NOT good). I go over each area twice or more to make sure. Everything with butter should be greasy shiny.
 

Melt the 6 tablespoons of butter. Put the butter in a cereal bowl and put it in the microwave for 60 seconds on high. If it is NOT melted totally (depending on whether or not your button is frozen or refrigerated), put it back in for another 30 seconds, or until it is melted. Leave the bowl in the microwave until you need it (it may be HOT, be careful).

 

Put the 12 graham crackers and brown sugar in a food processor (or something that can grind stuff up), turn it on high and grind until finely ground.

Take the butter out of the microwave (or from the counter) and add it to the finely ground graham cracker and brown sugar mixture already in the food processor and turn it on high. This is the tricky part, because all of the finely ground mixture needs to be moist, so you may need to stop processing, stir up the mixture with a rubber spatula, turn it on again, and then repeat until everything is combined and the crumbs are moist.

Press the mixture onto the bottom and 2 inches up the side of the spring-form pan. This is probably the hardest part of this recipe, figuring out how much goes on the bottom and then on the side, and then how the heck do you get it on the sides of the pan?

Take half of the crust mixture and using the bottom of the spoon-like rubber spatula, press it even onto the bottom of the spring-form pan. If there are some spots left to cover, add some mixture and press it down. Make sure that the mixture if pushed into the 
corners.

Press the mixture onto the side of the spring-form pan. The mixture will NOT fall off the bottom, so, tilt the pan on it's side, take a scoop of the mixture and put it on the side of the pan. Press it evenly on the side of the pan. 2 inches up the side is about 1/4 from the top of the pan. Roll the pan and take another scoop and press it into place, and continuing to roll until the sides of the pan are covered with the mixture. 

Take your time and make it even. I usually use the top flat part of the spatula to even out the top edge of the mixture (on the sides of the spring-form pan).


Set the pan aside (don't worry, the crust will not fall off the sides of the pan), set it down carefully, anyways.





Gather these ingredients for the cheesecake filling:




3 bars cream cheese, at room temperature  

• 1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 5 large eggs, at room temperature
  
  

Combine Cream Cheese, sugar, salt and vanilla extract in your stand mixer  (or bowl with mixer). Start out mixing on slow (you really don't want to toss stuff out of the mixing bowl), then gradually speed it up. Mix until is it smooth. I  always like to use a spatula to scape the bottom of the bowl, just in case there is some unmixed ingredients, wiping the spatula off on the mixer beaters. Also, scrape off the mixing beaters, there is usually some cream cheese that hasn't been mixed yet. Mix on medium/high until really smooth. This mixture is smooth but NOT soupy-like. You can taste it, you know you want to, it's actually quite good.

Adds the eggs, ONE AT A TIME, to the mixture. Once the egg is added, turn the mixer on medium for about 30 seconds. Scape down the sides of the mixing bowl after each egg is added. You can add the egg with the mixer off or on, as long as the sides are scraped after each egg is mixed in. Once all 5 eggs have been added, I usually mix on medium for about 30 seconds. This mixture is smooth and easy to pour (soupy). DO NOT taste this, raw eggs are not good to eat.

Pour the cheesecake filling into the spring-form pan. If you pressed the crust onto the sides high enough (2 inches), the filling will go about half way up the pan. After you pour it, take a spatula and scrape the sides to get all of the filling into the spring-form pan. The filling will also self level, however, I usually spin the spring-form back and forth to level it evenly around the whole pan (not that this is needed, but just to make sure).

Put the cheesecake into your oven, on the middle rack, for 50 minutes. Bake until the top is light brown and the center is almost set (a little moist). I usually set two timers,  the timer on the oven for 50 minutes, and the timer on my microwave at 45 minutes. All oven temperatures are different, and if you check at 45 minutes and it is not done yet, you can just close the oven and wait another 5 minutes. However, it could be done at 45 minutes, so check it early.

 

Pull the cheesecake out of the oven (Don't turn off the stove) and let it cool for 15 minutes. When you pull it out of the oven, it will look like it is overflowing the top of the pan (above the crust too). Don't worry, as it cools, it will shrink down below the top of the crust.








I use to use a couple of dish towels to pull stuff out of the oven, but always ended up burning my hands, UNTIL I found The 'Ove' Glove. And because I have to use two hands to pull stuff out of the oven, I bought TWO. You will never burn yourself again, when you pull stuff out of the oven, with The 'Ove' Glove.




 

Raise the temperature of your over to 450 degrees. This takes about 5 minutes.


Gather these ingredients for the cheesecake topping:

• 1/4 cup of granulated sugar
• 1-1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract 
• 1 pint of sour cream (2 cups or 16 ounces)

Combine the Sour Cream, Sugar, and Vanilla in a large cereal bowl or mixing bowl. Use a fork or spatula to mix the ingredients. I use a fork first, and then a rubber spatula, mixing thoroughly.

After the cheesecake has cool for 15 minutes, spread this mixture on top of the cake, leaving about a half inch border around the edge. This is easy because with every cheesecake that I made, there always seems to be a natural half inch border baked into the cake.

Put the cheesecake back into the oven, on the center rack, for 10 minutes.

Pull it out of the oven (remember your "Ove' Glove) and let it cool (leave it out for about 60 minutes).










Once it has cooled, refrigerate in the pan for 12 hours (or more), I usually cover it when I put it into the refrigerator, but I always get condensation on the inside of the plastic wrap, which leads to water on top of the cheesecake. You can also put it inside a cake cover, but that also gets condensation. Don't panic, if you get water on top of the cheese cake, take a paper towel and soak it up.

Run a knife around the edge of the springform pan, spring open the pan and remove the side. You can either put the cheesecake into a cake box or plastic container with the bottom attached, OR you can take a cake spatula (about 8 inches by 8 inches) and scoop the cake off of the bottom of the springform pan, and put it onto a cake plate.

Take a sharp knife, cut a piece and eat your New York Cheesecake. It is light and delicious and very easy to make.

This cheesecake serves 12 and takes about 90 minutes to complete, from start to finish, with 12 hours to sit in the refrigerator. 

My son loves this cheesecake, and you will too. 

Your Baking Wizard is Complete, Press Finish to Eat

Please check out my other recipes (coming soon) for that same step by step instructions with pictures, as well as articles about basic baking needs (this one is important), and another on some good baking cookbooks that every kitchen needs.

If you have any questions, please feel free to send me an e-mail.