Cookbook Review: Butter: Baked Goods

Format: Hardcover
Pub Date: October 2013
Publisher: Random House
Length: 264 pages
FTC: Purchased myself
List Price: $35 ($22.14 on Amazon as of today)

I ordered this recently as an early Christmas present for myself. I'm not familiar with the author or her bakery, but I LOVE to bake. And this one looked cute. Little did I know I would be receiving a gorgeous hardbound baking book that I would be proud to show off.

There is a wide variety of recipes in this book. Everything from scones and muffins to pies and cookies is here. There aren't a ton of any one type of recipe, but what is here is definitely appealing.  Most of the recipes are easily accessible for the average home cook. Only a few are the least bit fussy. And I only found one ingredient that I could not source locally: pistachio paste. Which isn't a problem for me, because I'm really not all that fond of pistachio.

Butter's claim to fame is the homemade flavored marshmallows. I've seen homemade marshmallow recipes before (Ina Garten has one) but I haven't seen flavored ones. The main recipe for marshmallows also features several variations including raspberry, coffee, mint, and coconut. Given the techniques, you can easily swap other flavors in where you want to as long as they're added in the right part of the recipe.

Recipe: Rum-Coconut Key Lime Pie

I've never made key lime pie before. I rarely make pies at all. Partly because they're difficult to share with the neighbors, and partly because I hate making pie crust. But I saw this recipe in a recent Pillsbury Casseroles and Potluck cookbook, and it sounded divine. Also? It doesn't use a traditional pie crust, but an incredibly yummy mix of coconut and crushed cookies.