Notes about Recipes in this book

• Jam muffins

  • KristenS on February 02, 2021

    These were really delicious and I will absolutely make them again. Batter overflowed the tins and made big square tops. Can probably get 18 and look like they do in the photo. Didn't bother with glaze but will next time. Jam looked like too much when adding it but spreads and isn't a lot at all. Am more curious about other recipes in book based on how much I like these.

  • anya_sf on February 09, 2024

    I got 10 large muffins from 2/3 recipe. They were very good, if more cake-like than I'd usually make. The muffins were plenty sweet, so I skipped the glaze, but they were rather plain looking.

• Raspberry corn muffins

  • anya_sf on March 02, 2019

    The secret ingredient is creamed corn. These muffins are moist, tender, mildly sweet, and corny, without containing whole corn kernels. I halved the recipe and got 12 normal-sized muffins, so the whole recipe would definitely yield jumbo muffins. I substituted white whole wheat flour for the all-purpose flour, and plain yogurt for part of the buttermilk (ran out). I recommend using paper liners sprayed with cooking spray.

  • EmilyR on November 18, 2023

    First mistake, I should have read the previous review. This makes 24 regular sized muffins - not the 12 stated in the book, so it's a sizable quantity. Second mistake, forgetting all of the butter and vanilla (!)... the muffins stuck to the liners quite a bit, but they otherwise surprisingly worked out. I like that these have mainly honey as a sweetener except for the 2 Tbsp to coat the raspberries. I didn't love these, but that could be due to my oversight and disappointment in mass quantities. I'd try Ina Garten's next time.

• Honey-nut bran muffins

  • anya_sf on May 29, 2024

    Batter must be made ahead and refrigerated overnight.

  • anya_sf on May 30, 2024

    I got 8 muffins from 1/2 recipe using my muffin scoop, so the cups were nearly full; if making the whole recipe with cups 2/3 full, I imagine you'd get over 18 muffins. As promised, the muffins had a honey-nut flavor, which I now know isn't my favorite type of bran muffin. They weren't too heavy, but there was a lot of texture from the large amount of bran.

• Old-fashioned buttermilk biscuits

  • anya_sf on July 11, 2020

    These did not turn out well. I believe the recipe calls for way too much liquid. I added 1.5 cups buttermilk to the bowl without thinking and ended up with a wet mess. I had to use masses of flour to roll the dough, which never did get smooth. The biscuits didn't cut cleanly since the dough was so wet, and did not rise that much - only in the centers. The flavor was good (all that butter) and they worked for sandwiches. The rolling and folding method is promising, so if I were to attempt this again, I'd work the butter in with my fingers (I'd used a pastry blender), smearing it more, and only add half the buttermilk to start.

  • Superlion85 on January 15, 2025

    The other person is right that there is way too much liquid or too little flour. There were a number of things I thought were great about this recipe, like placing the biscuits right next to each other and brushing with butter before and after baking. Taste was good. I ended up adding about a cup more flour. It's also unclear how thick the dough should be before cutting. You roll it to 3/4" and 1/2" and the instructions say to repeat twice and then cut. Based on my results I think 3/4" is better. It did make very pretty biscuits. So far the only recipe in this book that isn't right.

• Biscuit sandwich

  • anya_sf on July 11, 2020

    Although my biscuits weren't great, these sandwiches were. I loved the cheesy egg filling; skipped the red pepper flakes and bacon. One-third recipe baked in a 5"x7" dish was perfect for 3 sandwiches (rectangular rather than square). The original recipe says it serves 8, but would actually make 9 perfect squares. Since both biscuits and egg casserole were fresh from the oven, I saw no need to heat the sandwiches more, but would do that if I'd made things ahead.

• Walnut wheat biscones

  • anya_sf on June 12, 2025

    I made these the night before baking and chilled them, as this method has worked well for other scone recipes. Unfortunately, it did not work for these as lots of butter leaked out while baking. It's also possible (I'm thinking likely) that my oven wasn't sufficiently preheated. The flavor was very nice, though, so I'll try again.

• Cranberry biscones with orange zest glaze

  • anya_sf on July 12, 2020

    Using my scone scoop, I got 7 biscones from 1/2 recipe. I froze them and baked them from frozen; they needed 6 extra minutes in the oven. You won't need all the juice from the orange for the glaze, so just add it 1 Tbsp at a time. The biscones were lightly sweet and tender, with a slightly crunchy exterior. Next time I will add more cranberries if I have them.

• Eggnog French toast

  • anya_sf on August 19, 2025

    Delicous way to use eggnog I had frozen last winter. The longer soaking time worked well for a stale 8 oz baguette, sliced 1" thick diagonally (8 slices). 2/3 soaking liquid was more than enough. I cooked all the slices at once so I needed much less butter and oil, but still used a generous amount.

• Strawberry buttermilk cake

  • HerBoudoir on June 07, 2015

    Excellent cake - remember to cram the strawberries onto the top of the cake as they shrink quite a lot during baking. Dressed it up with a drizzle of ganache and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

  • anya_sf on June 18, 2020

    Note to self: this is nearly identical to Smitten Kitchen's delicious Strawberry Summer Cake, except this calls for buttermilk instead of milk, and doesn't have extra sugar sprinkled on top before baking.

  • TrishaCP on July 01, 2020

    I also love the Smitten Kitchen cake but I thought this was even better. (It was the buttermilk in this version that did it for me.) I used 1/2 cup of toasted oat flour, which added delicious caramel notes, and I skipped the dusting of powdered sugar at the end.

  • anya_sf on July 19, 2021

    Since I didn't taste them side by side, I can't say if I prefer this cake or Smitten Kitchen's - they're both great. My baking notes for this are identical to that one. I did sprinkle sugar on this before baking (a la SK's version) as I think it brings out the sweetness of the berries.

