kateq's Reviews
558 recipes reviewed. Showing 1 to 50Sort by: Book Title | Date | Rating 
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Real Irish Food: 150 Classic Recipes from the Old Country
By David Bowers
Skyhorse Publishing - 2012
The bread was very dense and heavy. I made it for a friend's Irish-born mother who wanted the'real' thing. This wasn't it. The flavor wasn't bad but it was just too too heavy.
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The Art of Simple Food: Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution
By Alice Waters
Clarkson Potter - 2007
The dullest coleslaw ever.
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Website: The Daring Gourmet
This is a lot of work to accomplish an okay candied nut. The mixing is truly arduous and the nuts at the end are encased in a delightful candy shell and candy dust but they are really hard.
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Website: Food & Wine
The pastry is just fine but the filling is a huge disappointment. the sweetness of the potatoes is not balanced by the olives---it's just odd.
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The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
By Ina Garten, Martha Stewart
Clarkson Potter - 1999
I find it hard to rate this recipe. The end result was wonderful, but the way there was exceedingly bumpy. First, this is again a recipe for the multitudes--3 quarts of stock, 4 pounds of potatoes, two pounds of fennel---a lot of soup! Second, I found the notion of adding a quantity of heavy cream to this very thick and rich soup inappropriate--and it just seems wrong to add it before the soup cools at all. Third, fennel is very fibrous and doesn't get all that soft and it doesn't pass happily through a food mill nor puree happily in a food processor. Fourth, the potato skins do not make for an attractive appearance or a pleasant texture--they are like bits of paper in the soup. I found that I had to puree the soup with my (luckily) powerful immersion blender and then strain it through a fine mesh in order to get rid of the potato skin fragments and the fennel strings and fibers. It was a tedious and messy process. All of this being said, the soup was delicious and having been strained, had a velvety and very pleasing texture, though I added milk, not cream, to the soup. In this final version, it was a very pale green, creamy and beautifully garnished with a scattering of the delicate tiny fennel fronds. I must say the roasted potatoes were fabulous--I could have stopped there and just eaten a platter of them. I think a stock could be made from roasted fennel and onion and then used as a base for the potato soup--the lovely flavor without all the work.
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Flavors of Puglia
By Nancy Harmon Jenkins
Broadway - 1997
The name in Italian means dry in the sense of crisp and brown. I really wanted to like this more, but while there were crispy bits, it was not dry. I used minimal olive oil and a whole chicken breast, trimmed of obvious fat and cut into chunks. Even so, there was too much oil/grease/fat in the finished dish. I can't imagine it made with a whole chicken cut up and more olive oil. On the other hand, for such a simple dish (potato,chicken, oil, parsley, salt and pepper) the flavor is lovely. I will try this again with even less oil and a closer trimming of the chicken--tho I can't imagine using skinless chicken in a dish of this sort...
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The Olive and the Caper: Adventures in Greek Cooking
By Susanna Hoffman
Workman Publishing Company - 2004
First, let me say I can't imagine eating this dish as written.With the amount of olive oil, combined with the fat contained in a chicken (cut up, skin on), I think this would be much too oily/fatty/greasy for me. Second, I have had a hard time deciding how to rate this. The dish results in a great-looking sauce and presents beautifully, but the level of piquancy is rather high. I used a good quality balsamic but I think the combination of vinegar and capers is a bit much. On the other hand, the flavor is great. So, perhaps just toning down the vinegar would do it. As far as the chicken, I used skinless, boneless chicken breasts, which I browned with the shallots in a minimal amount of olive oil. I then removed the chicken and held it to the side until I added everything else and brought it to the boil. I then returned the chicken and its juices and completed the recipe. Ironically, after all my going on about oil, I think a bit of butter swirled in the sauce, off the heat, would smooth out the edges of the sauce beautifully.
