Notes about Recipes in this book

• Strawberry rhubarb muffins

  • Astrid5555 on June 30, 2017

    These muffins are delicious, especially warm! Do not follow the recipe and try to remove the muffins from the tin after 5 minutes while still warm if you haven't used muffin liners but just dusted the pan with sugar as per the recipe suggestion. They stick and break. Wait until they are completely cool, they will come out of the tin beautifully.

  • TrishaCP on June 03, 2018

    These are a not too sweet muffin that I absolutely loved with the cardamom. Thanks to Astrid5555's note, and having been burned by stuck to the pan muffins when making the blackberry-ricotta muffins from this book, I just used liners. If you follow the instructions to eat them warm, you won't get them out of your pan without liners.

  • anya_sf on May 05, 2019

    I substituted white whole wheat flour for all-purpose, and plain nonfat yogurt for the sour cream. I also increased the strawberries to 1 cup. Tips I now use for all fruit-filled muffins: (from Smitten Kitchen) use paper liners so the fruit doesn't end up stuck to the pan; (from Bouchon Bakery) spray the paper liners with cooking spray so that you can easily remove the liners while the muffins are still warm. The muffins baked up beautifully, with just the right level of sweetness for breakfast, and a nice amount of fruit. I really liked the hint of cardamom.

  • Zosia on July 23, 2019

    Really lovely muffins. They were moist with a tender crumb and chock full of fruit (though I may have added more than what was called for). I didn't have enough (5%) sour cream so replaced the missing amount with low-fat yogurt. They were baked in 19 minutes at 375F.

  • hbakke on May 18, 2020

    Fantastic muffins! They were a bit overcooked at 22 minutes but otherwise delicious. I would make these again. The cardamom is detectable and a nice addition.

  • eliza on May 23, 2026

    I agree with the prior reviewers that these were delicious muffins. I made a half recipe (due to my lack of dairy products at the moment) and did a lot of changes to the recipe. I used rye flour for 1/3 of the white and subbed oil for butter, orange zest for lemon zest and yogurt for sour cream. In addition I had frozen raspberries that I subbed for strawberries. Rhubarb was from my garden (I increased rhubarb by about 50%) and egg from my sister’s chicks. Because my raspberries were frozen, these took 22 min at 400 convection. My yield for 1/2 recipe was 7 muffins. Will def repeat.

• Ricotta, lemon, and blackberry muffins

  • anya_sf on May 14, 2018

    I wanted healthy muffins, so I used whole wheat flour, reduced the sugar to 3/4 cup, and (obviously) skipped the glaze. I was low on sour cream so I used buttermilk for the rest. I bet you could use plain yogurt too. I made the batter the night before and folded in the berries (1.5 cups) and baked them the next morning. The muffins were hearty and lightly sweet with a nice wholesome flavor. I used 2 tsp lemon zest but would up it to 3 tsp next time, and would also add the lemon thyme if I could find it. I'll definitely make these again.

  • TrishaCP on May 29, 2018

    These are pretty good muffins. I also skipped the citrus glaze (would probably be great) and subbed oatmeal flour for half of the white flour to make them healthier. The recipe doesn't call for muffin liners, but I would use them next time. My muffins stuck to the tin wherever there was a blackberry, in spite of thorough greasing. (Both when I tried to pull one out 5 minutes after cooling per the recipe, and for the others when I let them cool completely in the pan.)

  • anya_sf on June 04, 2018

    FYI, I used muffin liners sprayed with cooking spray (learned that trick from Bouchon Bakery). It sounds redundant, but that method keeps the muffins from collapsing if the fruit's on the bottom, prevents sticking to the tin, and enables you to remove the muffin from the liner while it's still warm.

  • bwhip on July 11, 2021

    These turned out pretty well for us. I didn't think there was much need to use a blender to puree the wet ingredients, so I just whisked those, and it seemed to turn out fine. I think next time I'd omit the nutmeg, because I think in this case it overshadows the lemon flavor a bit, and I'd prefer one or the other. The muffins turned out moist and flavorful, so I'll make these again.

