Our Favourite Cookbooks of the Year

The third time is quite the charm! We're very excited to share with you our favourite cookbooks from this year. There are some stellar new books for bakers and a few outstanding cookbooks from the food blogging community. If you're looking for gift ideas for bakers, cooks, or that friend that instagrams their food, consider these:

Baked Elements: Our 10 Favorite Ingredients
By Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito
Photographs by Tina Rupp
Hardcover, 224 pages
Published by Stewart, Tabori and Chang
ISBN 9781584799856

Every time they come out with a new cookbook, we can't help thinking about our visit to their bakery. Their desserts are that good. They're memorable. They're delicious. You're probably familiar with them now that Williams-Sonoma carries a lot of their products. But do pick up their books and try baking from scratch! What are the ten featured ingredients in this book? Peanut Butter, Lemon and Lime, Caramel, Booze, Pumpkin, Malted Milk Powder, Cinnamon, Cheese, Chocolate, and Banana. It's highly likely that you love more than seven of these ingredients. This book has a different design from their previous two, but you'll love the infographics that start each chapter!

Bouchon Bakery
By Thomas Keller and Sebastien Rouxel, with Susie Heller, Matthew McDonald, Michael Ruhlman, and Amy Vogler
Photographs by Deborah Jones
Hardcover, 400 pages
Published by Artisan
ISBN 9781579654351

Who doesn't get distracted walking by a Bouchon bakery case? The gigantic-sized cookies, macarons, éclairs, cupcakes, financiers, bouchons, madelines, tarts, and croissants! And what about the bread they use in the restaurants? They're all in this book. Read the helpful tips and create your own memories at home.

La Tartine Gourmande: Recipes for An Inspired Life
By Béatrice Peltre
Hardcover, 320 pages
Published by Roost Books
ISBN 9781590307625

Wow. The photographs in this cookbook are stunning. Just stunning! You may know Béatrice from her blog by the same name, La Tartine Gourmande. This cookbook is such a treat to see, flip through it and you'll get it. Everything Béatrice has captured for us to see is just charming, bright, and fresh.

Macarons: Authentic French Cookie Recipes from the Macaron Cafe
By Cecile Cannone
Paperback, 144 pages
Published by Ulysses Press
ISBN 9781569758205

Having visited Macaron Cafe in NYC, we placed this book on our holiday wishlist last year. Luckily our Secret Santa did deliver and we've made three batches of macarons following the recipe in this book. They've all turned out nicely and it's such a relief to be able to make macarons at home now! The instructions are clear and easy to follow. There are lots of recipes for the fillings and decoration ideas. It's an inspiring book for all!

One Girl Cookies: Recipes for Cakes, Cupcakes, Whoopie Pies, and Cookies from Brooklyn's Beloved Bakery
By Dawn Casale and David Crofton
Photographs by Iain Bagwell
Hardcover, 160 pages
Published by Clarkson Potter
ISBN 9780307720481

The cover had us at whoopie pies. But there's more inside! Orange Butter Drops with Shredded Coconut, Chocolate Coconut Macaroons, Chocolate Chip Pistachio Pound Cake, Banana Whoopie Pies with Dulce de Leche Filling and Milk Pie. We love all of these updated classics! It's about time that we pay them a visit on our next trip to New York!

Sweet Cream and Sugar Cones: 90 Recipes for Making Your Own Ice Cream and Frozen Treats from Bi-Rite Creamery
By Kris Hoogerhyde, Anne Walker, and Dabney Gough
Photography by Paige Green
Hardcover, 224 pages
Published by Ten Speed Press
ISBN 9781607741848

Ice cream! We have not made ice cream yet, but we have good inspiration to now. This puts getting an ice cream machine on the top of our list. The book will help you master the basic techniques like making the base for the ice cream, sugar cones, sorbet, granita, ice pops, ice cream cakes, ice cream pie, and ice cream sandwiches. There are step-by-step photos and tips interspersed between the instructions. Trust us, you'll be craving for their ice cream, even in the middle of winter.

