Notes about Recipes in this book

• Country feta pies

  • Zosia on February 06, 2020

    Very tasty. The pops of bright tomato flavour made these otherwise basic spinach cheese tarts much more interesting. Though I hadn't planned to, I added extra spinach as my leaves froze in the refrigerator overnight. After thawing and squeezing the liquid out, I had 90g, all of which went into the cheese mixture. Rather than rolling and re-rolling the dough to cut 8 circles, I divided it into 8 pieces (approx 40g each) and pressed them into the moulds. I'm not sure they needed it, but I baked them an extra 10 minutes to get a little more colour on the bottom of the pastry.

  • anya_sf on September 24, 2020

    I made 1 large 9" pie using about 100 g spinach. Baking time was an hour. The pie got a little soggy right in the center, probably due to the extra spinach, but otherwise turned out well. We enjoyed it very much.

• Parmesan-chive scones

  • bwhip on December 15, 2019

    Decided to try these tonight as an accompaniment to some chicken soup I'd made. Delicious! We really enjoyed them, and they were quite easy to prepare. Flaky, tender, flavorful. Made the house smell wonderful too!

• Gluten-free ham and cheese puffs

  • Zosia on January 18, 2020

    I made these twice, a half recipe each time. In the first attempt, I had difficulty incorporating the eggs into the dough at low speed; a few minutes on medium speed made it come together. Also, my batter was a little loose and spread on the baking sheet; I ended up with puffy discs rather than the spheres I was expecting. For my second attempt, I used Rose Levy Beranbaum's food processor method for choux pastry and only 1.5 eggs (instead of 2). Much better. I imagine another brand of tapioca flour might behave differently. Regardless of shape, both batches were delicious and somewhat addictive. I omitted the ham and made them half the size. They baked in 25 minutes.

• Mushroom and thyme brioches

  • Zosia on January 14, 2020

    I used the whole wheat brioche dough for these. After it proofed in the fridge, the chilled dough was shaped, filled and baked without an additional rise. I made the roasted mushroom duxelles the day before while I made the dough so these were assembled and ready for baking in the time it took for the oven to preheat. They were delicious but very rich. I served them with a green salad for dinner but they would be great for brunch though I would make them smaller - 8 or perhaps even 10. The whole wheat flavour of the brioche was not very noticeable.

• Vegan chocolate-banana muffins

  • Zosia on January 09, 2020

    I used white whole wheat flour in these tender, cake-like muffins. They were quite chocolatey thanks to the chopped chocolate (I think the chocolate flavour would be quite mild without them) but the bananas managed to hold their own. I baked the batter in a regular tin and filled the cups to the top as directed. They rose a small amount (as expected) but they spread quite a bit over the top of the tin. I hadn't greased the top but they released easily. We enjoyed them.

  • anya_sf on January 17, 2020

    I baked these in a regular muffin tin using jumbo liners and got 10 bigger-than-usual muffins. They rose more than expected. I'm not a chocolate-for-breakfast person, so to me these could easily be served as cupcakes for a child's birthday party, but I still enjoyed them. If I made them again for breakfast, I'd use white whole wheat flour, omit the chocolate chips (to make them less dessert-like), and possibly decrease the sugar a tad.

  • Ms20 on April 18, 2022

    These are incredible. You wouldn’t believe these are vegan. Mine rose beautifully. Have made these many times, a definite keeper and another Joanne Chang winner.

  • jaxcap on September 18, 2023

    I subbed almond milk for soy milk (same amount in grams) successfully. These were really moist and rose better than any muffin I've ever made, vegan or not.

• Vegan carrot-ginger muffins

  • anya_sf on January 26, 2020

    Very nice, like carrot cake for breakfast, but healthier. The muffins rose more than expected. I made 12 regular muffins and they were done in 27 minutes. The texture was slightly dense and gummy, which could be because they have no egg, but also could have been because I initially forgot the oil and had to stir it in at the end.

• Gluten-free lemon raspberry chia muffins

  • Zosia on March 05, 2020

    I made these with all-purpose and whole wheat flours and substituted Greek yogurt for creme fraiche so I can't fairly rate the recipe. They were tender and the flavour, which wouldn't have been affected as much by my changes, was excellent. A half recipe made 11 regular muffins that baked in 19 minutes.

• Gluten-free apple spice pecan muffins

  • anya_sf on January 06, 2020

    With the muffin cups filled to the rims as instructed, I only got 11 muffins, not 12. I skipped the glaze and thought the sweetness was just right for breakfast. The muffins were fairly hearty, but still tender and not too heavy.

  • Zosia on February 29, 2020

    These had great flavour - I particularly liked the combination of almond with apples and spice - but if it hadn't been for the apple pieces, would have been dry. I believe I over mixed the batter and deflated the egg whites too much as they didn't rise much and the cake portion was not tender as described in the head notes. I used light buckwheat flour. Edited to add: texture was much more tender on second day

  • tarae1204 on September 04, 2023

    Using weight measurements, we only had batter for 9 not 12 muffins. But they were delicious. I used pretty dark/heavy buckwheat flour. Then batter is very thick, gets lightened up by the whites, then seems to get moist from the nice big apple pieces. I added spices and a small pinch of salt to the glaze.

  • brittany_dvurja on March 25, 2026

    Pretty good for a health muffin. I think 25 minutes was too long because after that cooled off they were a lot drier. Added crystallized Ginger to the top and batter and I wouldn't skip it next time. Skipped the glaze, I need to cut back on sugar and wanted something healthier for breakfast, and they were plenty sweet without

• Blackberry-buttermilk muffin cakes

  • Kinhawaii on December 04, 2019

    Nice muffins- buttery & tender, used mostly blackberries with a few blueberries. Only other flavoring was vanilla so used vanilla paste. I was afraid to fill the cups as full as advised having had overflow problems with other recipes but a few I made ended up almost filling the cup- didn’t overflow but did make flatter looking muffins like those pictured in the book. None were domed but flatter.

  • anya_sf on January 10, 2020

    Frozen raspberries worked well here, especially since they're smaller than blackberries (with blackberries, I'd cut the large ones). Using my regular muffin scoop, I got 20 muffins. Baking time was around 30 minutes (although my oven is misbehaving lately, so I'd check early with small muffins); the tops did not brown much, so don't use that as an indicator. As the title says, these muffins are more cake-like and sweet than the kind I usually prefer. They were pretty good. I baked them the night before, so they probably would have been better fresh from the oven. The texture was tender, but slightly gummy.

  • Zosia on January 31, 2020

    These were very nice vanilla flavoured muffins with almost as much fruit as cake. I made 18 regular sized muffins and baked them at 375F by mistake so they were done in only 20 minutes. Their colour was good and the crumb was tender so I don't think they were adversely affected by the higher temperature. I used only blackberries and substituted white whole wheat flour and whole wheat pastry flour for all purpose and cake flours respectively.

  • SweetLittleBytes on January 21, 2021

    These work great with fresh blueberries. Frozen blueberries didn't work as well.

• Apple-vanilla pound cake

  • Zosia on January 11, 2020

    Lovely cake with excellent vanilla flavour. The tart apples were a nice addition but not absolutely necessary as the cake was delicious on its own. I couldn't find information on whether the cake flour used in the recipes in this book should be bleached or unbleached - perhaps I missed it or should have assumed unbleached as that's what's specified for all-purpose? - so used my go-to bleached cake& pastry flour blend. I was quite happy with the texture of the cake which was fine-crumbed and very tender.

  • mduncan on May 24, 2020

    The texture of this cake is exactly what I'd want in a perfect pound cake, however this cake's much too sweet for me, even before the addition of the powdered sugar. Ingredients call for "thinly sliced" apples but I clearly sliced mine too thin. If I made this again, I'd reduce all sugar by half and slice the apples 1/8-1/4" thick.

  • Astrid5555 on May 29, 2020

    What a delicious pound cake, very tender crumb. We loved the addition of thinly sliced apples on top. Did not use the powdered sugar on top since my apples were sweet not tart. Perfect!

  • Xyz123 on April 14, 2024

    I don’t like my desserts too sweet, but I didn’t find this sweet at all. Made with FMF Soft White Wheat Berries.

• Currant spelt oat scones

  • anya_sf on December 28, 2019

    I didn't have enough creme fraiche, so used 100 g each creme fraiche and buttermilk, which worked fine. I bet all buttermilk would work. I shaped the scones ahead and froze them, then baked from frozen. They took over an hour to bake, but my oven may have been off. The scones were crumbly, tender, and barely sweet. We enjoyed them.

