Book Review: Clinton St Baking Company

Clinton St. Baking Company Cookbook: Breakfast, Brunch and Beyond from New York's Favorite Neighborhood Restaurant
By DeDe Lahman, Neil Kleinberg
Little, Brown and Co, 2010
English, 224 pgs


Description:
The Clinton St. Baking Company is one of the hottest brunch spots in a city obsessed with brunch. A tiny thirty-two-seat eatery on Manhattan's trendy Lower East Side, the restaurant draws long lines of customers who come from far and wide to sample fresh-baked goods, hearty omelets, sugar-cured bacon, and light-as-air pancakes with maple butter.

In the Clinton St. Baking Company Cookbook, owners DeDe Lahman and Neil Kleinberg share more than 100 treasured recipes that have made their restaurant a sensation. Learn the secret to their house-made buttermilk biscuits and tomato jam, irresistible muffins and scones, delicious soups and sandwiches, and their decadent, eye-catching desserts. Helpful techniques, like Neil's
patented omelet "flip and tuck," and gorgeous color photographs throughout will have readers cooking like pros in no time, and sharing the delicious results.

Review:
I cannot believe how much I already love this cookbook! I have never baked from scratch even once in all my 30something years! I jumped at the chance to learn though! I love that the intro chapter is titled "Love and Butter"...I knew I was in for something special. My son sat next to me as I looked through to pick recipes to test and if we had taken his lead, we'd still be cooking and baking! I decided to stick to the baking chapters but there are also chapters on soups, eggs, sandwiches and fried chicken. There is also a particularly mouthwatering section on desserts with some thigh enlarging cookies!

I tried first the buttermilk biscuits:

This would have been infinitely easier with a mixer and biscuit cutter. That being said, they were light and crumbly. I am so going to try to make these with garlic and cheese, they were very familiar....

Next, I tried the Blueberry muffins. Again, not sure I'd be able to do it...

The consensus was that I'm no longer allowed to buy bagged or boxed mixes! These were so good. They tasted real. The berries were frozen and burst so nicely into the mix as they baked. I took some to church and even Mr. I-don't-eat-sugar loved them! I decided to not use the crumb topping since I wasn't sure how to mix it correctly and didn't want big gobs of sugar on top!

The kiddo liked them too:

The final (for now) attempt was for the greatest thing ever invented: peanut butter cookies. Again, I'd never made them from scratch by myself. They were so easy to make. My son loved pressing the fork in to them. Actually, we used all the forks in the drawer because he kept licking it after each cookie! Took them to church too and they disappeared so fast!

I'm not at all kidding or exaggerating when I say that I really love this cookbook. I love that there are little tidbits of cool "also" knowledge on each page. I love that it was written by someone with a sense of humor. The photography is beautiful and Clinton St. Baking Co. is on my "must see" list for if I ever get to go to New York!

I received a copy of the book for review purposes. No additional compensation has been received and I was not required to write a positive review.