  • Zosia on July 27, 2023

    I made these with blueberries, yogurt and whole wheat flour. The texture was good, tender and fluffy, even with my changes and flavour was nice as well, if perhaps a little too sweet.

• Peanut butter and apple crumb muffins

  • sosayi on April 16, 2018

    Super easy to mix up and makes an even dozen of beautiful high-domed muffins. Very moist and freeze and reheat well (for which KH gives directions on how to best accomplish, which I appreciate). I didn't try any of the suggested toppings (as I planned on freezing some and that seemed trickier) but I could see a crumble on top being great.

  • anya_sf on October 01, 2018

    Used all white whole wheat flour, 2 grated apples, and chunky peanut butter. Mixed the night before, refrigerated, and baked in the morning. They turned out great. Skipped the crumb topping and we didn't miss it. Hearty, tasty muffins.

  • Zosia on November 27, 2019

    I've never tried the combination of peanut butter and apple before but I now understand its appeal - these were delicious! They were also quite tender and stayed moist for days. I omitted the crumb topping and glaze and didn't miss them.

  • TrishaCP on April 29, 2020

    These are really good. I wish Ken Haedrich would do a muffin book (though he has a new pie book coming out-yay!). I used a combination of white flour (1 1/2 cups) and whole wheat flour (1/2 cup) since I didn't have the whole wheat pastry flour. I think these would be good with most any type of whole grain flour (oat would be great). Didn't bother with the toppings either- I actually feel like they might make the muffin too sweet (especially if you added the raisins).

• Glorious morning muffins

  • Zosia on May 27, 2019

    Moist muffins jam-packed with all sorts of goodies. I made 20 muffins in regular sized tins but I suspect I should have made them much larger - exact recipe yield wasn't given but my bake time was 10 minutes less. I substituted fresh pineapple for canned and dried cherries for raisins. These will definitely be made again.

  • TrishaCP on December 04, 2019

    I liked these a lot the first day, but they have started to taste more and more sweet as time goes on. I used canned pineapple but I think fresh would be much better. (And to be fair, I had to sub stem ginger for crystallized ginger, so maybe the crystallized would have provided more of a punch to offset the sweetness.) There were also quite a few prep steps, so while we liked these, I'm not sure that I'd be in a rush to make them again.

• Butternut squash crumb muffins

  • Zosia on October 24, 2019

    These were mildly spiced and very dense, best served freshly baked. I made a half recipe of streusel topping, slightly less than the recipe called for, and it was more than enough for the 12 muffins. I skipped the glaze and it wasn't missed.

• Herbed Parmesan popovers

  • midwifemel on February 19, 2026

    Combined this recipe with another I found online after reviewing ingredients and amounts. Seems that most popovers are similar with little tweaks here and there for temperature, number of eggs. I used 4 eggs instead of 3 - made for a denser more custard like interior, 3/4 tsp pink himalayan salt, a pinch of dried mediterrean herb mix from Burlap and Barrel spices, a pinch of grated nutmeg, used 1/4 shredded cheddar - used immersion blender. Baked at 450 for 20 mins, turned down to 350 for 10 mins. Perfection. They rose so beautifully and the taste is divine. Used a maple syrup butter I made.

• Sweet potato buttermilk biscuits

  • MollyB on October 20, 2025

    Very good (and pretty!) but the dough was fairly wet and a bit hard to handle. I'm not sure they were worth the extra work involved, when standard biscuits are so good and easier.

• Sweet potato buttermilk biscuits with bacon

  • Zosia on February 11, 2020

    As an accompaniment to flavourful soup, these were fine but a little bland on their own. More bacon - I used about 100g - or perhaps some herbs would have helped. I may try these again as the texture was good ( moist but not gummy) even made with half whole wheat flour.

• Mashed potato biscuits

  • Zosia on February 28, 2021

    Nice, tender interior and crisp exterior but a little bland. Extra salt (I used Diamond kosher) and the optional chives would have made a difference.