  • Lepa on October 13, 2024

    These were really good. The texture is a bit cakey instead of short but the oats and spelt flour added a wonderful flavor. I ran out of creme fraiche so I used a bit of labne instead and that worked well. Mine needed the full forty minutes. We ate them with clotted cream and marmalade- outstanding!

• Irish soda bread

  • anya_sf on February 08, 2023

    I used 50 g creme fraiche (all I had) and made up the difference with more buttermilk. Shaped the loaf the night before baking, refrigerated overnight, and baked in the morning. Very nice soda bread, lightly sweet, with a hearty-yet-tender texture from the rye flour.

  • Lepa on January 11, 2025

    This is a nice soda bread. I especially liked that it is whole grain. I used sour cream because I didn't have creme fraiche and that worked well.

• Whole wheat maple-blueberry scones

  • anya_sf on February 07, 2020

    I love that these are shaped ahead of time and refrigerated so you can easily bake them fresh in the morning. I made 14 smaller scones and they baked in about 20 minutes. My glaze was probably a bit too thick and tricky to spread. I really enjoyed the combination of blueberries and maple.

  • Zosia on February 14, 2020

    Nice, tender scone that wasn't overly sweet even with the glaze. I substituted Greek yogurt for the creme fraiche which seemed to work quite well.

  • Xyz123 on February 15, 2020

    Wow! These are so good! I’ve made 3 double batches in less than 3 weeks. I store them in the freezer so every time a craving hits, I just pop a few in the oven and in no time, they’re ready to enjoy.

  • bwhip on February 16, 2020

    Ooh yes, these are excellent. I was concerned they might be overly sweet, but they’re just right. A really nice combination of flaky and cakey. Delightful.

  • Rachaelsb on January 08, 2021

    Perfection! So easy to make and perfect scone texture and flavor.

  • dbuhler on August 12, 2024

    These were very good and my kids loved them! Like anya_sf I used a smaller scoop and got 15 scones and they baked in 20 minutes (thanks anya_sf for the time rec!). The first tray that I baked had only rested in the fridge for 30 minutes and they were a bit crumbly. The second set did a 24-hour rest in the fridge and they were very tender and moist. I will be sure to do a longer fridge rest next time for the whole batch. I also substituted frozen wild blueberries for the fresh blueberries and that worked out well (I mixed them into the dry ingredients by hand and then mixed the wet ingredients into the dry by hand). I would definitely make these again!

  • eric_hmubrr on April 07, 2026

    I’ve made this at least a dozen times. They never disappoint

• Ricotta-cherry scones

  • Zosia on January 21, 2020

    These were tender, fruity and delicious. The book provides directions for using a stand mixer but I made them by hand, grating frozen butter into the dry mixture before stirring in the wet ingredients. My frozen sweet cherries were enormous so I quartered them for a more even distribution. I used white whole wheat flour and divided the dough into 12 generously sized scones instead of 8. Bake time in my oven for these slightly smaller scones was 25 minutes.

  • Nancy402 on February 10, 2020

    Agree with Zosia - these were tender and delicious. Not overly sweet either. Next time will make mine smaller. They freeze well.

  • anya_sf on March 12, 2020

    I didn't notice until too late that the recipe calls for only 125g pitted cherries (225 g unpitted) and added about 200 g pitted frozen cherries, but appreciated the extra fruit. Using my ~1/3 cup scoop, I got 13 scones. I froze them but didn't notice the egg wash/sugar step, so skipped that and didn't miss it, although they probably would have been prettier. Baked from frozen at almost 375 degrees (accidentally), they took about 35 minutes. They were really delicious. Next time I'd halve the cherries for more even distribution.

  • Kinhawaii on December 20, 2020

    Agree with everyone- tender & delicious. I used a scoop & got 16 3-4 inch scones. Took half hour to cook. Pandemic cooking- used creme fraiche, sour cream & milk thickened with lemon juice, & frozen not fresh cherries- next time will try it with the specified dairy.

• Rhubarb-strawberry jam-n-butter biscuits

  • Kinhawaii on November 26, 2019

    I didn’t make the jam but because the biscuits don’t have any sugar, smothered them in my favorite raspberry jam. They were quite brown 5 minutes early (my oven is usually pretty accurate at 350) & were much better right out of the oven with lovely crunchy outsides, flaky too. Next day to reheat them to the same crispy outside made them much drier. Others thought these were too dry & for them perhaps I needed to have taken them out probably 10 minutes earlier. I think I prefer some sugar in my biscuits. I liked the addition of vanilla - but also substituted vanilla paste for the bean & extract.

• Spelt croissants

  • rrobb on February 21, 2020

    Be sure to let these rise long enough. I let the shaped croissants rise twice as kong in my cool 70F house, but they ccoukd have used longer as the butter leaked out when basking and the layerss wwere too tight. That being said, they tasted fantastic and it was the easiest croissant dough I’ve ever worked with.

  • anya_sf on August 02, 2020

    The initial dough was very sticky even after 5 minutes of kneading, but at that point it seemed somewhat smooth. It was easy to work with after chilling. Rolling and shaping seemed to go okay. I used Plugra butter. I made a 12th "mutant" croissant with the leftover edges. The croissants seemed too crowded on 1 pan, so I used 2. After the initial rise, they looked great - large and puffy. I had high hopes. But after refrigerating them overnight to bake in the morning, they flattened out somewhat, and after proofing for the final 40 minutes, they looked totally deflated. So I guess they were overproofed? They leaked a lot of butter in the oven (which I thought was due to underproofing) and never recovered their height. Although they looked golden brown, I should have baked them an extra 5 minutes, as the centers were a bit doughy. I've tried several croissant recipes, but have a lot more to learn, as I've never achieved perfection. I will keep trying and would consider this recipe again.

  • tarae1204 on January 17, 2021

    I actually just made the croissants (using AP flour not spelt) from Chang's 1st book Flour. Reading anya_sf's note, I encountered the exact same things. Please know end results were delicious despite issues! I too proofed overnight in fridge, and they went from looking flaky and risen to deflated. I used Plugra butter. Butter seeped all over during bake, and I used a flat sheet. Rimmed better. I too did not want underbaked croissants and baked full 40 minutes. I wouldn't say they were doughy but maybe they could have gone longer. I compared the AP flour recipe in Flour recipe to the spelt flour in Pastry Love -- very similar. Despite these concerning moments in the process, and despite the 36 hours from start to finish, the croissants were still delicious and I hope to make more. The recipe in Tartine (both original and 2019 revision) is very different! Worth trying next.

• Almond croissants

  • anya_sf on August 05, 2020

    Although my spelt croissants didn't turn out perfectly, the almond croissants were still fantastic. I just made 3 and half the syrup probably would have been enough for 6. I could only fit about 2 Tbsp frangipane on each croissant. I prepped them the night before and baked them in the morning. Yum!

• Apple cider sticky buns

  • anya_sf on November 02, 2020

    This was a 3-day project, making the components on day 1, shaping the buns on day 2, and baking the morning of day 3. I'd chop the apples slightly smaller next time - easier to roll. I wasn't sure if I could just refrigerate the shaped rolls overnight as I'd usually do, since they immediately started weeping liquid. I decided to freeze the shaped buns on a pan for several hours (early on day 2), then just before bed, placed them on the goo in the baking dish in the fridge. The morning of day 3, they proofed at room temperature, but even after 2.5 hours, they had barely puffed - looked more like they were sinking into the massive quantity of goo. But since they had puffed a little (and I was hungry), I baked them; they rose a lot in the oven. Made with whole wheat brioche dough, the rolls had a slightly nutty flavor that went well with the delicious caramel apple goo, and were still plenty tender. Although the goo was super yummy, 2/3 the amount would probably be plenty.

  • senzler on November 18, 2025

    Excellent

• Brown butter cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting

  • stpbcyld50 on January 15, 2020

    Very good and very rich. Uses a lot of butter in the brioche base. Not your tall and fluffy cinnamon rolls. These don't bake all together and are much more rich. Tasty, though!

• Challah

  • anya_sf on September 24, 2020

    After mixing even just the first 5 minutes, the dough was fairly smooth, not "shaggy". The shaping method was easy and yielded an attractive loaf. The challah was just lovely - soft textured with good, not-too-sweet flavor. It still tasted fresh the day after baking.

• MG rye bread

  • jenburkholder on August 03, 2020

    This was good, but nothing special.