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You Say Tomato
By Joanne Weir
Broadway - 1998
I ended up with truly delicious tomato paste--but not without a fair amount of tweaking of the recipe. First, what is a "case" of tomatoes? I had a huge box of farm tomatoes which I peeled and cored. I pureed them in the blender and my first batch (12 cups of puree) I started as directed. I quickly realized that if I kept the heat low, it would be days, not hours, before the mixture thickened. I raised the heat to medium/medium high, gave it a stir periodically and when it was quite thick, I spread it out on a foil covered, rimmed cookie sheet and put it in the oven. While that batch "baked" I pureed another 8 cups or so of tomatoes, brought it to a rolling boil, lowered the heat a bit and let it reduce--this took all told not quite 2 hours. By then, the mixture in the oven was really thick and lovely. I put the second batch in the oven and spread the first batch out to cool. I then packed it into small ice cube trays (to end up with about a tablespoon sized cube from one tray and teaspoon sized cubes from another). When all was done, I ended up about 24 ounces of really delicious tomato paste. It may sound like a lot of effort, but it really wasn't. Once I got the hang of it, it went very quickly. And the resulting tomato paste is sweet and without the sort of metallic, overly strong flavor of the tinned stuff and much fresher tasting than the stuff that comes in the tube. And because the farm markets sell these big boxes of "seconds" at bargain prices (and lots of my seconds could have been sold as 'firsts'), it's a remarkably cost effective process.
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Food & Wine
(October, 2009)
Once all the errors in the recipe are corrected, this results in a fabulous cake. First, the oven temp should be 350 degrees F. Second, if baking in a loaf pan, in addition to buttering and flouring the pan, it should be lined with parchment. Third, the creaming of the butter and sugar takes quite a bit longer than suggested. To get this cake to work--with batter that can handle the nutella filing without having it all sink to the bottom--the batter has to be whipped until it is very thick and fluffy (which makes this a cake best suited to being made in a stand mixer). Fourth, the amount of Nutella is probably double what is necessary. Once all this is corrected, the cake is gorgeous. I have made it in a loaf pan, in mini loaves, in a full-sized bundt and in two small bundts, all with great success. I benefited from reading all the comments that have been posted on the website.
While the intro to the recipe suggests serving this with coffee ice cream, I suspect that it would take it over the top. This is one really rich cake.
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Website: Simply Recipes
I made this in response to a request for pumpkin biscotti. They were good, but not special. I followed the recipe precisely, but now know what changes I'll make next time. They need some texture improvement and a touch more sweetness, as well as a little more visual appeal. So I'm thinking adding pecans and a drizzle of melted white chocolate over the finished cookies. Also I want to ramp up the spice a bit.
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Website: Saveur Website
The dough is way too soft. Portioning and shaping has to happen on a board and with hands that are constantly kept floured. It may just be that uping the amount of flour at the beginning would solve the problem. I made these without adding the cilantro but rather adding garlic to melted ghee for half the naan and za'atar to melted ghee for the other half, brushing the grilled naan while it was still ho. Good flavor.
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The Cakebread Cellars American Harvest Cookbook: Celebrating Wine, Food, and Friends in the Napa Valley
By Dolores Cakebread, Jack Cakebread
Ten Speed Press - 2011
I like the idea of these better than the actuality. I followed the recipe with certain misgivings and ended up with a very decent savory biscuit which, with a few changes, could be extraordinary. These are my changes: the walnuts should be ground, not chopped; the egg should be eliminated; half and half should be substituted for the milk. Finally, I would crumble the blue cheese into the flour with the butter and go with 4 ounces of cheese and 6 ounces of butter and 3 cups of flour.
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Website: King Arthur Flour
A nice muffin but a bit dry. I subbed canola oil for the butter and added a bit of the cherry juice, but I think it still needs a bit more fat (oil or butter). I also think it's too sweet. The batter seemed so sweet to me that I decided not to add the sugar on top (I would have used sanding sugar instead of granulated). Next time I'll reduce the total amount of sugar and use a combination of brown and white.