Tartine: The Boxed Set
By Elisabeth Prueitt and Chad Robertson
Photographs by France Ruffenach and Eric Wolfinger
Hardcover, 528 pages
Published by Chronicle Books
ISBN 9781452107028

A serious addition to your bookshelves! This is a great box set for those who love to bake. Tartine offers sweet treats and Tartine Bread is famous for their bread in San Francisco. These cookbooks will make you gain a whole new level of respect for pastry chefs and bread bakers. The clear instructions are filled with details, cups and weight measurements are both included, and each recipe includes carefully written kitchen notes with practical advice. Both books are designed with clean, simple lines. The burlap-covered box case adds such charm!

The Cookie Dough Lover's Cookbook
By Lindsay Landis
Hardcover, 160 pages
Published by Quirk Books
ISBN 9781594745645

If you're thinking that her name is familiar, it's probably because Lindsay is the blogger of Love and Olive Oil. She's come up with the perfect, egg-free cookie dough that tastes great and is easy to make. We were scratching our heads and wondering how a whole cookbook could  possibly feature cookie dough, we were pleasantly surprised. The book features treats such as Cooke Dough Crème Brûlée, Cookie Dough Whoope Pies, Malted Cookie Dough Milkshakes, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream, Deep-Fried Cookie Dough Fritters, Cookie Dough Dessert Pizza, and Cookie Dough-Stuffed Dark Chocolate Cupcakes. Oh there's more, but you're probably drooling already. We love the design of the book and Lindsay's photography knocks it out of the park. We're also quite excited to learn that Lindsay's next book, Breakfast For Dinner, will be out next year!

The Seasonal Baker: Easy Recipes from My Home Kitchen to Make Year-Round
By John Barricelli
Photographs by Ben Fink
Hardcover, 288 pages
Published by Clarkson Potter
ISBN 9780307951878

A follow-up to The SoNo Baking Company Cookbook (we featured it in our first list), this one makes a great companion. There are more stories about John and his family, more mouth-watering recipes, and offers savory recipes as well. This book focuses and explains the diversity of fruits and vegetables - when to buy them and how to prepare and store them. Some of the recipes I've already tagged for trying are Brioche French Toast with Vanilla Filling, Caramel-Apple Tart, Lemon Soufflé Tartlets, Asparagus Tart with Herbed Béchamel and Gruyère, and the Ratatouille Hand Pies.

The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook
By Deb Perelman
Hardcover, 336 pages
Published by Appetite
ISBN 9780449015797

You read Deb's blog, don't you? If there were courses in school about food bloggers, Smitten Kitchen would be on a required reading list. What you'll love is her no fuss approach to food and photography. Cooking from her tiny Manhattan kitchen, she's never been a chef, restaurant owner, or even a waitress, but here we are, in love with her recipes!

Click on the year to view our previous lists: 2010, 2011.

Thomas Keller and Bouchon Bakery

Thomas Keller stopped in Toronto for his book tour of Bouchon Bakery. The Cookbook Store hosted the event at Isabel Bader Theatre and about 500 were in attendance that rainy and stormy night. The event consisted of an on-stage interview with Cookbook Store's Alison Fryer, which was then followed by questions from the audience, and a book signing.

Having caught a cold and with two tickets months bought months prior, I was terrified that I wouldn't be able to attend that night. Luckily I managed to conserve enough energy to attend early to nab seats on the side where I could muffle my coughs. (I guess if it came down to more bed rest, I would have just sent Howard to go pick-up our book and record the event for me to watch at home.)

To my surprise, the books were all pre-signed! We later found out online that he signed approximately 700 copies in under 90 minutes. While I'm disappointed that we didn't get our books personalized, this turned out for the best. It was late after the interview and I didn't think my ailing body would have lasted in the long line-up. Plus, we were told that in order to keep the line moving, there would be no one-on-one photos during the signing.

The night started with a quick poll from Alison -
How many attended when Thomas Keller was in Toronto last time? Not a lot of hands went up.
How many work in a restaurant or the food industry? Quite a few raised their hands!
How many have eaten at a Keller's establishments? About 70-80% of the audience had their hands raised!

Howard and I first learned of Thomas Keller in the summer of 2010, when Ad Hoc at Home was released. That book had received so much buzz that we finally had to take a look to see what the fuss was about. Now, when we travel to a city (New York City; Las Vegas) with one or more of his famed eateries, we make sure it's on our list of things to visit.

But back to the night's presentation, Thomas admits that he doesn't know that much about baking, which is why he's happy that Sebastien Rouxel's name is on the cover. He says it's very much Sebastien's book (image above).