  • anya_sf on October 03, 2020

    I made one loaf and had to substitute treacle for half the molasses. When rising, it never really doubled in size, even with extra time (the dough was quite heavy). Although this bread doesn't have a lot of rye, the flavor was still there; using dark rye may have helped. The bread was sturdy, dense, and rather sweet, but with enough sourness to make it great for ham sandwiches.

  • hirsheys on September 29, 2021

    Tasty, but rye flavor lost in other flavors a bit. Used normal rye flour, so dark rye might have helped. No need to make this again, but I will enjoy eating it. ETA: It grew on me - not rye enough, but I really liked it for cheese and ham sandwiches.

  • rach3190 on May 11, 2026

    Really lovely, easy, beautiful rye bread - an instant keeper!

• Whole grain pull-apart rolls

  • anya_sf on February 05, 2020

    The dough was fairly easy to mix by hand. In my cold kitchen, the rising time was longer. The rolls only took 20 minutes to bake. They're only about 1/4 whole wheat, so they baked up tender and fluffy. The salty butter topping was yummy.

  • Zosia on March 01, 2020

    These were light and fluffy and though they were good, didn't taste much like whole grain bread. The dough came together quickly in a stand mixer but it was slow to rise; I baked the buns after a 2-hour proof (22C/72F kitchen) even though they weren't quite ready but I couldn't wait longer. I brushed them with the leftover egg white and sprinkled them with salt just before baking. They were done in 20 minutes.

  • Lepa on April 08, 2020

    These were okay but not great. We enjoyed them but I prefer a Parker House Roll.

• Whole wheat brioches à tête

  • Zosia on January 14, 2020

    This is the book's master recipe for whole wheat brioche. 2/3 of my dough went towards the mushroom thyme brioches leaving enough to make 3 brioches à tête. Apart from making a sponge, the method was the same as the all white flour master brioche and the dough was remarkably similar as well....smooth and silky. It was slow to rise and had huge oven spring so the baked buns were quite large. They were light and airy with a strong whole wheat flavour. Family loved them. (I used Rogers brand flours)

  • anya_sf on November 02, 2020

    It was easy to just make 2/3 recipe for the sticky buns. The dough was easy to make in a stand mixer - just had to pause several times to push the dough down and increase the speed to medium-low. Same as Zosia, the dough was slow to rise with lots of oven spring.

• Henry's apricot walnut raisin loaf

  • anya_sf on January 20, 2020

    I used the whole wheat brioche dough, which was easy to make as long as you have a powerful stand mixer. The bread was buttery and light; the combination of apricot jam, raisins, and walnuts was really nice. One problem I had was separation in the spiral. I'm not sure if I didn't roll it tight enough, or perhaps some egg white would help it stick. Be sure to butter your pan well, especially the sides, as the sugar topping can cause the loaf to stick.

• Garlicky cheesy monkey bread

  • anya_sf on January 20, 2020

    Since I used 455 g whole wheat brioche dough for the apricot loaf, I just had 475 g left for the monkey bread, which I divided into 5 95-gram pieces. Gruyere cheese was a good substitute for fontina. Using jumbo muffin liners, I could only fit 5 pieces of dough in each, so I ended up with 6 breads anyway. I should've checked the oven sooner, as they were somewhat overdone after 25 minutes, although they still tasted good. I also forgot to remove the liners while they were still warm, and they were nearly impossible to pull off, even though I'd greased them. They breads were light, buttery, cheesy, and delicious.

• Hot cross buns

  • anya_sf on April 12, 2020

    I made 1/2 recipe and used leftover candied orange peel from a Bouchon Bakery recipe. In my kitchen, the dough needed an extra hour to proof both times. Although I'm familiar with the roll shaping technique, I found it difficult to do with such a rich dough, which was easy to mold like play-dough, but not elastic like regular bread dough. The sides cracked upon baking, probably because I couldn't shape the dough balls taut enough. There was just barely enough glaze to pipe the crosses. The buns were sweet, rich, and quite good, but a bit heavy with all that fruit. I don't usually like candied fruit in hot cross buns, and I didn't love it here even though it was homemade - oh well. I still prefer Bouchon Bakery's hot cross buns recipe.

• Clove glaze

  • anya_sf on April 13, 2020

    Faint clove flavor, good for hot cross buns. Makes just barely enough for the buns. I needed the extra teaspoon of milk to get the right consistency.

• Alina's milk bread

  • mamacrumbcake on May 07, 2020

    This is a wonderful example of Japanese milk bread—soft, fluffy, delicious. The dough is a dream to handle and even with the tangzhong, the recipe is not difficult. It literally looked like the Michelin Man during oven spring. I could not believe the heights to which this bread rose—it just crested over the rim of the pan when it went into the oven. The recipe says it is best the day it is made, but even two days later it is still very fresh and nice to eat, even without toasting.

  • Zosia on September 14, 2020

    Wonderfully light and fluffy and just a little bit sweet. The directions were excellent so it was quite easy to make and shape.

  • potatooryam on December 21, 2020

    Really delicious bread and the dough is lovely to work with. Mine was slightly under baked at 40 minutes, but a few minutes longer would have perfect.

  • hirsheys on October 03, 2021

    I made a half batch of this recipe - as a result, my kitchen aid, which probably needs realignment anyway, really struggled to mix the small amount of dough. Because the butter added greasiness to the dough, it refused to stick to the dough hook and just ended up stuck happily to the bottom of the bowl, so I spent the next ~10 minutes smushing the dough back onto the hook and adding the butter in (and cursing). It took some work, but after a bit, the dough did finally come together, and ended up nicely smooth and well kneaded, thank goodness. Other than the frustrating kneading, the rest is relatively straight forward. Anyway, I LOVE it. It's sweet and fluffy and tastes a lot like brioche or challah (which it should, given how much butter and cream the recipe has). I'm interested to try some other versions in the future with only milk and less butter to see what they are like.

  • hirsheys on December 30, 2021

    Now that I've tried several other milk bread recipes I can safely say that this is still my favorite. Delicious. (Also my mom adores!) Made this time as buns - 22 minutes was perfect for 12 per recipe/loaf.

  • anya_sf on September 11, 2023

    Really good, almost like a lean brioche, but with a sturdier texture. Unlike with some brioche doughs, I had no issues making 1/2 recipe (1 loaf) in my stand mixer. Minor quibble: recipe states this is best on the day of baking (and it was), but isn't tanghong supposed to help extend the freshness?

• Ciabatta

  • bwhip on December 06, 2020

    This ciabatta was fantastic. Prefect combination of thin, crispy crust and soft, chewy interior. Great flavor with just the right amount of salt. Easy to make with clear instructions. We’ll make this again for sure.

  • dbuhler on January 24, 2024

    I've made this bread several times because my family just loves it. It's so easy to make with very clear instructions. My shaped loaves are always larger than 12 in by 3 in, but they still bake up beautifully. The last few times I've made the poolish I've included a small amount of sourdough discard and I really enjoyed the flavor it imparted.

  • anya_sf on May 23, 2024

    This bread was surprisingly easy to make (no knead!) and had great texture and flavor. The shape was pretty wonky though, as I found it hard to stretch the dough after folding. I made 1 loaf from 1/2 recipe; baking time was 25 min. The loaf rose a fair amount in the oven.

• Poolish for ciabatta

  • dbuhler on January 24, 2024

    Easy to follow instructions and it added a lot of flavor to the bread. I let mine ferment for the whole 18 hours and would definitely do that again.

• Panettone

  • anya_sf on January 01, 2020

    My first ever panettone turned out pretty well. The instructions were fairly easy to follow, but timing the starter was tricky. I didn't plan well and ended up using the starter after 42 hours; it still smelled okay, so I went with it. In the dough I used SAF gold instant yeast. The dough was quite sticky, so using a stand mixer was key, and I recommend using it to mix in the fruits. When handling the dough, I oiled the counter, my hands, and the bench scraper. My cake pans were only 2" high, so I made 5" collars. I'd bought paper molds, but was worried they were too short; in hindsight, they would have worked, as the baked breads were shy of 5" tall. I aged the risen dough for the minimum 10 hours, then baked 1 hr 20 min. I had a hard time telling when they were done - ended up taking the temperature. The sugar from the topping melted, causing the breads to stick to the pan (another reason to use baking paper). The morning after baking, the panettone was delicious and still moist.