• Cornmeal buttermilk biscuits

  • franniepie on June 23, 2021

    Excellent, versatile, deeply satisfying biscuit! Gonna be my new go-to. The cornmeal adds flavor & texture, but not so much as to make it cornbread. The cornstarch makes a BIG difference in tenderness, especially since it's using AP instead of a Southern cake/biscuit flour like White Lily. I added rosemary & black pepper to lean savory but could see using these with fruit as shortcakes or cobbler topping. I love that is has only 5T. of solid fats & uses buttermilk. I'm finding a lot of trendy, more recent recipes have double that in solid fat plus heavy cream as the liquid. Overkill, IMHO (I guess they'd be "special occasion biscuits"). These are real, good eatin' biscuits.

• Blueberry cream scones with mint sugar

  • Zosia on November 30, 2019

    Excellent scones with great texture and flavour! I didn't have mint so I made basil sugar for the top which made them quite special. There's a typo in the recipe which I didn't realize until I'd added the first tbsp of baking powder - I think it should be 2.5 tsp, not tbsp - but I don't think my extra .5 tsp made too much of a difference. I appreciated that some of the cream-egg mixture was used to glaze the scones before baking and that you're advised to freeze the blueberries if using fresh (even so, you must work quickly as the dough becomes quite wet and sticky as they defrost). They were an indulgent breakfast and with a little cream and blueberry compote would be dessert worthy. I used half whole wheat pastry flour, made 12 and baked them at 400F for 20 minutes.

• Whole-wheat and oatmeal zucchini bread

  • Kmatazz on July 16, 2017

    I used orange zest and it was fabulous. One large zucchini for the 2 cups (8 inches). Will make again! I used sunflower oil, but I am thinking olive oil would also work.

  • sosayi on February 19, 2019

    I used lemon zest and olive oil, to mimic my favorite zucchini bread (from A Boat, a Whale, and a Walrus). I wanted to try this one, though, as it includes whole wheat flour and oats. A very good bread. Not sure I like the addition of oatmeal, from a textural standpoint, but moist and delicious.

  • Zosia on June 27, 2020

    This was a very tasty loaf that was dense but fine-crumbed and tender.

  • TrishaCP on July 14, 2020

    This is a good zucchini bread. I used all white whole wheat flour, and subbed toasted oat flour for the whole oats (COVID baking). I think these subs made the bread a bit dry- we will see on days two and three. The flavor with the cinnamon is nice.

• Pumpkin soda bread

  • anya_sf on November 11, 2017

    I halved the recipe, still using 1 egg yolk, to make 1 loaf. I also used half white flour, half white whole wheat flour, and omitted the nuts. The pumpkin gave the bread a nice color, but did not add much flavor. We ate the bread fresh from the oven, and it was delicious with Irish butter and honey.

• Spiced sweet potato and chocolate chip bread

  • TrishaCP on November 29, 2021

    This comes together quickly if you already have cooked sweet potatoes on hand. (I did- so just blitzed them in the food processor to make purée.) The chocolate chips and the sugar (it’s not too sweet) take away any savoriness from the sweet potato. This is very moist, so is a bit difficult to cut.

• Apple applesauce oatmeal bread

  • anya_sf on April 28, 2018

    I made a few changes: used whole wheat flour, reduced sugar to 3/4 cup, mixed entirely by hand. I skipped the topping. The bread was done in 50 minutes. It was a pleasant, very moist breakfast bread. We thought it was plenty sweet with less sugar.

  • eliza on August 24, 2019

    I loved this. After reading anya_sf's note, I made similar changes, ie: less sugar, replaced some of the flour with red fife flour and skipped the topping. I also replaced one of the eggs with a flax egg (1 tbsp ground flax and 2.5 tbsp water) and that worked great, and I used dried cranberries as well as raisins. I also put some rhubarb in as I ran out of apple. I baked 4 mini loaves for 30 minutes at 350 convection. I think the sugar could be cut back a bit more which I will try next time.