Thomas was very blunt and straightforward with his answers. We found ourselves surprised at how honest he was. Having never met him before that night and going through Ad Hoc at Home, the book presented Thomas in such a playful manner, but he's quite serious. He blatantly tells us that he has no idea who the home cook is. He isn't trying to write a cookbook for "you" because he doesn't know who you are. He reasons that home cooks and bakers vary from those who don't know how to boil water to those that could likely cook better than him. He even admits that we can't make great bread at home - we simply don't have the right ovens for it. Luckily, Bouchon Bakery does come up with a solution and the sections in the book about bread are very detailed.

And despite there being measurements in the book, throw out your measuring cups! Always use a kitchen scale. He bemoans that their publisher made them keep the measuring cups in it. He explains that the result of  reducing the bakery's large recipes meant exact measurements, like 154 grams. Don't round it to 150 grams. That way, if the recipe is doubled, it is still correct. If you start rounding the recipes, you'll be 20 or 30 grams over or under when you scale the recipe up or down. Precision. It's all about understanding precision in the bakery.

Next, he tells us to practice and have patience. No one is born knowing how to do things. Thomas does warn us to not be too ambitious. Start with the simplest and easiest recipe. At the end of the day, we all want to be successful. Starting with the easiest recipe will help give you confidence and courage. Do them over and over again to know the nuances of the ingredients. Then, slowly work your way up to the more difficult recipes. So if you get Bouchon Bakery for the holidays this year, start with the chocolate chip cookie.

The conversation then steered away from baking and went back to Thomas's beginning - The French Laundry Cookbook. People tell him they started cooking because of that book. He's surprised to hear that, but feels blessed to have impacted people, it reminds him of what his responsibilities are. He tells us that we have to plan for our future. We won't be able to do what we do now when we are 40, 50, or 60. It's physically demanding to work in a kitchen.

Thomas then covers the three steps for any business to become successful. One, hire the right people. Two, be committed to training them. This means that training does not end after two weeks. It's impossible. The first week you're just learning where everything is. The second week, maybe you're placing faces with names. You haven't even gotten to learn your job yet. He drives this to the point with an example that parents don't take the training wheels off bikes or flotation devices off their children after two weeks. Three, mentor so that they become better than you. If they don't, you didn't do a good job. It's always about the next generation.

So, will there be a Per Se cookbook? It would be years of dedication, but Thomas didn't reveal whether this was in the works. But he was pretty confident in answering that he will not be opening any more restaurants.

We didn't find that many of the audience questions very helpful, so let's go on with a look at the book:

Since I've been on a macaron-making binge, this recipe was the first one I flipped to.

Bouchons!

Howard spotted the crêpe cake recipe and has already demanded I make it for his birthday next year.

Oh là là indeed. Those look so good! I'd like to claim the one on the right.

The back pages of the book includes staff photos from each Bouchon Bakery location! This is such a nice tribute to the people who work there!

Thomas Keller managed to meet with a few writers during his short Toronto visit, you can read about it on The Grid, Citytv, and Maclean's.

Special thanks to Bonita from Thomas Allen & Sons Ltd. and to the team at the Cookbook Store for organizing the event!

Bouchon Bakery

One of my favourite spots in New York City is at Columbus Circle overlooking Central Park. What makes it better is that Bouchon Bakery is on the third floor of the Time Warner Center. It's pretty much a staple when we visit New York or another city with a location. However, this was the first time we had lunch at the cafe here. Why did we not do this earlier?!?

The delicious soup of the day. I finally understand how soup can be good for the soul.

The Hanger Steak with applewood smoked bacon, piquillo peppers, and yellow corn succotash with horseradish-crème fraîche. Howard's pretty intent on recreating that succotash now. While I loved the addition of the crème fraîche, it made me think I was also having a baked potato on the side. Great pairing!

The main reason for eating at the cafe: dessert! That day, while I was eyeing the chocolate souffle, I eventually went with the Dulce de Leche. A caramel génoise, cashew crunch, caramel crémeux, with a milk sorbet.

That caramel... oh my gosh! And the milk sorbet, great palate cleaners to cut through all the sweetness. Yummy, yummy, yummy!

Howard always says he won't steal any of my dessert, but he stole many bites! I don't see how you could not want to try this.