  • Zosia on December 19, 2021

    This was my first panettone. I made a few substitutions: SAF gold yeast; cranberries for cherries; sliced almonds for slivered in the dough; fiori di Sicilia and vanilla for orange zest and vanilla bean seeds. My starter aged for 24 hours; shaped dough aged for 15 hours. They weren't as tall as I'd hoped but my paper moulds were larger than stipulated and the crumb was excellent; I'll use the right size next time. I cooled them inverted, suspended on skewers, to prevent the dip in the centre; it worked! The topping was delicious but fell off and made the paper mould difficult to remove even though I greased it. Everyone enjoyed them.

  • rittingerv on December 24, 2021

    Definitely time consuming with the starter and the overnight rise. Used 2 of the 5” round paper molds which fit the dough very well and yielded that classic “crown”. Mine were done baking at 50 minutes, with a temperature of 190 inside. I also had an issue with the topping melting down the sides of the molds, and burning when it hit the baking sheet, but it didn’t impact the panettone itself. Would also highly recommend parchment underneath!

  • jdub1371 on January 04, 2024

    My first crack at Panettone. A fussier recipe than I usually attempt but the end result is worth it. I made a minor modification: added candied citron instead of dried cherries (I would prefer candied cherries to dried anyway and citron is great in this) and the raisins got a soaking in dark rum. I didn't have pans of the right size to make round loaves so I used two loaf pans which worked perfectly and yields slices much easier to toast when it comes time for that. I would like a bit more salt, but overall a very delicious, gently sweet panettone that manages to be moist and buttery but still light. My only complaint is the sugar topping: it mostly slid off the top of the loaves and made a mess in the pans. I don't think it adds enough to the cake to be worth the hassle. A dusting of powdered sugar would be fine with me. But all in all a great panettone, better than any I've had from a box! I will definitely make this again.

• Overnight starter for panettone

  • anya_sf on January 01, 2020

    Easy to mix together ahead of time, but plan your timing carefully. If you miss the initial 36 hour window and refrigerate the starter, you have to refresh the starter, then let it sit at room temperature 12 hours before using.

• Panettone topping

  • anya_sf on January 01, 2020

    A mixture of sugar, almonds, and egg, this was a delicious topping for panettone, but crumbled easily upon slicing, and the sugar melted along the edges of the bread, making it stick to the pan.

• Vinal Bakery multigrain English muffins

  • anya_sf on January 15, 2020

    I made the poolish ahead, but did not plan the rest of my baking schedule well, so the second rise ended up being 2 hours instead of 45 minutes (although at very cool room temperature), and the final rise after shaping was overnight in the refrigerator instead of just 4 hours. For that final rise, I placed a sheet pan on top of the rounds so that they would spread outwards more than upwards, and I believe that helped. I weighed the dough and got 9 muffins (slightly over 140 g each) instead of 10. The muffins took an extra 5 minutes in the oven to reach the correct temperature. I loved the flavor and texture of these muffins, which I'd consider ideal for whole grain English muffins. The crumb is not as open as traditional muffins, but I believe that's due to the whole grains (although could also be overproofing). The muffins were large and quite delicious.

• Cranberry-pecan bread

  • anya_sf on December 27, 2020

    I had problems with this recipe, some (but maybe not all?) of which were my fault. The sponge accidentally sat at room temperature for 10 hours before being refrigerated. After the honey was added to the dough, it became super soft and soupy. I added a little extra flour and turned the mixer to medium to try and loosen the dough from the bottom of the bowl, but the dough was still very slack and sticky. I refrained from adding more flour until it was time to shape the loaves, which I was unable to do without a generous amount of flour, some of which I kneaded into the dough. The shaped loaves were quite squat and soft. I probably let them proof too long (lost track of time). They rose outwards but not upwards at all. Also, the oven may not have been sufficiently preheated; there was no oven spring. The resulting loaves were wide and flat, not too attractive. However, the bread was absolutely delicious, with an open, chewy crumb. We loved it toasted with butter.

• Fig-walnut bread

  • anya_sf on November 25, 2020

    I made 1 loaf, which was a little harder to knead in the stand mixer due to low volume. I needed to add about 1/4 cup extra flour. The loaf took 40 minutes to bake (tested with a thermometer). The bread was hearty and delicious. We enjoyed it toasted with butter and fig preserves. Next time I would cut the figs and nuts a little smaller.

• Honey whole wheat bread

  • bwhip on February 18, 2020

    I've made this three times now, and we just love the flavor and texture of the bread. My only reservation is that it never rises as much as I expect it to, and because of that the loaves are fairly small and dense. It may be because our house just isn't warm enough during the various resting stages (though I try to keep it pretty warm then to help the process). Still, we really love the bread and we'll keep making it.

  • anya_sf on May 21, 2020

    I just made 1 loaf and wish I'd made 2 - we loved the hearty flavor and texture of this bread! Mixed by hand, the dough was too stiff to get fully combined by stirring, but it did during kneading. My loaf rose surprisingly high with lots of oven spring. After 30 minutes of baking, it started browning too much, so I tented it with foil; it needed 43 to bake (interior temperature around 200 F).

  • jenburkholder on February 15, 2022

    I also couldn’t get it fully mixed, the dough was very tight. The flavor was fine, but it was too dense in texture and slightly dry. It’s fine for eating but I won’t repeat.

• Pecan sandies

  • jbuchman on April 10, 2020

    Easy and great.

  • pie4u on May 27, 2020

    Super easy and delicious cookie.

  • cellenly on November 22, 2021

    Delicious. The non sweet loving people even liked it a lot. Will use more nuts on the outside roll next time.

  • Pandan on September 05, 2024

    These were ok, but wouldn’t make again. Not sure whether I made something wrong here but my dough was way too soft to shape into a log. Only was able To do that after a while in the fridge. Also these were a bit too salty for me, but maybe I accidentally put in too much. Mine also spread quite a bit.

• Double chocolate rye cookies

  • bwhip on November 23, 2019

    Really good, chocolatey cookies - though I think next time I'll use regular all-purpose flour instead of the rye flour, which was interesting but a little odd here to our taste, both in flavor and texture.

  • Xyz123 on August 13, 2020

    These are my new all time favorite cookie!!!!

  • Jviney on May 03, 2023

    Husband said these are excellent, and I think they hit just the right dark chocolate note without being too rich. I found shaving the unsweetened chocolate to be annoyingly fiddly and so not all of it made the final batch, but I didn’t think anything was missing.

  • jess_na6y7k on February 22, 2026

    Yummmmmm

• Master pastry cream

  • anya_sf on January 02, 2020

    Easy method, tasty. Makes a fairly thick pastry cream which can be layered.

• Apple jam

  • anya_sf on January 02, 2020

    I made this for the Swedish Napoleon and it was very tasty. You need to check on it and add more water periodically so it doesn't scorch, but it definitely needs to get very thick to be layered.

• Swedish Napoleon

  • anya_sf on January 02, 2020

    I attempted to make half the recipe and it was a disaster, but much of that was due to miscalculating the size of the puff pastry and also oven failure while baking the puff pastry. For half a recipe, I used 1 sheet TJ's puff pastry, rolled out to 15" x 8", then cut in thirds, but those pieces were too small for the volume of fillings. Due to my temperamental oven, the pastry ended up puffing too much, making layering virtually impossible. Extrapolating to the correct size, I still think the pastry may not be able to easily accommodate all the filling - definitely roll it out as large and thin as possible. The whipped cream also wasn't stiff enough to easily layer; the weight of the top pastries and pastry cream caused it to squeeze out immediately. Some gelatin might help. At any rate, we ended up eating everything "trifle style" and the various components were delicious together. The topping is quite sweet, so only use as much as needed to make it pretty.

• Raspberry topping

  • anya_sf on January 02, 2020

    Easy to make and pretty, but very sweet, so use sparingly.

• Syrian nutmeg cake

  • Lepa on January 05, 2020

    This cake is unusual, delicious and easy to make. I normally don't like iced cakes so I hesitated to add the topping but it is not too sweet- more like a lightly sweetened creme fraiche.

  • PBBrownie on September 25, 2024

    This cake has a big payoff for how relatively easy it is. So delicious and pairs well with a fall-inspired menu!

  • Ms20 on April 18, 2022

    This frosting is amazing. This is not really a dessert cake, more of a tea or snack cake. Unusual flavor, great crust, would make again for the right occasion.

• Lime cream pie with brown sugar graham crust

  • Kinhawaii on January 13, 2020

    We really enjoyed this. I like the thicker lime filling & lime zest in the topping. My current oven is usually pretty close to the recommended cooking times but the crust was done several minutes earlier & the filling was hardly wobbly after 20 minutes, when the cooking time given was 30 to 40 minutes. Delicious!