  • TrishaCP on September 13, 2021

    This is a tasty apple bread. I wish I had read these notes before baking and using the full amount of sugar, because it really doesn’t need the full amount. I agree 3/4 cup or maybe less if you use all of the raisins (I only used 1/2 cup, replacing the other half with more apples).

  • Astrid5555 on September 23, 2021

    Like most of the other reviewers I reduced the sugar by 25%, was still sweet enough for my taste. Great lunch box snack!

• Cottage cheese slicing loaf with dill and chives

  • sosayi on April 29, 2019

    Looking to use up some soon to expire cottage cheese, I came across this recipe. Very easy to mix up and very moist. Leftovers (kept in fridge) reheated well in the toaster. I used a mix of bleu cheese and emmentaler (odds and ends in pantry) and I think I'd not include bleu cheese in the future. Left out walnuts due to my small human's textural preferences.

  • TrishaCP on June 17, 2019

    My dill has been ridiculously prolific this year, so I made this to use up some of my crop. We made the blue cheese version and liked everything about it. I subbed 1/2 cup whole wheat flour and that may have caused some dryness.

• Great American potato bread

  • hbakke on May 31, 2020

    This was my first kneaded bread ever. I might let it rise longer in the pans next time and mash the potato a bit better, but overall I think it turned out very well for my first time.

• Shaker fresh herb bread with walnuts

  • MollyB on August 26, 2021

    What a delicious bread! It made great toast and grilled sandwiches. My dough was very wet, so I used the stretch and fold method on a silicon mat (4 times ~15 apart) rather than kneading as the recipe instructed, and it made beautiful and tasty loaves. Be warned that kids may object to the walnuts -- but that made more bread for the adults in the house!

• Potato pan bread with cherry tomatoes

  • MollyB on September 02, 2020

    Very good! We'll definitely be making it again, either with tomatoes as written or without tomatoes to use in sandwiches that call for focaccia or ciabatta rolls. The author suggests doing this for the "Hot focaccia sandwiches for a crowd" recipe in the book, which calls for this bread without tomatoes.

  • Zosia on February 22, 2021

    I cheated and used a stand mixer after the initial autolyse period, adding almost all of the flour at once. The crumb of the baked bread wasn't quite as open as other focaccia I've made but it had a great slightly chewy texture and was delicious.

• Golden delicata squash dinner rolls

  • Zosia on October 13, 2020

    I used leftover roasted butternut squash flavoured with za'atar to make a half recipe, shaping the dough into 8 buns for our post-Thanksgiving turkey sandwiches. I reduced the sugar to 1 tbsp as I wanted a savoury bun. They turned out really well. They were a pretty golden colour and were lofty with a soft crumb. They didn't have much squash flavour but I think the texture benefitted from the vegetable; they still had great texture on the second day.

• Food processor pizza dough

  • anya_sf on June 08, 2019

    Quick and easy to make. Great in the pull-apart pizza bread.

  • bktravels on September 07, 2023

    Very easy and came out great. It was perfect with the Italian Stuffed Bread (Pane Ripieno) as directed in that recipe.

• Food processor whole-wheat pizza dough

  • julesamomof2 on January 07, 2019

    This pizza dough was extremely wet and sticky coming out of the food processor but it rose nicely in about 3 hours. I used a mix of half all purpose flour and half whole wheat flour which was a little heavy on the whole wheat as compared to the recipe ratio but it worked well. Used as a base for the shaved asparagus pizza from Smitten Kitchen.

  • Zosia on August 14, 2019

    This came together very quickly and though quite wet at the start, was easy to manage after proving, which I did overnight in the refrigerator. I used it for the book's tomato breads which were topping heavy, and it developed a crisp bottom crust that supported them. I used half whole wheat bread flour and 1 tsp instant yeast.

