Scan barcode
dijeye's review against another edition
2.0
It seems many other reviewers based their ratings on the table of contents and photos in this book rather than on what is important - the recipes and how they taste. I waited to review this book until I had tried numerous recipes. Flipping through the pages I would've rated it higher, but after actually trying some...only 2 stars.
The book starts with the usual information - what baking equipment you'll need for these small batch recipes and a few pages about baking technique (e.g., why you should make cupcakes with oil rather than other fats or why you should buy sweetened condensed milk in a squeeze bottle). Then we jump straight into the recipes - all desserts, of course.
I enjoy baking, but since it's just my husband and me, I don't want to make 2 dozen cookies (because we will eat them all). On the surface, this cookbook was perfect for me. I just made my sixth recipe from this book - by no means did I try most or even half the book - but after six mediocre results, I honestly don't want to try another.
Here are the recipes I've tried: chocolate chip cookies, four-ingredient peanut butter cookies, snickerdoodles, butter cookies, brownies for two and blondies for two (sans the pecans, because my husband doesn't care for them). Our impressions were the same - the recipes were bland and most had unappealing textures.
The first attempt were the chocolate chip cookies - we found them to be an odd texture (too cakey) and no real flavor other than the chocolate chips. They were okay. The peanut butter cookies were okay, but definitely not enough peanut flavor and too sweet. The butter cookies were, as my husband put it, "like cardboard" and the snickerdoodles were too cakey and flavorless (our dogs liked them, though). The brownies didn't have that chewy inside and crusty outside we like - and AGAIN - very little flavor and the blondies were bland bars with butterscotch chips. The pecans, had we used them, would not have saved the blondies.
I understand not every recipe will be a hit, as we all have different tastes. Personally, I don't want anything overly (sickeningly) sweet and we do not like 1-note flavors (i.e., only tasting the butterscotch chips in the blondies). Also, neither of us like cakey cookies. However, after half a dozen attempts, from someone who is a relatively experienced baker, I cannot recommend this cookbook nor will I waste my time, ingredients or resources on another attempt any time in the near future. I have the Kindle edition, so I'll keep it and maybe I'll have a stab at one of the pies or cobblers, but - more likely - I'll use The Complete Cooking For Two Cookbook from America's Test Kitchen instead.
The book starts with the usual information - what baking equipment you'll need for these small batch recipes and a few pages about baking technique (e.g., why you should make cupcakes with oil rather than other fats or why you should buy sweetened condensed milk in a squeeze bottle). Then we jump straight into the recipes - all desserts, of course.
I enjoy baking, but since it's just my husband and me, I don't want to make 2 dozen cookies (because we will eat them all). On the surface, this cookbook was perfect for me. I just made my sixth recipe from this book - by no means did I try most or even half the book - but after six mediocre results, I honestly don't want to try another.
Here are the recipes I've tried: chocolate chip cookies, four-ingredient peanut butter cookies, snickerdoodles, butter cookies, brownies for two and blondies for two (sans the pecans, because my husband doesn't care for them). Our impressions were the same - the recipes were bland and most had unappealing textures.
The first attempt were the chocolate chip cookies - we found them to be an odd texture (too cakey) and no real flavor other than the chocolate chips. They were okay. The peanut butter cookies were okay, but definitely not enough peanut flavor and too sweet. The butter cookies were, as my husband put it, "like cardboard" and the snickerdoodles were too cakey and flavorless (our dogs liked them, though). The brownies didn't have that chewy inside and crusty outside we like - and AGAIN - very little flavor and the blondies were bland bars with butterscotch chips. The pecans, had we used them, would not have saved the blondies.
I understand not every recipe will be a hit, as we all have different tastes. Personally, I don't want anything overly (sickeningly) sweet and we do not like 1-note flavors (i.e., only tasting the butterscotch chips in the blondies). Also, neither of us like cakey cookies. However, after half a dozen attempts, from someone who is a relatively experienced baker, I cannot recommend this cookbook nor will I waste my time, ingredients or resources on another attempt any time in the near future. I have the Kindle edition, so I'll keep it and maybe I'll have a stab at one of the pies or cobblers, but - more likely - I'll use The Complete Cooking For Two Cookbook from America's Test Kitchen instead.
sarahbowman101's review against another edition
5.0
This book is gorgeous. Like really really pretty. I love when there are photos of every recipe, and not just any photos, but beautiful amazing photos. I haven't actually yet made any recipes from this, but after checking it out from my public library I ordered my own copy because I see making many things from this. The recipes range from super simple to more complex but the scale looks just right for the two of us.
deluxe's review against another edition
2.0
I was disappointed to see pie crust that wasn't cooked all the way through in the photos of this book--no one likes a raw in the middle crust or a soggy bottom. This book seems to have been poorly edited. There were a few techniques for small baking and adapting larger recipes that I will take with me, but all in all I'm happy to have gotten this from the library instead of purchasing it.
mrshendricks's review
5.0
I've checked this book out of the library SO many times that I decided to just get myself a used copy. I also refer to the author's website a fair amount. Toby and I need to limit sugar intake but we both have huge sweet teeth. This cookbook helps. We can have small batches of sweets that don't sit around for days tempting us. Usually we get one Saturday evening dessert from these recipes. We enjoy it and it's gone. Sure I could take my own recipes and cut them in fourths or fifths to get smaller amounts but I'd rarely go to that effort. This cookbook has wonderful recipes that take the calculation out of it.
djblock99's review
4.0
The four-ingredient peanut butter cookies and peanut butter swirl brownies alone make this worthwhile.
More...