  • Zosia on March 14, 2020

    Excellent pie (and quite painless to make). It has great lime flavour without too much sharpness and the firmer filling makes serving easier. I forgot to add the zest to the cream so sprinkled on the top.

  • rach3190 on May 11, 2026

    more crust needed, more lime zest, decreased whipped topping for our taste. Otherwise loved it.

  • Littlebirdchoc on June 12, 2020

    Super easy recipe. Only thing I would change would be to leave out the corn starch. Gave the whipped cream a strange chalky taste, unless I did something wrong.

• Mocha chip cookies

  • Zosia on January 17, 2020

    My family likes all things coffee and chocolate so these were a hit. The coffee flavour was strong, though balanced by the chocolate and rye, and there was a slightly bitter aftertaste from it, not surprising since each cookie had 1.5tsp ground espresso in it. The texture was as described with crunchy edges and chewy centre. My yield was 24 monster cookies.

  • jess_na6y7k on February 21, 2026

    The only recipe I’ve cooked from this book that is absolutely a miss. The texture was so weird, espresso going right into the dough just didn’t work for me!

  • Ms20 on June 07, 2022

    Absolute fail. First recipe from Joanne Chang that has ever failed. Too much butter / not enough flour, so they spread (more like Tate style cookies). I bake using a metric scale so I don’t think it’s the measurements…not sure how to salvage.

  • pie4u on May 27, 2020

    These were easy to make, and I really like the crisp edge and chewy interior. First batch spread a ton! So I did not push down on tops as much in subsequent batches. Last batch I used silpat as a test. They didn't spread nearly as much but I think the intention is a thin cookie. Really like the mocha flavor and rye. Had 3 already and feeling the caffeine. 9-27-2022 revisited these cookies today and again baked first batch on a sheet lined with parchment. They again spread a lot! I think the best result is achieved when baked on silpat lined sheets. Make sure to give lots of space so they don't run together. Probably a little more than the 2 inches the recipe suggested. Didn't not press down on the tops at all. We really like the flavor and texture (chewy middle/crispy edge).

• Anzacs

  • Rachaelsb on January 20, 2020

    I had had Anzacs years ago at a small gourmet shop in Brookline, MA - Virginias. The most wonderful turkey sandwiches, but that is another story. They also made Anzacs which I have always remembered - just captured my cookie love. Joanne Chang's come close - not quite - fall a bit thicker than I remembered but pretty close!! Delish and stay fresh for a while (or at least as long as they last!)

  • Lepa on March 23, 2020

    I totally messed up, because I was distracted and baking with my son, and added all the oats and coconut to the batter instead of reserving some for coating the cookies. I think that made my dough a bit dry and crumbly so it was difficult to make cookies. They were delicious once baked, though. I will make these again- and do a better job of following directions!

• Persian love cookies

  • Zosia on January 24, 2020

    Tasty cookies with intriguing flavour and chewy texture. The cardamom was quite strong when they were freshly baked but mellowed and melded with the other ingredients over time; I preferred them on the second day. I found the published erratum regarding the salt but I think there's also an error in the weight of the pistachios; a rounded half cup chopped weighed 75g (not 175g) and that's all that was needed to coat the cookies. The dough wasn't at all sticky so the nuts didn't want to adhere; flattening the cookies on the plate of chopped nuts before transferring them to the baking sheet worked best for me.

• Peanut butter frosting

  • Zosia on January 28, 2020

    Incredibly silky, creamy and smooth (I used creamy instead of crunchy peanut butter) with good peanut flavour. I did think it could have used less sugar but the salty garnishes on the super bowl cupcakes balanced that out. A Swiss meringue buttercream - which I've never made before - forms the base of this frosting. The recipe doesn't include temperatures of ingredients so I did a little research and made sure to bring my egg white-sugar mixture to 185F. The recipe made a generous amount for 20 regular sized cupcakes (without snacking!)

• Super Bowl cupcakes

  • Zosia on January 28, 2020

    These were a huge hit! The cupcakes were moist, fine-crumbed and very chocolatey and were complemented by the peanut butter buttercream (reviewed separately). The batter was made with the reverse creaming method, beating butter into the dry ingredients. It took a few minutes longer at a higher speed than the recipe indicated for my dough to come together in this step. I made 20 cupcakes (62g each) that baked in 20 minutes. I substituted sour cream for creme fraiche and creamy peanut butter for chunky and added salted peanuts for garnish to compensate for the latter.

  • Jviney on February 07, 2021

    These were really, really good. I set my oven timer to the short side of the cooking time range, but the cupcakes were dry. Paired with the peanut butter frosting and the Ruffles and the chocolate, it didn’t matter. Super fun for the Super Bowl.

• Plum-frangipane tart

  • anya_sf on January 31, 2020

    I substituted jarred pears cut in quarters for the plums. My 10" tart pan is a ceramic one-piece pan, which I used, but the pastry sides shrank a lot during blind baking, and I wonder if the pan material was a factor. I was still able to use the shell since the filling was shallow. Both the crust and filled tart were done 5-10 minutes sooner than the stated time, so check early. Even though the tart overbaked a bit, it was still moist and delicious.

  • Kinhawaii on November 18, 2020

    Will make again. Had a bunch of plums on the tart side so this filling helped balanced that. I used Dorie’s pastry so haven’t tried this version & covered the crust rim after prebaking it. My plums were green not red on the inside, cut into sixths. It baked in a little more than an hour for me - as anya_sf advised. We really enjoyed this warm & at room temp.

• Brown butter-peanut rice crispy treats with peanut butter ganache

  • Zosia on February 06, 2020

    This is an amped up version of Joanne Chang's brown butter rice crispy treat recipe from Flour (my go-to recipe) that includes salted peanuts in the cereal mixture and a silky peanut butter ganache topping. Completely decadent and delicious according to family et al. I added extra cereal to the mixture as I wanted to finish the package so my bars weren't as gooey as they should have been. I cut into 48 pieces.

  • Littlebirdchoc on June 22, 2020

    Everyone loved these! Family, friends, neighbors....loved it! Super easy to make.

  • mamacrumbcake on March 17, 2021

    The family did not love this. No one cared for the peanuts in the treat itself. Family thought they were distracting and out of place. The peanut butter ganache tasted off and the peanut butter flavor did not really come through. And finally, the family thought there was too much marshmallow. This recipe does have double the proportion of marshmallow compared to most other recipes.

• Lemon sugar cookies with lemon glaze

  • Zosia on February 14, 2020

    Really lovely, lemony cookies. The dough was very easy to work with and the cookies baked up crisp. My yield was 38 with re-rolling dough scraps so I made 1.5 times the recipe for the glaze.

• Pumpkin-pecan bread pudding

  • anya_sf on February 16, 2020

    I made a full recipe minus the pecans for a pot luck, and a half recipe with pecans for home. Both versions were made with pre-sliced white sandwich bread, using 12 slices for a full recipe. The bread wasn't stale, so I dried it somewhat in the oven. I ran out of half-and-half, but whole milk worked. The half recipe baked in 1 hour. The pudding tasted like pumpkin pie, but wasn't super sweet; we enjoyed it with vanilla ice cream. I'd gladly eat leftovers for breakfast.

• Ossa dei morti

  • Zosia on February 23, 2020

    Not a pretty cookie but a delicious one. They are exceptionally crunchy with a surprisingly lacy interior chock full of almonds. They are quite sweet, of course, but great with a cup of coffee. I found them easiest to pipe without a metal tip and with a 1"/2.5cm hole in the bag; the batter did stiffen as it sat but was still pipeable after 20 minutes. I thought I was piping the correct size but my yield was 40 cookies rather than 24.

• Master lemon curd

  • Zosia on March 14, 2020

    I love this curd! Bright and zingy flavour and not too rich. I made sure to cook it until it reached 185F.

• Chocolate pudding buttercream

  • Astrid5555 on October 23, 2022

    Agree with Zosia, good taste but a little soft to work with at room temeperature.

  • Zosia on March 19, 2020

    I know this as a cooked flour frosting (Joanne's name for it is much more appealing). This is my first time making a chocolate version and it was as smooth and silky as its vanilla counterparts, with a good, but not too intense chocolate flavour. I did find that it was a little more temperature sensitive than some other types of buttercream; it was a little too soft and loose to work with at ~23C but too stiff at 20C (temperature at which I initially tried to frost Ashley's Birthday Cake).