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Zahav: A World of Israeli Cooking
By Michael Solomonov, Steven Cook
Rux Martin/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt - 2015
This is a meat pie made with Boureka dough or puff pastry. I had croissant dough and used that. It calls for lining a baking dish with pastry, filling it with Seasoned Ground Beef (reviewed separately) and eggs, top with dough, chill till dough is firm and bake. Because I was suspicious that the meat filling would made the bottom crust gummy, I made a mini version following the instructions and didn't like it. I made a larger portion with just a top crust and like it very much but for the small quibble that the filling should be a bit spicier, more garlicky.
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Ad Hoc at Home
By Thomas Keller
Artisan - 2009
I have been using Keller's method for roasting chicken (Bouchon) for a long time and so it was a natural to try it with the root vegetables. I did, however, omit some of the oil and most of the butter and trim excess fat from the chicken. I think that had I not done this, I would, like reviewer Andrew, have been unhappy with the fat which would have soaked into the vegetables.
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Keller's method is, as usual, superb, but also as is frequently the case, there is way too much added fat. I find a mere drizzle of oil and NO butter to be sufficient for excellent results. Like the other reviewers, I think the paper towel tip is brilliant.
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These are very good, but not better than oven roasted cherry tomatoes which take less than half the time, do not require peeling, and are sweeter. Perhaps if I made these in the middle of winter, when plum tomatoes are the best to be had, I would have had a different reaction, but for all that time roasting, the plum tomatoes were just very good--not magnificent and not really living up to all that effort.
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I halved the recipe, but used less than a quarter of the butter -- the full amount would have been way over the top. I used vegetable stock (homemade), beans from the farm market and mint from the garden -- heaven! Leftovers were great added to salad.
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I am giving this a four star rating because I think it is a little more complicated than necessary and because I think the addition of an egg yolk makes an incredible difference in the end result. I rolled this out and baked it on a silpat and then cut it with fluted square cookie cutters while still warm. I had almost no waste (just some nice bits for a cook's treat) and this obviated the extra tray and the extra cooling period. This is also wonderful with the addition of some citrus rind and/or almond extract.
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Like so many of the recipes in this book, this one takes a long time, which can be frustrating when one wants to make the pepperonata and see that this several hour process is a preliminary to that recipe. That being said, the technique here yields a lovely result. Finely dicing the onion and grating the tomatoes really makes for an incredible texture; the long, slow cooking renders a mixture of a few ingredients into a marvelously complex dish/condiment.
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The New Moosewood Cookbook (Mollie Katzen's Classic Cooking)
By Mollie Katzen
TEN SPEED PRESS - 2000
Another example of Ms. Katzen's 'less is more' style. This very simple, very straightforward treatment of the vegetable brings out the most of the broccoli. I followed the recipe with only one change--being out of basil, I used some Greek oregano. I used whole milk and full fat sour cream, fresh bay and thyme. As with other of her soups, I took the stick blender shortcut, making prep and clean-up simpler. I gave this a four-star rating because I feel there is a layer of flavor missing. I suspect that a touch of subtle sweetness (maybe celery or fennel) and a little more heat might do the trick. But as written, this is very good soup and quite pretty--a very frothy pale green. I served it with some chopped chives and an extra little dollop of sour cream.
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The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
By Ina Garten, Martha Stewart
Clarkson Potter - 1999
This is a very good, very basic sort of soup. I liked the method of sauteing the sliced onions and then later putting the whole mixture through the food mill--the soup is smooth without losing all texture and there is minimal effort involved. Similarly, the branch of rosemary--no fine chopping or mincing and all in one pot. My only criticism is that the soup is so basic--almost a blank canvas, awaiting some embellishment as in heat or spice or some sort of texture. Perhaps croutons or crostini or some sort of salsa or topping. It should be noted that this is a lot of soup--lots more than the six servings listed in the recipe.