• Pepperoni and veggie pull-apart pizza

  • anya_sf on June 08, 2019

    The food processor dough was quick and easy to make. I used sliced pepperoni, tucking it in between the rolls and around the edges. Rolling the dough balls in parmesan cheese got a little messy. I used extra mozzarella (and Italian cheese blend) on top and baked it a few extra minutes for more color. Delicious! Baked in a dark metal pan, the pepperoni and cheese on the edges got nice and crisp. Next time I'll play around with the vegetables (mushrooms, olives, sauteed zucchini), but the cherry tomatoes are a must. My family loved this.

• Roasted beet, spinach, and feta cheese flatbread

  • MollyB on August 25, 2020

    I wasn't thrilled by this, and it wasn't worth the amount of work it took to make it. I would have been happier with a beet salad and some bread on the side - I just didn't like the way it came together. I think it would have been better with goat cheese rather than feta (which is listed as an alternative.)

• Tomato breads

  • Zosia on August 14, 2019

    Loads of flavour in this. The sweetness of the caramelized onions balanced the sharpness of some of the other ingredients and the whole wheat food processor dough was sturdy enough to support the rather substantial toppings. Made an excellent meal served with a salad. I used some leftover artichoke pesto rather than the book's pesto recipe.

• Broccoli sauce and cheddar cheese pizza

  • sosayi on June 23, 2018

    Great way to up the vegetable content on your pizza! I halved the recipe and it made for 2 pies using a different crust (Lahey's no-knead overnight pizza dough). Due to the differing crust/cooking technique, my timing was different than the book's, but I still cooked the pizza with the broccoli sauce on it solo for a few minutes before adding the cheddar, and it worked just fine. My only "ingredient" changes were adding the cream directly to the broccoli sauce, vs sprinkling it on top, and scattering some fresh garlic and red pepper flakes on the pizza as I was cooking it. Make again for sure!

• Winter squash pizza with baby kale

  • MollyB on December 30, 2017

    Great pizza. I made it to use up various ingredients that I had on hand, and it was much better than expected. The pepperoni was crucial- we had some really good pepperoni (from Vermont Smoke & Cure) that made the recipe, and it was a great contrast to the sweetness of the squash.

• Kale, potato, and sausage pockets

  • MollyB on January 09, 2024

    Very good! Much better if you leave a little bit of moisture in the filling - don't cook the potato mix in the pan until it's totally dry. I've made them with both kale and Swiss chard, and both work well. They are very filling, with the dough, potato, sausage, and cheese - I think I'd prefer them a little smaller, and will try making 8 next time instead of 6. I loved the food processor pizza dough recipe - it worked perfectly to roll out and fill.

• Italian stuffed bread (Pane ripieno)

  • bktravels on September 07, 2023

    This was really delicious. It used up a lot of produce from our garden which was a blessing. I followed the recipe except that I substituted seeded regular garden tomatoes for the plum tomatoes. It was fully baked 5 or so minutes faster than noted in the recipe.

• Good basic pie dough

  • julesamomof2 on January 09, 2022

    After a lot of trial and error with other pie dough recipes, I've landed on this one as my go-to. I think the little bit of cornstarch in there makes a difference in terms of flakiness. It does tend to work better as a single pie crust though, as I've found when I try to make a double crust I end up over mixing. I used it for several pies over the holidays and it worked great.

• Slab pie dough (and shell)

  • sosayi on August 17, 2018

    I made the savory version of this recipe (2 T of cornstarch instead of 2 T of powdered sugar) for the Zucchini Taco Pie and it turned out perfectly. It was flaky, crispy, and easy to work with. I normally have a lot of trouble with pie crusts for some reason (maybe a mental block?), but this was great.

  • MollyB on December 10, 2025

    I used the sweet version of this with the Caramel Apple Slab Pie, and it turned out really well, nicely browned and crispy and flaky. It was a little tricky to get the rectangular crust into the pan, since it took me a while to get it rolled to the right shape and size, and by that time it had softened a little and was hard to transfer. So make sure you chill it enough and roll quickly!