• Strawberries and cream chiffon cake

  • Astrid5555 on June 12, 2020

    Light, fluffy, delicious! Perfect summer cake, will repeat with peaches!

  • Rachaelsb on June 04, 2020

    Wonderful cake. Light and incredibly moist. Ratio of whipped cream, strawberries to cake is perfect. And I agree with previous comment on this cake...peaches would be amazing!!!

  • bwhip on March 14, 2020

    Lovely cake. Simple, light and fluffy. Layers were quite thick, making for a nicely tall cake. In the photo it looks like the amount of whipped cream might be a little much, but we found it to be just right. Ratio of cake to fruit is just a bit higher than we’d prefer, but the cake is light and tasty, so it’s not a big deal. My wife mentioned she thought this would be really good made with peaches, too, and I agree.

  • Xyz123 on February 20, 2022

    Everything about this cake is perfect and the vanilla syrup puts it over the top. Very light and not too sweet.

  • mamacrumbcake on April 01, 2024

    This is a very nice cake, almost perfect—beautiful soft and light texture with just the right amount of sweetness. I made a half recipe and baked it in 2-6” pans. Bake time was 30 minutes. The batter filled the pan 3/4 but it did not overflow. Had a nice dome but after resting for 5 minutes flattened out. I did not have to cut the cake to level it. The only change I might make in the future would be to split the layers to get 4 thinner layers and therefore some strawberries, cream, and cake in every bite. (My layers were 2” thick.)

  • anya_sf on June 18, 2021

    Excellent cake, light with just the right sweetness. I made 1/2 recipe using 6" pans; baking time was the same. Served with extra strawberries. Next time I'd make slightly more whipped cream for better coverage.

  • jennabailey54 on October 20, 2021

    This cake is perfect. I don't like overly sweet deserts and it was light, and airy and delicious. everyone loved it. I will make this over and over again

  • xi.huang on March 21, 2022

    Absolutely delicious! I just need to make sure I use an aluminum pan and not a non-stick pan next time so that the chiffon stays light and fluffy. Also really delicious with toasted almond slivers on the sides to hide my crappy frosting ability.

• Japanese cotton cheesecake

  • Astrid5555 on September 13, 2020

    Delicious, light and fluffy, not very sweet, similar to a soufflé. Slightly overbaked already at 30 minutes, so keep a close watch. Highly recommended!

  • EmilyR on February 24, 2023

    recipe here : https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/japanese-cheesecake-cotton-cheesecake

  • Zosia on November 14, 2022

    It was over baked at 35 minutes - should have read the previous reviews - but still delicious. The texture was better, creamier and less crumbly, at room temperature.

  • Kinhawaii on July 30, 2020

    Will definitely make again - not creamy & rich like the usual cheesecake but light, like a cheesecake cloud. Following NYT comments, used more lemon zest & upped the vanilla using vanilla paste. Took 25-30 minutes in my oven- the recipes I have made so far in this cookbook have been taking 5-10 minutes shorter. We enjoyed it plain - we thought it was like other Japanese desserts - on the less sweet side, with very delicate flavoring. Used the microwave on medium to low, 20-30 seconds at a time to soften the cream cheese - one less pot to wash.

  • anya_sf on April 21, 2020

    This cake was easy to make. Never having eaten this before, I didn't know what the texture should be like. It was much drier and more cake-like than I expected, similar to ricotta cheesecake but even lighter. I thought it would be more moist - not sure if I overbaked it. The flavor was lemony and just sweet enough. We enjoyed it with blueberry compote.

• Butter mochi

  • hirsheys on January 30, 2022

    This was definitely very easy to make, despite the fact that I made it tough on myself - I halved the recipe (I live alone) and then, never leaving well enough alone, decided to leave the coconut flakes out of half of the batch I made (so I only used a quarter of what was called for). I just couldn't believe that the coconut flakes would be a good idea texturally, and the rest of the recipes I'd read don't usually have them. The bad news is that as a result of all of the fiddling and halving, etc, I overbaked the mochi, so they are browner/tougher on the outside than I think they are supposed to be. That said, they are delicious - I like both the smooth and unsmooth versions a ton. The texture is luscious without the coconut flakes, but the coconut flavor is so tasty! (Used unsweetened coconut rather than sweetened, since that's all I had and did NOT miss the extra sugar...)

  • Rinshin on May 21, 2022

    The online link does not provide the oven temperature? Cannot find it. Checked my book and it is 350F. 24 pieces.

  • ebalk02 on May 01, 2023

    Easy to make, gluten free, lovely coconut flavor. I like to add just a little extra salt to the batter plus, optionally a sprinkle of coarse or flaky salt on top before baking.

  • hilarie on April 06, 2020

    Smells great while baking! Made dairy free with no problems.

  • Xyz123 on February 20, 2022

    I make this when I’m feeling homesick for Hawaii. My husband is always requesting this. Great recipe.

• Rhubarb brown sugar pie

  • hirsheys on June 15, 2020

    Rhubarb pie is pretty much my favorite thing, so I tried this one because I thought the brown sugar sounded yummy and because of pie4u's positive review. It took me almost an entire day to bake, and I cursed myself the whole time, asking why I didn't just make my mom's super easy, super yummy version. It is *delicious* though. Really, really, good. I'm now kind of obsessed with figuring out which parts of the fussy recipe are necessary and which parts can be axed. (Do I *really* need to prebake the crust?) Anyway, it's a keeper.

  • Kjandsj on May 20, 2022

    What a delicious pie. My crust turned out so buttery and flakey. Even the bottom, so I think the blind bake was worth it. Delicious filling. Gone in one sitting - with the last piece an award to my brother for doing the dishes after supper. A keeper.

  • anya_sf on May 31, 2023

    Having blind baked a double crust pie before and found it awkward, I used pie4u's method instead, which worked very well. This pie was delicious, just the right sweetness, with an unusual custardy filling. The real star was the incredibly tender and flaky crust.

  • pie4u on May 27, 2020

    Rhubarb pie is my husband's absolute favorite so I bake (at least) one every year in the spring when our patch is ready for harvest. This is a bit different than my usual pie. My regular version doesn't use egg and cake flour as thickeners (I use tapioca flour) and I don't usually blind bake double crust fruit pies. That said this was a truly delicious version. I liked the flavor that the brown sugar brought to the party. Great pate brisee, but I'm not fully sold on the blind bake. I get the reason (rhubarb can throw off a lot of moisture) but you can't create a lattice with a pretty fluted edge. Pie flavor A pie appearance B-.

  • passatellikelly on May 01, 2023

    I made this into a single crust pie because I happened to find local rhubarb at the farmstand and I had an extra pie crust kicking around in the freezer. I followed the filling recipe exactly, but I did not blind-bake the crust. I baked it in a glass pie dish. I heated the oven to 400 with the pizza stone in it, and put the baking sheet in the oven in advance, as another person recommended. When the pie was ready to go into the oven, I baked at 400 for 15 minutes and then lowered the temp for the rest of the bake. The bottom of the pie was perfectly crispy and delicious. This makes a great pie, even as a single crust pie.

  • pie4u on May 13, 2021

    I have revisited this recipe a year later (rhubarb season!) and I have great news no need to mess around with blind baking the bottom crust (unless you really want to). What I did to ensure a well baked bottom was...I pre-heated the oven to 425 with my baking steel and a half sheet pan on the middle rack. When I was ready to bake I dropped the temp to 400, put the pie on the half sheet pan and baked the pie for 15 minutes at this higher temp. After 15 mins, I dropped the temp to 350 for the remainder of the bake. The only other adjustment I made was to substitute instant clearjel for the cake flour. No soggy bottom, beautifully baked, flaky, crust top and bottom. My husband has declared this his favorite rhubarb pie.

• Thin, crispy chocolate chip cookies

  • stockholm28 on September 04, 2021

    These were good and they are relatively thin and crispy as compared to your standard toll house cookie. The cookie has crisp, ”caramelly” edges, although mine were still chewy in the center. I deviated slightly from her instructions. It calls for superfine sugar and I used regular granulated. It also says you should chill the dough a minimum of 3 to 4 hours and mine was only chilled for about 2 hours. I also did not make the cookies as large as she suggests. The recipe says to use 1/4 cup of dough to make 18 - 20 cookies. I used a large cookie scoop and got about 30 cookies from the dough. I baked one batch on a lower rack and a couple of the cookies got overdone on the bottom. I’d recommend using middle or upper racks to avoid that. Also, she says to bake 20 to 24 minutes; mine would have been burnt if I’d left them in that long.