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I enjoyed this salad and was intrigued by the method of cooking the potatoes in boiling water (as opposed to starting the potatoes in cold water as I have always done in the past). I liked the touch of steaming them after draining and added the bit of wine and stock to re-moisten and add a bit of flavor. As with the other recipes I've made from this book, the amounts seem a bit off---I found the quantity of vinaigrette to be way more than needed for the amount of potatoes. The vinaigrette is a very good classic formula.
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Quite delicious and very easy, this roasted squash doesn't seem to me to use such an extravagant amount of sugar and butter and salt--once I had peeled and seeded my squash I had two pounds of flesh. I used 2 tablespoons of sugar, 3 tablespoons of butter and less than a teaspoon of salt. Ironically, quite a bit of the sugar and butter remained in the pan, caramelized around the edges of the silpat (thank goodness I used it---this would have been a messy pan to clean otherwise) and so the squash was really pretty low in fat and sugar. This dish however needs something more -- I found it to be a bit bland--found myself thinking about grated orange rind, cinnamon or five spice powder or garam masala. I also suspect that the use of olive oil in combination with the butter would mean the dish could retain the butter flavor but lose a bit of the saturated fat. In all, a good base to start from, not unlike some of the other recipes in this book.
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Website: Recipes for Health by Martha Rose Shulman
topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/series/recipes_for_health/index.html
A very good salad which I think showcases what Ms. Shulman is all about. It's very healthy, very simple and straightforward and very tasty. I think making it again I would cut back on the amount of vinegar; the capers add enough tartness to make the recommended amount of vinegar a bit much. The combination of the parsley and capers makes for a very fresh tasting dish with a nice finish.
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Website: Recipes for Health by Martha Rose Shulman
topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/series/recipes_for_health/index.html
I love this pasta. I am giving this a four because I think there are some issues with amounts and instructions. First, there's no need to thaw the peas--dropping them in with the cooking pasta does the trick. Second, there's no need to chop the lemon rind--just grate it right into the bowl using a rasp or microplane. Third, I would add the lemon juice and olive oil sparingly--the amounts given seem to me to be a bit much for the quantity of pasta. With these perhaps nit-picking cporrections, this is a knockout pasta. And it's so open to variations of cheeses and herbs.
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Website: food52
What a fabulous cake! Perhaps a little sweet for breakfast, but what knockout flavors! I had enough to fill my bundt and to make a sweet little loaf for tasting. Once I tasted the little loaf, I decided any additional anything was unnecessary so no glaze and no 10x. The cherries combined with the cocoa et al made for such a rich and interesting streusel flavor and the cake part is quite marvelous. I'll be adding this to my regular cake rotation.
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Amy's Bread, Revised and Updated: Artisan-style breads, sandwiches, pizzas, and more from New York City's favorite bakery
By Amy Scherber, Toy Kim Dupree, Aimee Herring
Wiley - 2010
This is a good bread, though do NOT use as much salt as is listed--one tablespoon is plenty--and this from a salt lover. As with other breads, I have done all the initial kneading in my stand mixer and had lovely results. Also I use instant yeast which shortens/simplifies the first step. I use King Arthur flour -- if you use a softer flour, you might want to think about using bread flour.
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Website: Recipes for Health by Martha Rose Shulman
topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/series/recipes_for_health/index.html
This is very simple to throw together and very pretty when made. It has a good flavor, surprisingly on the sweet side. I added only two tablespoons of lemon juice and that was plenty. I did not add tahini--I find it adds a heaviness (and a ton of calories and fat) to hummus that I don't really like. It is a lovely component of a meze plate with olives and feta and good bread or pita. Ms. Shulman suggests that it deteriorates and so should be eaten on the day it is made. We did so I can't speak to how it is the day after.
The second batch was, in part, held in the fridge for a day or two and actually got better. I suspect it is the tahini that causes problems if it is leftover.
