Notes about Recipes in this book

• Cider-spiked Kentucky butter bundtlettes

  • Shewi128 on October 03, 2022

    This made a good, dependable mini cake, but it wasn't very memorable.

• Honey-molasses brown bread

  • Shewi128 on March 05, 2022

    These required a lot of extra flour as it was a very sticky dough. the loaves ended up being very squat, so I'm not sure what happened during the proofing process. The flavor was pretty good, though.

• Orange rolls

  • Shewi128 on June 20, 2022

    Cross-posted: These reminded me of the Alabama orange rolls from Cook's Country, likely because they both had the same inspiration from a local AL recipe. Anyways, I had to add more than the 1/4 flour as the dough was really soft. I did refrigerate the dough overnight, which actually helped roll out the soft dough in the morning. I then shaped and cut the rolls in the morning, which made it quicker. The recipe made 16 rolls for me instead of 14. The flavor was great, and the glaze was necessary for more orange flavor. The shredded coconut was an interesting touch--I don't know if it added much, but my husband liked it more than me.

• Traditional croissants

  • Shewi128 on April 04, 2023

    Method: 3/5, flavor 5/5. This was my first time making croissants, and I was like, this isn't THAT hard. Ppsh. The rolling took way longer than expected, and it definitely required some upper body strength. Also.. the method of having the croissants rise in a cold oven with steam from the boiled/hot water? I'm not sure about that. The butter started leaking from the croissants immediately. Also, if you make the chocolate version.. do NOT used chopped chocolate. It may leak on you too. Half of my croissants unrolled in the steamy oven, and the other half stayed together and looked professional. The flavor was very yeasty, and the texture was fluffy and flaky. I will try croissants again, but maybe not this method.

• Sweet custard wool bread [milk roux; custard filling]

  • Shewi128 on January 25, 2022

    This was beautiful and delicious. However, it needed more pastry cream on the inside! I want to try this technique again with a different filling as well.

• Spiced apples & cream crumb bars [spiced apple filling]

  • Shewi128 on December 10, 2021

    These were absolutely phenomenal. 10/10. Perfect blend of apples, spice, and creaminess from the cream cheese layer. Definitely would make again.

  • lorigenes on April 15, 2023

    These bars were so so good! A definite hit with everyone. Beware, they are a project. Lots of time, prep, steps, and dirty bowls and pans, but well worth it. I'm going to try it with pears next time.

• Invisible apple maple cake

  • Shewi128 on November 25, 2022

    I made this and royally screwed up twice.. my own fault, and nothing to do with the recipe. First, I layered the shingles of apples beautifully in the cake pan. Then I realized I forgot to add the flour. So I took the apples out and tried to stir in the flour as best as I could. I was upset, so I put the apples back in without making them pretty. After I put the cake pan in the oven, I realized I forgot the baking powder. So--the cake did not end up as beautiful as the photo, and the filling definitely did not work as intended. However, the flavor and texture were both good. I surprisingly liked the maple extract. I could not find maple sugar, so I used vanilla sugar instead. I'd consider making this again.

• Maple oat scones

  • Shewi128 on November 21, 2022

    This recipe has the best combo: scone, maple, and oats. I actually loved this recipe. I used a food processor to cut in butter because I'm lazy, and it still turned out great. I'll keep this recipe for easy breakfasts (I like to freeze scones and bake them straight from frozen).