• Simple lemon spiral

  • Zosia on March 14, 2020

    Lovely and very lemony with just enough cream and sugar to balance the tartness of fruit. I found the cake very fragile and difficult to roll and it had an almost pudding-like texture. I wonder if one could get away with using less syrup and still have a moist cake that's easier to handle and more cake-like in texture. Note that the rolled cake must be frozen for 4 hours or up to overnight before icing and then should thaw for 3 hours before serving.

• Ashley's birthday cake

  • Zosia on March 19, 2020

    It's described as an old fashioned chocolate cake but it was a much better version than any I've ever had (or made). It was rich and chocolatey with a fine moist crumb. I baked the batter in 3 pans with cake strips so the layers were perfectly flat and didn't require trimming. I applied most of the syrup to the bottom and sides of each cake layer as the untrimmed tops didn't absorb it very well. The cake was frosted with the book's Chocolate Pudding Buttercream. Excellent with a glass of cold milk.

• Olive oil cake with fresh grapes

  • Zosia on March 23, 2020

    Rich moist cake with a pleasant citrusy flavour. Substitutions were made: zero fat Greek yogurt for whole milk Greek yogurt; fiori di Sicilia for almond extract; red grapes for green.

  • Ducksinarose on July 13, 2025

    Baked for 70 minutes and thought that the cake was over baked. The edges were dark and hard. Next time I’ll start checking the cake at 60 minutes. The cake was still delicious though.

  • Pandan on May 09, 2024

    This was really nice, although my cake got too dark, but that could be due to my unreliable oven temperatures. It did not taste like olive oil, although I used a quite strong flavoured fresh olive oil. Nice way to use up some grapes and quite easy to prepare.

  • anya_sf on July 29, 2020

    Nice cake, easy to make, very moist. The instructions didn't say to grease the pan (just line bottom with parchment), but I did - can't tell if it was necessary. I squeezed as many grapes on top as I could and the cake handled them. Different fruits would be good too.

• Vietnamese espresso profiteroles with spicy chocolate ganache

  • Zosia on July 07, 2020

    This was a fantastic dessert! The sweet, bitter and spice flavours were complementary and balanced. Though there were 3 components, (choux pastry puffs, no-churn coffee ice cream, ganache), each was easy to make and could be stashed away in freezer or refrigerator until required.

• Passion fruit crêpe cake

  • Zosia on December 09, 2021

    Despite how delicious all the components were, the cake was just ok. While the curd and cream were at their best chilled, the crepes were not. I was particularly disappointed that the tang of the curd was lost.

• Summer blueberry-peach cobbler

  • Zosia on September 01, 2020

    This cobbler was all about the delicious fruit with just a little lemon and sugar to enhance it. The biscuit topping was very good too, rather plain in flavour but wonderfully tender with golden, crunchy parts. Family loved it! I made a half recipe baked in a deep dish pie plate and used the leftover egg white for the biscuit wash.

  • rachelleg88 on July 29, 2021

    Very yummy! Love that it wasn't too sweet - family enjoyed it with some french vanilla ice cream! Also made the biscuits with gluten free flour and they worked well! Would maybe add more peaches next time.

• Christopher's honeycomb

  • Zosia on February 10, 2023

    This was a fail for me. It was hard with not much aeration. I used regular corn syrup and brought the mixture to 300F as other recipes specify. The flavour wasn't good enough for me to attempt this recipe again.

  • taste24 on June 11, 2020

    In the Midwest, we call this Fairy Food. Awesome instructions and very good recipe. I have only made this candy in the winter time, as I've heard humidity can impact the end result. Make sure you spread the candy onto a larger baking sheet - I tried putting it in a 8x8 pan, and it was too close together that the candy never got crunchy and remained a little soft. When the candy hardened, I broke it into pieces and covered each piece entirely in chocolate.

• Master frangipane

  • Zosia on September 05, 2023

    I whizzed this up in a food processor and used half in the fresh peach crostatas. I would have preferred a slightly stronger almond flavour for that recipe.

  • valbe on October 01, 2022

    I had no idea frangipane was so easy to make. Made half a recipe and used in Fresh Peach Crostatas. 2026/02/22: The almond extract does amp up the almond flavor. Now, I add it every time I make this.

  • anya_sf on January 15, 2021

    Simple to make, easy to halve the recipe, great flavor. Could maybe add a bit of almond extract to boost the almond flavor.

• Master double-crust pâte brisée

  • Zosia on September 05, 2023

    Easy to put together - I used a food processor - and baked up tender and flakey. I used it to make the fresh peach crostatas.

• Gluten-free double chocolate-walnut brownies

  • jess_na6y7k on February 21, 2026

    Best Brownies I’ve ever made they’re literally perfect (even though they’re gluten free)

• Jessi's caramel popcorn cookies

  • taste24 on June 12, 2020

    The caramel popcorn itself is delicious and surprisingly simple to make. The cookies have an odd texture - the popcorn becomes a little stale immediately after baking. Overall pretty good, but not sure if I'd make them again.

• Spring ricotta pie with fresh berries

  • anya_sf on July 07, 2021

    The pie shell was overly dark after 25 min; next time check after 20. I may have rolled it a little too thin as it shrank slightly on one side (but mostly didn't shrink). I was able to patch that with some raw dough and put a pie shield around the rest of the edge so only that part browned while the filling baked. The filling took 55 min to set. The pie tasted wonderful: light, fresh, and citrusy with just the right sweetness. We had extra berries on the side. Like most ricotta pies, the filling was a bit grainy, but I did use supermarket ricotta.

• Almond Joy tart

  • rach3190 on May 11, 2026

    this was fantastic and easy to make, conversion of x1.333 to get to my pan size (9 inch tart pan with removable bottom) worked well

• Cherry crumb pie

  • anya_sf on June 07, 2020

    I used a deep 9.5" pie plate to hold all that fruit. The crust needed to be rolled larger than 11" (more like 13") to fully line the pan and edges, so it was fairly thin. I've never prebaked a fruit pie crust that was going to get baked again. I worried it would get too dark, but it turned out fine. The crust was still tender and flaky. The prebaked crumbs were quite crunchy, almost too much so (update: softer and, for me, better on day 2). After 1 hour 5 minutes of baking, the fruit still wasn't visibly bubbly, but I didn't want the pie to get darker, so I took it out. My cherries weren't super juicy, yet what juice there was remained thin, despite the cornstarch. I wonder if tapioca starch would work better. The flavor was very good, with just the right sweetness. The pie was gone in 2 days so I'd say that's a strong recommendation.

  • rach3190 on May 11, 2026

    great filling, but crust was so soft/hard to roll and crumb topping was too crunchy and not flavorful - disappointed instructions weren't better as I'm not an expert pie maker.

• Butter crumbs

  • anya_sf on June 07, 2020

    I used bleached all-purpose flour instead of cake flour, sifted as instructed. The crumbs barely clumped together, but formed more clumps upon baking. As a topping for the cherry pie, the crumbs turned out very crunchy.

• Fresh peach crostatas

  • Zosia on September 05, 2023

    Fantastic pastry! I didn't leave a 2" pastry border when filling them and had to work quickly as the dough was getting quite soft in my warm kitchen so my crostatas are larger and flatter with more pastry pleats to contain the generous filling than depicted in the book. Still delicious!

  • anya_sf on August 11, 2020

    Wonderful - tender, flaky pastry, lightly-sweetened peaches and a touch of almond. They are large - I had half for dessert, the other half for breakfast. My teenage son ate a whole one though. There were so many peaches, it was hard to fold the crust over neatly and I worried they'd open up while baking, but they didn't.

• Galette des rois

  • anya_sf on January 15, 2021

    I scaled this down to use 1 lb quick puff pastry dough (recipe from this book), rolling into a 9" square and using a 7" upside-down cake pan to create the circle. Despite sealing the edges as well as I could, a little bit of filling leaked out. I also cut the design a little too deeply, as some filling leaked through the top. Nevertheless, the galette tasted wonderful, the pastry beautifully crisp and flaky.

• Chaussons aux pommes

  • anya_sf on October 28, 2020

    I used leftover apple butter from another recipe. Although I sealed the edges of the pastries, when the instructions said to press down on the filling, I pressed too hard so some apple butter leaked into the seams and out of the pastry during baking. Fortunately most of the filling remained inside, and the pastry (rough puff) baked up light and flaky. The chaussons aux pommes tasted wonderful.