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The Very Best Of Recipes for Health: 250 Recipes and More from the Popular Feature on NYTimes.com
By Martha Rose Shulman
Rodale Books - 2010
I adapted this for the slow cooker, thus skipping adding the oil and using organic garlic powder (a product I buy at Whole Foods and LOVE). I doubled, using a full pound of lentils, and froze several portions. I was afraid this might be a bit dull, but the addition of all that cilantro is magical. It really transforms the soup into an aromatic delight. (Obviously, no cilantro was added to the frozen portions.)
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The Williams-Sonoma Collection: Muffins (Williams-Sonoma Collection (New York, N.Y.).)
By Beth Hensperger
Free Press - 2003
These muffins, with a few modifications, are fabulous. I took my cues from "Culinary Chronicles" and left the nuts out of the topping and used a cup of sour cream and 1/2 a cup of milk in place of the buttermilk in the batter. I added a bit of brown sugar to both the streusel and the batter. I used butter in the streusel but substituted canola oil for the melted butter in the batter. The resulting muffins were moist, tender, not overly sweet and the recipe really allows the flavor of the blackberries to shine. I think this will also work wonderfully with other berries/fruits and with orange or lime rind.
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Website: Recipes for Health by Martha Rose Shulman
topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/series/recipes_for_health/index.html
This is one of those great recipes you can make in bulk and tuck a few portions in the freezer. I use my slow cooker for the beans and do spice it up a bit, adding aleppo pepper and a bit more garlic and salt. I don't soak the beans--I discovered that beans cooked slowly and on low or medium heat in the crockpot are lovely and creamy and so easy so I do all my beans that way. For this dish, I used a combo of kidney and cannellini beans and tucked a couple of bay leaves in with the beans at the start. I had some anchovies on hand and so added one or two to the pan when I was heating the oil---they dissolved and added a nice layer of flavor without any fish taste. Of course, that meant the dish was no longer vegetarian.
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The Very Best Of Recipes for Health: 250 Recipes and More from the Popular Feature on NYTimes.com
By Martha Rose Shulman
Rodale Books - 2010
It's still just warm enough to keep some herbs going and to harvest the last of the tomatoes so this pasta is just right. I followed the recipe precisely, using feta cheese. I realize it would defeat the whole 'health' thing, but I would have liked more cheese. Other than that, this is good stuff. I think I would like it as well with lemon juice or champagne vinegar instead of the balsamic.
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Website: The Pioneer Woman
I love these muffins--though I have made a number of changes. The original recipe calls for evaporated milk and optional raisins. I used cream (1/2 and 1/2) and lots of chopped sweet and tart apples. The second time I made them, I added some ground cloves as I felt the spice needing some spicing-up. As I was making very large (Texas-style) muffins, I tripled the recipe for a yield of about 14-15 muffins. I did not try the cream cheese icing; instead I used the sugar/cinnamon/nutmeg mixture on the top of the muffins. Delicious!! And really, really moist.
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Saveur
(May, 2012)
I had a craving for a good baguette and accidentally came across this recipe. It is a no-frills version of the classic French autolyse method and I am happy to say it works--and it really can be done in four hours. I followed the instructions exactly. One of the easiest bread recipes ever, it results in three quite decent baguettes--nice crust, nice chew, but not a lot of flavor. It may not be exactly the baguette you buy in Paris, but for the short time it takes, it's a pretty good loaf of bread.
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Website: Recipes for Health by Martha Rose Shulman
topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/series/recipes_for_health/index.html
This is an excellent side or, with a bit more rice, a really good vegetarian entree. I shortcut the instructions slightly by simply wilting my spinach by running hot water over the spinach in a colander. I did add a bit more rice (I used brown basmati) and cooked it a bit longer in order for the rice to be fully cooked. This was a delicious side and then, the next day, warmed up, a great lunch dish. I think I was a bit over-generous with the lemon juice--will be more judicious with it next time.