You would think that would be enough for me. Nope. We headed over to the bakery for takeout. Pictured above is the TKO - Thomas Keller Oreo!

Macarons! I originally only wanted to order the coconut lime and vanilla bean. But I was convinced to also get the summer berry. I was later surprised to find out that he kindly threw in a pistachio for me, too! As if you need to win me over even more Bouchon! And you know what? I liked the summer berry one the best.

I am so excited for the cookbook, Bouchon Bakery, which comes out this year! And we're going to meet Thomas Keller! He's coming to Toronto in October to promote the book and we've already bought tickets to the event. =)

Bouchon

Bouchon
at the Venetian Resort-Hotel-Casino
Venezia Tower-9th Floor
3355 Las Vegas Boulevard South
Las Vegas, NV 89109
(702) 414-6200

On our last night in Las Vegas, Howard and I treated ourselves to Bouchon. We made the reservation the day before and decided on an early dinner. We had a long flight back home the next day!

So we were there 5-10 minutes before our reservation and got to wait at the bar because dinner service hadn't begun yet. I was extremely excited as I kept an eye on their clock. On the dot, our hostess for the night, Amy came over to greet the "Chang's." I guess we'll play along that I am Mrs. Chang! =)

In my opinion, I think we got the best seat in the house! We were near the centre and had a view of the fountain in the courtyard:

After we ordered, we got to nibble on pistachios and fresh baked bread. As a fun aside, in Chinese, pistachio translates to "happy nuts." Yes, we were happy!

We're going to apologize for the low lighting, but hopefully you can still see the dishes we tried! First up, we ordered the Soupe du Jour, which was celery portage.

We also tried the Confit de Canard which consisted of crispy duck leg confit, honey-preserved huckleberries, wilted spinach with juniper berry, with a foie gras vinaigrette.

As our main dishes, Howard had the Steak Bouchon. A New York strip steak with Yukon gold potato rösti, broccolini, and sauce béarnaise.

I had the Steak Frites. A pan-seared prime flatiron steak with caramelized shallots, maître d'hôtel butter, and French fries. It turns out that most people don't finish the mountain of fries. I think we ate through maybe 3/4 of it!

We really want to thank Amy for being so great, helpful, and funny. Thank you to the chefs for the wonderful meal, we wish we had the ability to cook like you! If you're ever in Las Vegas, we highly recommend that you try Bouchon!

Wait, we're not done! There is also the bakery on the main floor of the Venetian Hotel!

That's right, you can pick up baked goodies and desserts here without going to the restaurant!

Are you interested in a financier, bouchon, or madeline?

Or some macarons, eclairs, shortbread, or cookies?

I think you know what I zoned in on. Red velvet and Valrhona chocolate cupcakes!

Valrhona chocolate please! =)

Bouchon Bakery

Bouchon Bakery
10 Columbus Circle, 3rd Floor
New York, NY 10019-1158
(212) 823-9366

We went to Bouchon Bakery on our last day in New York. We planned on having a low-key day, have an early dinner, go to sleep early, and rise early for the drive back to Toronto. The day was not low-key as we wanted to see and do more, we ended up running around. Although, if you heard this story from Howard, he would blame it on the shoes. Well, perhaps I was a tad overzealous about getting this one pair of shoes. But then again, Howard ended up getting shoes on our last day too.

I'm going off-track there. Back to the wonderful Bouchon Bakery at the Time Warner Center. Bouchon was on the third floor and if you chose to sit in, you were in for a great view of Columbus Circle. Happy patrons enjoying their desserts:

This is the kitchen window for the staff to pick-up the orders:

And, this is what you see if you're getting the baked goods to go:

Just look at the Brioche a Tete and Sugar Pies! The Chocolate Almond Croissant, Chocolate Brioche, Banana Nut Muffin, and Raspberry Almond Croissants!

I decided we had to try the namesake - chocolate bouchons! One for Howard and one for me.

Thomas Keller, we tip our hats to you!

While we didn't sit in, we ate the bouchons overlooking the balcony on the second floor. Our last day of the week. =(

PS: If you were wondering what a bouchon is, they're small brownie-like treats that are named for their shape - a cork. Bouchon Bakery includes chocolate chips in the batter and dusts them with confectioner's sugar.