Notes about Recipes in this book

• Fresh strawberry pie

  • TrishaCP on June 01, 2021

    These are like the fresh strawberry pies of my childhood, but better since instead of using strawberry jello, you make the filling with pureed strawberries, sugar, cornstarch and liquid pectin. Since I had to make them the day before, they were indeed runny, but so very delicious. My nine-year old niece licked her plate clean!

• Hermits

  • jenmacgregor18 on November 26, 2019

    I made these to send along to my Dad for the holidays. They didn't all make it to him. My sister texted from the airport- "delicious. these are keepers" Soft, spicy, chewy. They taste like the holidays; but good enough to make all year long.

• French butter cookies (Sablés)

  • twoyolks on February 17, 2014

    The texture and flavor of these cookies was terrible. The dough is also very difficult to work with given that there is zero liquid in the dough. After one bite, we threw out the remaining cookies.

• Spritz cookies

  • twoyolks on December 27, 2016

    Really good, if simple, spritz cookies.

• New York-style thin-crust pizza

  • twoyolks on November 11, 2014

    The most important part about this pizza is getting just the right thickness of the dough. When it's the right thickness, it's very good. If it's too thick or too thin, it rapidly loses its appeal.

• New York-style thin-crust white pizza

  • twoyolks on February 24, 2018

    This was just too rich and too much. I'd prefer a simpler white pizza.

• Chicago-style deep-dish pizza with sausage

  • twoyolks on March 20, 2015

    This was pretty tasty. The only issue is that the bottom of the crust got very crisp such that it was hard to cut through.

• Brown sugar cookies

  • twoyolks on February 10, 2014

    The cookies are very good. They have an almost toffee flavor to them. The recipe almost seems like it was written for a stand mixer but the use of one is never specified. It does become a bit difficult to mix the batter by hand.

• Pumpkin bread

  • twoyolks on November 05, 2014

    This pumpkin bread actually has good pumpkin flavor (instead of just pumpkin pie spice flavor).

• Quick cheese muffins

  • twoyolks on September 15, 2015

    The muffins have a strong cheese flavor but it would be better if there were some complimentary flavors in the muffin.

• Classic blueberry muffins

  • twoyolks on February 08, 2016

    These were acceptable as blue berry muffins but there was nothing special about them.

• Oatmeal muffins

  • twoyolks on June 17, 2015

    The muffins were moist but the flavor was lacking. Also, it's impossible to fully grind the oats so there are small bits of oats throughout the muffin which impacts the texture.

  • dbuhler on August 20, 2023

    I made these as written with KA AP flour and they spread a ton onto the top of the tin and some of the edges burned. The flavor was really good and I really like the toasted oat flavor. I will definitely make these again but I will put less batter in the cups and make more muffins...hopefully this will reduce the spread of the top. I will also try adding some cinnamon to the batter next time as some of suggested. This makes a decent, hearty muffin.

• Popovers

  • twoyolks on January 23, 2015

    Despite the recipe specifying reduced fat milk, I successfully made these with whole milk. They rose considerably in the oven and were quite tasty.

• Ultimate cinnamon buns

  • twoyolks on December 25, 2013

    These are enormous cinnamon buns. They are also very rich. They are not overly sweet. The tang from the cream cheese frosting is a bit weird.

• Peach crumble

  • twoyolks on August 29, 2016

    This didn't work properly for me. I didn't have the full amount of liquid called for after macerating the peaches. When baking, despite baking for longer than the required time, the peaches weren't fully cooked all the way.

• Old-fashioned chocolate layer cake

  • twoyolks on December 07, 2017

    The cake and icing have a good amount of chocolate flavor without being particularly sweet.

• Yellow cupcakes with chocolate ganache frosting

  • twoyolks on August 15, 2018

    Basic cupcakes. I did have trouble getting the chocolate ganache to actual set all the way. In the future, I'd prefer a buttercream frosting just so it was more stable.

• Fresh peach cobbler

  • twoyolks on September 15, 2015

    This recipe didn't work for me. The peaches didn't cook all the way through. The topping was under baked. I suspect that the recipe was designed for yellow peaches but I used white peaches.

• Classic crème brûlée

  • twoyolks on February 17, 2014

    Really good flavor in the creme brulee but it took longer for them to cook than the recipe called for.

• Cinnamon babka

  • Analyze on February 17, 2019

    I LOVE this bread, which the author modeled after brioche; if you like the flavors of brioche and cinnamon, I would highly recommend this recipe! I add even more butter by buttering the finished brioche, lol. My husband isn't a big fan, but he doesn't like brioche, so I think that's why. I did have issues both times with the rise in the fridge, where it's supposed to double after "at least 1 hour"; mine didn't budge after 2 days (!), and the second time I gave it three hours and it didn't move. The good news is that the bread had risen as expected before and after this step, and turned out quite delicious both times. I'm pretty sure that it wasn't user error as I used the same batch of yeast for a ton of other recipes before and after, and have a temperature controlled proofer for bread dough as well as an oven thermometer. Anyway, this bread is really good!