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A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table
By Molly Wizenberg
Simon & Schuster - 2010
This was delicious as an appetizer. I used the balance of the cauliflower in soup. I added almonds and parsley to the remaining salsa verde, pureeing it all in the food processor, and used it as a rub on a piece of salmon I slow-roasted. Yummy!
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The Jewish Holiday Baker: Recipes for Breads, Cakes, and Cookies for All the Holidays and Any Time of the Year
By Joan Nathan
Schocken - 1997
This is very good, but a bit too sweet. I made a second batch with lots more cranberry and a bit more walnut and some grated lemon rind and this filling was really delicious. The pastry is very good as well, tho I don't like doing pastry in the food processor--I made mine by hand and grated the cold butter and shortening (I use earth balance buttery sticks) into the flour and mixed with my hands. The recipe makes about twelve individual serving tarts with some filling leftover (even without my addition of cranberries and walnuts). They are very pretty and I will try to remember to take a photo next time.
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The Pie and Pastry Bible
By Rose Levy Beranbaum
Scribner - 1998
The results are delicious but I find the instructions too fussy--I had fabulous results grating cold butter and cream cheese into the flour and mixing by hand. I added lemon juice instead of vinegar. I skipped the whole "kneading in a bag" deal and mixed the ice water by hand and spatula till it came together and then flattened it onto plastic wrap and chilled it. I found it very easy to roll out on cold, well floured marble. The dough held up beautifully during par baking and the crimping was easy and looked great at the finish. Similarly, the two-crust pie looked so pretty and tasted so good. I love this crust...
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Website: Whole Foods Market
www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipe
This cake rates on all levels--it is delicious, it is easy, it is relatively healthy, it looks great. My only change is to spice it up a bit as we found the cake part to be a bit bland as written. I have added some ground clove and grated nutmeg and a touch of allspice. My larger cast iron skillet is only 11" so the batter filled it to the brim. I baked it on a sheetpan just in case, but it didn't drip at all. The trickiest part of this is turning the cake out. It comes out beautifully but it is very heavy so that "flip" is a little nervous-making.
Adding: I've now made it as individual upside-down baby cakes, using a Texas muffin pan. Filling the cavities is a little tricky--NOW I know how much to put in each one. But the baking time is a little shorter and they (with just a little coaxing) de-panned quite nicely. I wish I had taken a photo--they're very pretty.
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Website: Recipes for Health by Martha Rose Shulman
topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/series/recipes_for_health/index.html
A very good lasagna for when you want to be healthy. This isn't the gooey rich comfort food lasagna -- it's lighter, less cheesy but really quite good. Don't skip the anchovies--even if you hate them. They melt into the sauce and add an extra layer of flavor but no fishiness. Do use the no-bake noodles--but soak them in very hot water while you roast the broccoli. The soaking makes a world of difference.
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A Taste of India
By Madhur Jaffrey
MacMillan Publishing Company - 1988
I categorized this as a "Side" but, as noted in the intro to the recipe, it's a very good little meal in itself. I changed only one thing--I used fresh spinach and, instead of steaming it separately, chopped the raw spinach in the food processor and added it directly to the rice. The spice mixture is so satisfying--aroma, flavor, color. I found it needed more salt and benefited from the addition of fresh cilantro at service.
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Baked Explorations: Classic American Desserts Reinvented
By Matt Lewis, Renato Poliafito, Tina Rupp
Stewart, Tabori & Chang - 2010
This is very easy to put together, smells wonderful as it bakes, looks great--really dark and chocolate-y looking. I made two changes: rather than buttering and flouring the pan, I lined it with parchment slings which worked perfectly. And rather than making the spread to go on the bread, I mixed equal amounts of peanut butter and cream cheese with brown sugar and used it as a filling for the loaf. The result was a dense, slightly dry loaf, made moist with the filling.