• Zucchini taco pie

  • MollyB on July 09, 2018

    Great recipe that was also good leftover the next day! I didn't have a deep-dish pie pan, so I used a 9-inch springform pan, which worked well and made for a beautiful presentation. I did not use Haedrich's pie dough recipe, but otherwise followed the recipe as written.

  • sosayi on August 17, 2018

    Searching for a recipe to use up a lot of produce, I came across this one. 3 1/2 cups of zucchini? Carrots? Onions? Tomatoes? Sold. While it's not a style of recipe that I'd normally make, I thought to give it a try. And? It was delicious. The pie crust recipe (which I normally have trouble with) was fantastic and the flavors of the pie were just like an old-school taco. We really enjoyed it. Not sure if I'd make it again, as I really love straight-up tacos, I'm very happy that I tried it. Leftovers are great, too.

• Rice and summer squash pie

  • Frogcake on October 06, 2017

    I made this pie with whole wheat pie crust and substituted left over couscous for the rice. Three cups of squash is required -so I used up a generous amount of my zucchini harvest. It's a great way to use up left overs for sure. Although my husband and I thought it was quite heavy meal, our young adult sons and girlfriend loved it!

• Eggplant, tomato, and sausage pie

  • deirdrereid on July 14, 2019

    Excellent. Used 3/4# instead of 1/2# hot Italian sausage because I didn't want 1/4# sausage sitting around. Watch the topping toward the end of the time in the oven, it browns easily, but even so, it (and this pie) is delicious.

• Carrot and leek pie

  • Frogcake on October 23, 2017

    I used this recipe to inspire a pie creation. I added five eggs in total as well as the following: one half cup of zucchini, a half cup of milk, one large chopped onion, and two tbsp of ricotta cheese. I topped the pie with six whole sage leaves and four zucchini flowers. Quite delicious.

• New potato, spinach, and blue cheese skillet tart

  • anya_sf on January 06, 2022

    My potatoes were tiny so I left them whole, but the tart would have been easier to slice and eat if I'd cut them in half. I used Boursin (what I had on hand) instead of blue cheese and a bit more Parmesan. The tart was delicious and 4 people nearly finished it all for dinner.

• Swiss chard galette

  • Zosia on September 27, 2019

    I have many recipes for Swiss chard tarts but this one called for Gruyere cheese (which needed to be used up). This galette was heavy on cheese and onion and very light on chard. I thought perhaps my ratio was off, that my idea of a "medium-size bunch" of chard was different from the author's, but a video of the author making the tart confirmed that I used the correct amount. Everyone did enjoy it but I would have preferred less onion and more chard. I used Dorie Greenspan's galette dough recipe.

• Tomato slab pie

  • deirdrereid on July 14, 2019

    Excellent, however, I had to make a few changes because of mustard-haters in my family. I used basil pesto instead of mustard, and Monterey Jack cheese instead of cheddar. Everyone loved it.

• Biscuit-crusted chicken pot pie

  • MollyB on January 08, 2018

    Very nice chicken pot pie recipe. The cornmeal in the biscuits was really nice and added some crunch to the biscuit topping. Leftovers did not reheat especially well.

• Curried vegetable pot pies

  • MollyB on November 08, 2020

    Great recipe! It went really well with the oat and cornmeal pie dough crust. Would be a nice vegetarian entree for Thanksgiving or other festive meal.

• Meatless tostada pot pies

  • MollyB on June 21, 2020

    These were great! We will definitely be making them again. The filling by itself was a bit unexciting, but everything came together beautifully once it was baked with the toppings. Don't skip the garnishes - we used lettuce, avocado, and tomato, and they were great additions. They are not very spicy, and would be a great entree for non-adventurous vegetarian guests, while still being tasty enough to make everyone else happy, too.

• Spiced beef pot pie with winter veggies

  • MollyB on January 14, 2019

    This was fabulous! It was very good both freshly made and leftover. I will definitely be making it again, even though it's a fair amount of work. Note that the recipe call for beef stew meat, but does not specify what size pieces or exactly which cut. I used beef chuck cut into 3/4-in cubes, and I ended up cooking the filling about twice as long as specified in the recipe to get the beef done enough. I might go down to 1/2-in. cubes next time.