  • pavolva on August 18, 2022

    This is one of those recipes that's more than the sum of its parts, and just perfect given the simplicity of throwing it together. I've only made it with strawberries, but I'm sure it would be endlessly adaptable with other fruits, particularly berries and stone fruits. Ensure any fruit used has been thoroughly dried off before use, as any outstanding water/juice create that unpleasant wet doughy texture in the cake beneath. I added a pinch of nutmeg to give the plain cake a bit of a boost without detracting from its simplicity. I would recommend a sprinkle of demerara sugar on top as others have suggested; TrishaCP's adaptation with toasted oat flour is also genius (other possibilities: toasted flour in general, caramelized/toasted granulated sugar).

  • jimandtammyfaye on December 30, 2022

    Extraordinary cake! I was not expecting something so delicious from such a humble ingredient list. Next time I'll try adding a sprinkle of coarse sugar on top before baking.

• Pineapple upside-down cake

  • anya_sf on May 27, 2026

    #pudcbakeoff I used a 10" cast iron skillet, but could only fit 4 whole slices from my large pineapple, so I filled in the gaps as best as I could. Baking time was 55 min; the cake threatened to overflow, but thankfully didn't. Cooled 30 min before unmolding, the topping was a little runny and flowed off the plate. While delicious, the flavor of this cake was quite different from traditional. I used bourbon, but would use rum next time, although the spices and almonds still set this apart. The cake itself was moist, rich, and tender.

• Banoffee pie

  • anya_sf on June 25, 2020

    Creamy and delicious. The abundance of whipped cream helped balance the sweet caramel, although the bananas got a bit lost - would have liked more, or perhaps a little less cream. I only grated 1 ounce chocolate on top; perhaps with large curls, I could have gotten 2 ounces on there. The slow cooker method of caramelizing the milk worked great, but in addition to removing the label from the can, you should try to remove the adhesive as well, or you'll end up with a ring of glue around the edge of your slow cooker insert. Also see my notes regarding the crust.

• Razzleberry crisp

  • anya_sf on September 16, 2018

    I made 1/2 recipe using 12 oz raspberries, 12 oz blueberries, and 1 apple. Reduced the sugar in the fruit by half again because I wanted to serve it with vanilla ice cream; it was plenty sweet anyway - good with or without ice cream. The combination of fruits was unusual and delicious. The mint in the topping was interesting and perked up the flavor, but also was a bit odd.

• Pecan-graham cracker crust

  • anya_sf on June 25, 2020

    Delicious crust, but makes enough for a 9.5" deep dish pie pan. It was too much for the 9" pan I used for Banoffee Pie, and I ended up throwing about 25% of the crumb mixture away. The crust is extra crumbly so you can't create neat edges.

• Buttermilk dinner rolls

  • cookingbychapter on February 17, 2024

    These turned out wonderful! So soft and easy to make. Will definitely have them again.

• Sweet potato lemon bread

  • BeH on October 25, 2025

    Very nice Lightly sweet .5 Tablespoon of salt is plenty Worked well in bread machine with activated yeast Good toast with butter

• Janie Q's lemon cake with lemon meringue buttercream

  • Ecngreg5 on February 22, 2026

    This was a wonderful recipe and cake! I made four different versions of lemon meringue cake for my son and his fiancé to try for their wedding cake, and this is the one they picked! It’s nice and lemony, and the cake has a tender crumb! The lemon meringue buttercream is also very lemony and delicious! Like the author said, it’s like a bite of sunshine in every bite!

• Whipped buttercream frosting

  • swegener on May 22, 2015

    I've made cooked flour frosting before with mixed success--this method is different from what I've done, but I liked it quite a bit. I did half a recipe, which was harder to work with in the mixer, but turned out light and fluffy and buttery! Because it was a smaller amount of butter, I used the paddle not the whisk.

• Beans and corn bread cobbler

  • anya_sf on November 09, 2022

    The bean mixture completely filled the 10" skillet, so I transferred everything to a 12" skillet; the corn bread topping filled that to the brim. In the beans, 4 Tbsp brown sugar was the right level of sweetness for me; I suggest adding to taste. This was good, but we would have preferred maybe 1/2 or 2/3 the amount of corn bread relative to beans.

• Candied spiced walnuts

  • hbakke on April 30, 2021

    I won't rate this because I didn't follow the directions to coat the nuts with the oil and honey mix before adding the the spice/sugar mixture, and instead just mixed everything together at once. I won't do that again. The spice mix globbed up and didn't stick to the nuts at all. The resulting nuts just tasted salty and oily with almost no sugar or spices adhering. I may try this recipe again, but actually follow the instructions.

• Old-fashioned sugar cookies

  • Dms02 on May 17, 2020

    Like a sugar cookie from a bakery - not like a sugar cookie for decorating with frosting. Was a great base dough for adding in extras (I added cereal pieces). Crisp at the edges with a nice center chew. Once cooled I used them for ice-cream sandwiches.

• Shaker Meyer lemon pie bars

  • vbbaker on May 02, 2020

    Made this with Eureka lemons off the tree and it was just as delicious.

  • vbbaker on May 02, 2020

    Make sure the crust is cooked all the way through or it gets too soggy (typically seems to need about an extra 15 mins from recipe for us) These end up super gooey. Substituted Eureka lemons off the tree and just as delicious.

• Apple butter

  • anya_sf on December 06, 2018

    This was my first time making apple butter, so I have nothing to compare it to, but this recipe was fairly easy. It doesn't have quite as much sugar as some. Eight hours was enough time in my slow cooker; at that point it had reduced and was starting to brown and caramelize around the edges. The apple butter is full of warm spices and spreads smoothly on toast.