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The Indian Slow Cooker: 50 Healthy, Easy, Authentic Recipes
By Anupy Singla
Agate Surrey - 2010
Once again, I followed the recipe except for the Thai chiles--hot enough for me without them. I did add some finely chopped raw spinach. I thought the cooking time, especially on high, was a bit too long, but the result is delicious, though the long cook time meant I had to add some more water--in fact, it was not soupy at all. I tasted it before adding the optional yogurt and didn't care for it, but after the addition of the salt, cilantro and yogurt, however, it was really good. I don't think the yogurt should be optional.
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Website: Recipes for Health by Martha Rose Shulman
topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/series/recipes_for_health/index.html
This is a gluten free muffin that works. It has good texture; it doesn't crumble; and, best of all, it tastes very good. I ended up adding a little bit more honey for a total of about 2 1/2 tablespoons, but the figs (I have some wonderful and quite soft dried Turkish figs) add a lot of sweetness. I also grated orange rind over my chopped figs and then poured a bit of boiling water over them and let the figs absorb both the orange flavor and the water. I did not add the orange juice. I was a bit wary when I put these in the oven as the batter is very liquid, but they were lovely. I did them in a convection oven and about twenty four minutes was more than enough time, even though I was making 6 Texas-sized muffins instead of 12 regular size muffins
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Baked Elements: The Importance of Being Baked in 10 Favorite Ingredients
By Matt Lewis, Renato Poliafito, Tina Rupp
Stewart, Tabori and Chang - 2012
"Like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup living in a soft banana world" or so says one young man who can't get enough of this bread. Of course, Reese's are smooth, not crunchy and that is how I bake this--creamy peanut butter and no added peanuts. Also because I think the recipe is a bit too sweet, I use bittersweet chocolate. I also find it much simpler (and clean-up much easier) to line the loaf pan with parchment rather than buttering and flouring the pan.
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Piece of Cake: Home Baking Made Simple
By David Muniz, David Lesniak, Rachel Allen
Rizzoli - 2012
This bakes up into a pretty loaf and smells wonderful. The streusel is just a bit dry--I think a bit of soft butter added to it would make a big difference. I added some chopped pecans along with the streusel and it was a nice touch. I'm thinking that the one small criticism I have--that the loaf is a bit dry--would be resolved by the above-mentioned addition of a little butter and/or some chopped dried fruit (cherries?) or some apple. As with other loaves of this sort, I find it much simpler to line the pan with parchment rather than buttering it.
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Baked Elements: The Importance of Being Baked in 10 Favorite Ingredients
By Matt Lewis, Renato Poliafito, Tina Rupp
Stewart, Tabori and Chang - 2012
Some of my tasters would give this five stars, but I find it too close to cake to rate it a five star muffin. It is very good though, and very rich. And the sprinkle of sanding sugar on the top makes the muffins look very sparkly, very festive. I followed the recipe precisely and had some left-over cheese filling.
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The Olive and the Caper: Adventures in Greek Cooking
By Susanna Hoffman
Workman Publishing Company - 2004
I made mine in the food processor exactly as directed, only skipping the salt, as it was to be used in a salad which was already quite salty. It came together perfectly and had a lovely consistency, thinner than store-bought mayonnaise but thick enough to nicely coat the salad vegetables.
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Website: food52
I give this a four star rating because I love the idea of it (and the name), but I have made a number of changes to get this bread to where I wanted it. I switch the amounts of whole wheat and ap flour, as the larger amount of whole wheat flour makes the bread very heavy and dense. I use all canola oil instead of the mix of oil and butter. I use a generous cup of chopped figs (about 8 or 10) which I soak in boiling water and then add to the batter with any remaining soaking liquid, and a generous cup of chopped apple (a combo of Granny Smith and Macintosh or other sweet apple, depending on what's available. I use whole milk. I sprinkle the top of the loaf with sanding sugar. While I do butter the muffin pan, I line the loaf pan with parchment for easy release and clean-up. I end up with one lovely large loaf and six large muffins.
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