• Savory asparagus, ham, and Brie pudding

  • anya_sf on April 04, 2019

    I probably used closer to 8 cups bread (ciabatta), so I added an extra 1/4 cup of milk (used mostly half-and-half though). I used a pound of asparagus, trimming the tough ends, and added 6 oz sliced mushrooms. The pudding took about an hour to bake. It was cheesy and delicious. Next time I'll use whole milk instead of half-and-half to save some calories.

• Blueberry oatmeal crumb bars

  • Piebaker on July 22, 2017

    Delicious. Tastes like the crumb topping for a pie sandwiched around pie filling. Went together very quickly. Lovely buttery flavor and texture. Will make again.

  • anya_sf on March 25, 2021

    Easy and quick to assemble, especially if you prep the crumb and filling ahead (which is recommended). I substituted almonds for walnuts. I didn't measure the crumb and probably didn't use enough on the bottom, so the bars weren't portable; next time I'll used about 2/3 of the crumb for the bottom. Tasted like blueberry crisp with the proportions of filling and topping reversed. Delicious alone or with ice cream.

• Pecan-crusted pumpkin cheesecake bars

  • Nancy402 on October 15, 2023

    These are delicious. The topping has a welcome tanginess against the pumpkin and the pecans in the base contribute flavour and crunch. While you will need to eat these with a knife and fork due to the soft texture of the filling, they are worthy of serving to guests.

• Back bumper blueberry cream cheese pound cake

  • Astrid5555 on August 15, 2017

    Delicious! Very tender & fine crumb from the cream cheese. Great idea to freeze the fresh blueberries for an hour before adding to the batter, minmizes bleeding. Will make again!

  • julesamomof2 on February 23, 2018

    Very moist with a slight tang from the cream cheese. The glaze makes it extra delicious. I tend to think of pound cakes as being a little on the dry side, not so with this one, and not tooth achingly sweet either. A keeper!

  • anya_sf on October 06, 2018

    It took a long time to bake so it got a bit dark on the edges, but the interior was still moist and tender with a fine crumb. I may have used closer to 2 cups of berries. I didn't have time to freeze them, but didn't have a problem with streaks in the batter. It was so good - we ate way too much.

  • Zosia on July 16, 2019

    I made this to use up an open package of cream cheese and family is glad I did! It was fruity with a fine, moist crumb (even with a sugar reduction of .5 cups) and completely delicious. I baked the batter in 3 small loaf pans for 55 minutes and made the recommended glaze with the juice of the zested lemon.

• Almond and fresh peach coffee cake

  • Astrid5555 on June 30, 2017

    Ok, but nothing to rave about. The fruit disintegrated into the the batter, maybe I diced the peaches too small? Would have liked to have bigger fruit pieces in the cake. Did not add the almond extract, because I do not care for it.

  • Piebaker on August 01, 2017

    Love the flavor and texture of this cake. Did not have peaches so used some very ripe fresh apricots. Will make again once I have peaches on hand.

  • anya_sf on August 19, 2020

    My family loved this, but then we love almond and fruit. I had to substitute lemon zest for orange, but either works here. The cake was moist and tender. It did take 15 extra minutes to bake, but I might have had extra peaches - diced 2 of them and didn't measure. I will definitely make this again and would try other fruit (raspberries?); next time will try white whole wheat flour and a little less sugar to make it healthier.

  • bwhip on August 25, 2020

    Been wanting to try this recipe. However, my peaches weren’t ripe, so I didn’t buy an orange, thinking I’d just wait until I had ripe peaches. However, I had some really nice strawberries, so decided to try it with those, and used lemon zest instead. Didn’t bother with almond extract, as my wife doesn’t like it. Turned out fantastic! Best strawberry cake we’ve ever had. Looking forward to trying out the peach version, but really glad I decided to try it with berries and lemon.