• Applesauce snack cake

  • Analyze on March 12, 2019

    This is SO good! The base cake has a wonderful apple flavor and a great texture. I tried both this recipe, and the Oat-Nut Streusel variation. My husband, who doesn't normally like oat streusel or sweet quick breads, loved the streusel variation. I actually preferred this original version with the cinnamon-sugar topping, as in my opinion it complements the apple flavor in the cake better, and actually makes the cake taste more apple-y. You can't go wrong with either version, or try half and half like I did :) I already have several apple cake recipes that I love, and didn't think I needed another, but I did! I'm excited to try the ginger-cardamom version next. Personally, we had it for breakfast, but this would be great with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream too.

• Applesauce snack cake with oat-nut streusel

  • Analyze on March 12, 2019

    This is SO good! The base cake has a wonderful apple flavor and a great texture. I tried both this recipe, and the original (no streusel). My husband, who doesn't normally like oat streusel or sweet quick breads, loved the streusel variation. I actually preferred this original version with the cinnamon-sugar topping, as in my opinion it complements the apple flavor in the cake better, and actually makes the cake taste more apple-y. You can't go wrong with either version, or try half and half like I did :) I already have several apple cake recipes that I love, and didn't think I needed another, but I did! I'm excited to try the ginger-cardamom version next. Personally, we had it for breakfast, but this would be great with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream too. P.S. A tip I read online and am eager to try next time: Leave the applesauce in the fridge. Instead of waiting for the dried apple & cider mixture to cool, blend them at once, to bring both to room temperature sooner.

• Raspberry streusel bars

  • macfadden on December 20, 2017

    These were a bit disappointing. They looked great in the oven, but I found them a bit dry and bland. The filling was thin and leathery, which is exactly what the description said it wouldn't be.

• Classic lemon tart

  • themarybaker on September 15, 2014

    As a time saver, use Pillsbury crust.

• Quick and easy cream biscuits with crystallized ginger

  • damazinah on May 13, 2016

    These are fantastic, especially on a cold frosty morning! They're more of a scone than a biscuit, and great with a bit of orange marmalade.

• All-season blueberry cobbler

  • damazinah on June 17, 2016

    A really good cobbler. Thawing the berries first then concentrating the juice was a bit of a pain, but worthwhile.

• All-butter single-crust pie dough for custard pies

  • Smokeydoke on February 25, 2017

    My favorite pie crust so far. I love the taste and I used half water, half vodka to help it along. It wasn't hard to work with, probably due to the sour cream.

• Deep-dish apple pie

  • Smokeydoke on February 25, 2017

    This is the pie you find at really good cafes all around the US. It's the quintessential apple pie. The technique is perfect albeit labor-intensive. However the flavor is not for me, I felt it lacked something. The apples get cooked down quite a bit and it lost a lot of apple flavor. No need to buy expensive Braeburns for this pie, it turned into mush. Next time, I'll quadruple the cinnamon and maybe add another ingredient, I'm thinking caramel.

  • dbuhler on August 04, 2023

    This has been my go-to apple pie for years! There is a reason that CI, ATK, and CC keep republishing this recipe in all their books...it is just so darn good, and loaded with apples. I made this pie for Thanksgiving (like I do every year!) but this year I decided to try the chevron lattice topping that is in ATK's Perfect Pie book and it was a stunning looking pie, and I almost didn't want to cut into it! The presentation was well worth time and effort!

• Triple-chocolate espresso brownies

  • bwhip on May 02, 2019

    Great brownies! Deeply chocolatey with crispy caramelized edges. Easy to mix and bake. Mine were perfectly done at 30 minutes.

• Lemon chiffon cake

  • Partyof7 on March 20, 2018

    Fabulous, bakery quality cake. Universally beloved by young and old!

• Sour cream coffee cake with brown sugar-pecan streusel

  • vglong29 on February 03, 2021

    This has a great texture due to the reverse creaming method. I doubled the butter for the streusel topping, there wasn't enough butter to make clumps. Find this is often the case with recipes using streusel from ATK.

• Baklava

  • dbuhler on January 11, 2024

    This was not difficult, but it did take quite a bit of time to assemble. I made clarified butter using Cook's Illustrated quick clarified butter technique and got one and a quarter cups of butter. I think I used too much butter on my first layers of phyllo because I ran out at the end and had to use regular melted butter for the top. The excess butter also made the bottom super "juicy" and a little hard to eat. I didn't want to waste the extra phyllo layers so I just added them to the top, but I don't think I will do that next time, I will just add an extra sheet to all the other layers. I used orange blossom honey and would definitely do that again. Even though I made some mistakes, they were still extremely delicious and I will definitely make these again!

• Glazed maple-pecan oatmeal scones

  • dbuhler on July 17, 2024

    This is a family favorite that I've been making for about 15 years now! I don't usually hold back any of the oats (I always forget) and then use some raw oats to put on the counter and top the scones. I like to check for doneness around 12 minutes. These are delicious, moist, and hearty while also being tender, and they always receive high praise from anyone I share them with.