A Passion For Baking

Marcy Goldman entered the kitchen as a young girl and never left. More than 20 years later, she is a professional pastry chef, master baker, and award-winning author who approaches every cake, every cookie, every crumb with passion and enthusiasm. For Marcy, baking satisfies "a life-long desire to create, nurture, nourish, and give." And this fall, she shares that desire with baking enthusiasts around the country in her new cookbook, A PASSION FOR BAKING (Oxmoor House; November 2007; 320 pages/hardcover; $29.95; ISBN-10: 0-8487-3179-4).

"This book is my personal and professional harvest of all my baking seasons to date...It is about both what to bake and how to bake it better."

Known as the "maverick baker," Marcy marries classic baking techniques with contemporary, more practical and easier techniques. In A PASSION FOR BAKING, she shares more than 200 recipes and dozens of helpful tips, while welcoming readers into her kitchen and creating the feeling of "a coffee klatch between friends who meander through many topics of sweet things, pausing to chat and lingering over what we bake and enjoy."

Filled with beautiful photographs that show both technique and the tempting final masterpiece, A PASSION FOR BAKING is a must-have for baking enthusiasts, as well as those new to measuring cups and spoons. For the holidays, Marcy provides recipes for both old and new favorites, such as:

- Classic Pumpkin Pie
- White Chocolate Thanksgiving Pecan Pie
- Village Baker's Holiday Cranberry-Orange Bread
- Best-Ever Scottish Shortbread
- White Chocolate and Vanilla Bread Pudding
- Christmas Black Cake
- Best-Ever Chanukah Rugelach
- The Big Honey Cake

And, for any day and every day, she offers savory and sweet treats, like:

- Mr. Darcy's Wheat Meal Scones
- Pepperoni Pizza Rolls
- Asiago-and-Cheddar Potato Rolls
- Java Streusel Banana Muffins
- Brittany Butter Cookies
- Strawberry and Cream Cookies
- Vanilla Cheesecake-Stuffed Brownies

All in all, A PASSION FOR BAKING offers the home cook a lesson in baking. As evidenced by the following chapter titles, readers can try their hand at relatively simple recipes, as well as the more complex (Regardless of the task, however, they are assured the helpful instruction of a patient, passionate instructor!):


Baking Secrets
Loaves, Large & Small
Pizza and Other Flatbreads
The Muffin Shoppe
The Cookie Jar
Bars & Squares
Pies, Tarts & Pastries
The Cake Circle
Say Cheesecake
Holiday Baking


Marcy maintains that baking is more than a craft. To her, it is a "sensory bouquet" of scents, sights, sounds, and textures...just waiting to be experienced in A PASSION FOR BAKING.

"A passion for baking is like falling in love with life again and again," says Marcy. "We reconnect to those things we love as a matter of choice that seems innate - so it is each time you take out a block of butter, find a recipe, and choose to create something home baked for yourself and those you love."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Marcy Goldman is a professional pastry chef, master baker, a graduate of the Quebec Hotel School, and author of The Best of BetterBaking.com and the Julia Child Award-nominated A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking. A food journalist and writer, she is also the creator and host of the renowned website, www.BetterBaking.com. Marcy lives in Montreal with her three sons, who gladly sample everything she bakes.