  • TrishaCP on August 16, 2021

    This is delicious- almost too rich for “coffee cake”. I cooked this per the recipe, with peaches and almond extract, but like Anya, I had to bake this for an extra 15 minutes to cook it all the way through. I didn’t have the issue with disintegrating peaches.

• Blackberry upside-down cake

  • anya_sf on August 15, 2020

    Good upside-down cake, not overly sweet, so also nice for breakfast. It's not going to win any beauty contests, as the blackberries make the top kind of an unappetizing gray color.

• Sweet potato pound cake with maple syrup glaze

  • anya_sf on April 30, 2020

    I found a small roasted sweet potato in my freezer (about 1/2 cup pureed) and adapted this recipe to use it, making 1/3 recipe in an 8.5"x4.5" loaf tin. The loaf was rather squat (tin was a bit too large); it took 45 minutes to bake. I didn't bother with the glaze, but substituted maple sugar for granulated in the cake. The resulting cake was quite nice, so I'd definitely try this recipe again as written when I have more sweet potatoes and would also try the glaze.

  • MollyB on January 02, 2021

    This is such a great cake! It's very hard to stop eating it. We all had seconds on dessert and were then happy to have it with coffee the next morning. Quite a bit of work with the sweet potato puree and the maple icing in addition to the cake, but it was worth it. 2 medium-to-large sweet potatoes produced the right amount of puree for me. Worked well in a large bundt pan.

• Chocolate sour cream zucchini cake with chocolate glaze

  • Zosia on August 12, 2019

    Mine was a yogurt cake as that's what I used in place of sour cream. This seemed to be a successful substitution as the cake was really soft and moist (it was much taller and fluffier looking than the book's photo). The chocolate flavour was very mild but the ganache glaze, which was super rich and chocolatey, made up for it; I wouldn't serve the cake without it.

• Pumpkin cheesecake crumb cakes

  • anya_sf on May 11, 2019

    Although the author says these are more cake than muffin, this recipe seems healthier than most coffeehouse-style pumpkin cream cheese muffin recipes out there on the Internet. We had no problem eating them for breakfast. I used white whole wheat flour to make them a tiny bit more nutritious. They're more work than most muffins, but should be eaten completely cool, so they can be made ahead and stored in the refrigerator. Be careful not to put too much batter in the bottoms or there won't be enough for the tops. Chill the cream cheese mixture well to avoid spreading - better yet, scoop portions and freeze them for a bit, or roll the whole mixture into a log, freeze, and slice the portions.

  • Astrid5555 on November 17, 2024

    Made these in a silicone cakelet mould and they came out perfectly. Made only half a recipe because of the quantity of the pumpkin purée I had left over. Probably overfilled with the cream cheese, but nobody complained. A delicious fall treat!

• Crostata dough

  • Zosia on September 07, 2021

    Easy to put together and excellent results

• Caramel apple slab pie

  • MollyB on December 10, 2025

    This was delicious! I really liked the ratio of crust to apples in this recipe (more crust, thinner apple layer), compared to standard apple pies. You get a nice concentrated layer of caramel-y apples with the crumb topping. The step of cooking it initially with just the apples and not the topping worked well. I used a mix of different kinds of apples, and I like it with some tart pieces of apple that held their shape and some that collapsed more with cooking.

• Chocolate glaze

  • Zosia on August 12, 2019

    I made this ganache with semi-sweet Belgian chocolate callets rather than chocolate chips so the chocolate flavour was slightly bittersweet and quite intense. I refrigerated it until it was a spreadable consistency and used it to frost the chocolate zucchini cake. It saved the cake.

• Three-berry crostata

  • Zosia on September 07, 2021

    The combination of fruits in the filling was particularly delicious and the crust (the book's recipe) was wonderfully tender and flaky. Everyone loved it!

• Food in Jars

  ...a gorgeous book by Ken Haedrich about baking with fresh fruits, vegetables, and herbs...feels entirely fresh and new, while also maintaining a familiarity that keeps it accessible and welcoming.

  Full review