• Old-fashioned double-crust apple pie

  • anya_sf on December 01, 2025

    I used 4 Granny Smith and 4 Golden Delicious apples. The filling did not fit in my 9" pie pan even though I mounded it. I baked the extra in a small casserole topped with streusel, so we got a bonus apple crumble out of it. Instead of blind baking the bottom, I followed pie4u's method in the Rhubarb Brown Sugar Pie, which worked very well. The pie was delicious and sliced fairly neatly, and this has got to be my favorite flaky pie crust recipe.

• Autumn pear tarte Tatin

  • anya_sf on March 08, 2024

    I made 1/2 recipe in a 7" pan, trimming the pear tips slightly to fit. Placing the pears on their sides is a great way to maximize the amount of fruit. I cut the pastry into a 7" circle, but wider would have been better, as the pastry shrank during baking. The tart was delicious. Rather than discard the copious amount of extra liquid, I drizzled some over my serving.

• Hummingbird cupcakes

  • Kinhawaii on October 15, 2023

    Yummy. I taste the banana more & these make a nice banana muffin variation. I filled 12 large cupcake/muffin holes but as you can see they were rather flat & didn’t fill the liners. Did take 25 minutes to cook. I would make these again but may fill fewer holes fuller…I wasn’t sure how high they would rise & the batter was on the thinner side. I’m not sure but I think the batter filled my muffin cups only half way. I didn’t have enough cream cheese to make the frosting so made a Dorie Greenspan version- also I didn’t want to use that much butter.

• Vegan Hostess cupcakes

  • hilarie on June 29, 2020

    I love Joanne Chang's recipes, but this one wasn't great. Because of the aquafaba marshmallow fluff, these don't keep well at all. The ganache never thickened enough either. The chocolate cupcake base is good, and I'd use it again with different fillings and toppings.

• Plum upside-down cake

  • Kinhawaii on September 24, 2020

    I substituted sour cream for the creme fraiche & milk & I don’t think if affected the texture much-was still moist, velvety. The caramel taste is stronger than the plum so was not popular with those who dislike caramel’s bitter taste. Better warm.

• Ginger-peach crumb cake

  • anya_sf on July 14, 2020

    I made 1/2 recipe in an 8" round pan (2" high), which nearly filled it, so with the full recipe I imagine a pan with high sides would be needed. The cake seemed done after 50 minutes, but I wasn't certain due to the moisture from the peaches, so I left it in another 10 minutes. That turned out to be just right. I substituted plain Greek yogurt + sour cream for the creme fraiche and added a few extra peach chunks. The cake was moist and tender, and the ginger went well with the peaches. My family really liked it.

  • hilarie on June 18, 2020

    Delicious, moist cake that is quick and easy to put together. I felt like the peaches got lost, but I'd make again with different fruit.

  • Kinhawaii on September 05, 2021

    Thank you anya_sf! Made half a recipe in a 3 “ tall 8” pan, took 50 minutes, used a whole white peach & a small amount of blueberries which totaled 1 1/4 cups. Soft with a subtle peach & ginger flavor. Didn’t bother to toast the pecans & seemed fine.

• Eggnog cheesecake with gingerbread people

  • Barb_N on November 27, 2020

    I was able to make this ahead for Thanksgiving. I did not make gingerbread cookies for crust or people to top it. I used purchased gingerbread cookies (the ones usually purchased for the pretty tin). My husband (from NYC environs) declared this the Best Cheesecake he’s ever tasted. Agreed

  • Kinhawaii on December 11, 2020

    Yummy! Used bourbon- not for those who don’t like bourbon or rum- it stayed quite strong even the next day. I made the gingerbread but not having a small cutter tried using a different shape- it was a very sticky dough. Tried to refrigerate it after rolling it out between parchment with lots of flour but it was too soft, even tried freezing it for a bit, eventually just baked it & used pie cutter shapes when it came out of the oven before it hardened. The gingerbread tasted good but not sure why it was so soft, did by weight & rechecked. I was also going to not strain it but could see lumps of creme fraiche. Unlike her other recipes for me, took the full time to bake. Would make again.

• Orange-almond pudding cake with chocolate ganache

  • anya_sf on August 07, 2020

    My family loved this cake. I made 3/5 recipe in a 6" pan (done in 1 hr 10 min) and half the ganache. Used candied oranges left over from another recipe and didn't have quite enough, but the orange flavor was still good. The orange pieces sank to the bottom - maybe too large? Not sure why this is called a pudding cake, as it's just a cake, but maybe because it's nice and moist despite no oil. Don't make the ganache too far ahead as the book instructs or it will harden too much. I had to reheat it and it wasn't as smooth and glossy anymore, so only did 1 coat of ganache (using all of it) - tasted great, just not as pretty.

  • rach3190 on May 11, 2026

    The directions weren’t as clear as they could of been, and I ended up with too many and too thickly syrup-ed candied oranges, which left me with a wet and dense cake that really didn’t taste like a cake at all in texture. The ganache topping was thicker and less flowing than hers, and didn’t coat as smoothly - it also tasted good but not as good as other ganache I’ve made. The flavors here were very fun, but not worth trying to fiddle with to get the texture to work, try another orange cake someday.

  • mirjoy on February 15, 2026

    This cake is incredibly tasty and pretty foolproof. I wasn’t able to get it to be very pretty - I didn’t read closely to strain the orange peel out of the cream before adding the chocolate for ganache, so my ganache was a little lumpy. The cake still disappeared really quickly.

• Stone fruit and berry financier cake with toasted meringue

  • anya_sf on April 13, 2020

    I made half the recipe in a 6"x3" high springform pan. A wider pan probably would have worked better. The initial baking time was 18 minutes, but the center ended up a little wet, so perhaps the full 20 minutes were needed. For the fruit, I used sliced strawberries and blackberries. The uncooked meringue filled the cake pan, then rose a lot during baking, so it split in the middle and threatened to fall apart over the sides. Thankfully, it didn't. It shrank upon cooling, but looked a mess. The meringue got quite dark, so I reduced the oven temperature to 325 after 20 minutes; it seemed done after 40 minutes total. Overall, I liked the different flavors and textures in this cake. However, the financier layer was a little heavy, the meringue was ugly and dark (didn't taste burnt, but might have at the higher temperature), and I would have liked more fruit (but that probably would have yielded too much liquid).

• Malted chocolate cake

  • Summerlandsky on April 18, 2022

    Perfect for an Easter cake or spring birthday. I doubled the recipe to make the two 8” layered cake and a 9x13 pan so I’d have enough to feed a crowd. Cooking time was the same for both. Don’t forget the simple syrup or the cake won’t be as sweet and moist. I forgot to do it on the 9x13 and it was noticeable. Single recipe of frosting was enough for both cakes barely. Probably should increase by 25% but it was really tasty. Did not like the chocolate splatter. Next time will either add sugar or just melt chocolate for it. Needed to be runnier to get proper technique.

• Brown butter butterscotch caramels

  • taste24 on June 12, 2020

    Relative easy recipe with outstanding results - the brown butter flavor was so deep. Delicious

  • Ms20 on April 18, 2022

    Fantastic. Was my first time attempting caramel and Joanne’s recipe details are always so helpful for beginners. Make sure your thermometer is accurate before attempting. A winner, will make again for sure.

• Master pâte sucrée

  • anya_sf on July 06, 2021

    Different method for pate sucree, like making cookie dough, but worked well.

• Master single-crust pâte brisée

  • anya_sf on June 07, 2020

    The first time I read the recipe, I was intimidated, but actually it was quite easy to make. With the egg yolk and milk, it's more like pate sucrees I've made than pate brisee. It was relatively easy to roll and baked up tender and flaky.

  • Xyz123 on February 20, 2022

    Hands down THE best crust I’ve ever made. So flakey, so tender!!

• Master quick puff pastry dough

  • anya_sf on January 15, 2021

    Although the recipe says the dough can only be frozen for a few days, it still baked up beautifully for me after having been frozen for 2.5 months.

  • anya_sf on October 28, 2020

    This was my first time making rough puff and overall it turned out well. I used Plugra (not sure if I should have) and needed a little extra water for the dough to come together (weather was also extremely dry). After a few turns, the dough started to soften too much despite my cool kitchen, so I chilled it before rolling further. Made 2 days before using, the dough baked up nicely with lots of layers.

• Food52

  While the book is undoubtedly warm and approachable, it's also technical and exacting, to ensure a solid foundation in baking; preceding the recipes are a "baker's dozen" tips...

  Full review