Dear Bakers and Friends,

Welcome to the February 2018 issue, aka the heart-of-winter edition of Betterbaking.com which I hope will unfold as a beautiful baking oasis for you. Baking seems the best tonic to offset the shortest and coldest month I know. It's also a good thing they thought to include Valentine’s Day in this month because what the world needs now is love, sweet love indeed. Nothing is sweeter or more loving than caringly-crafted home baking!

Nurturing the Baker
The hearth and heart notwithstanding, the theme of nourishment seems to be my personal mantra these days. To that end, I’ve dug into the richesse in podcasts. I always knew podcasts were out there but until recently, I just never paid much attention. But there are so many amazing podcasts there (and alas, a lot of dead wood as well) but you can flit to Oprah Soul Sundays and her illuminating guests, cookbook shows, self-publishing shows and streamed Ted Talks. To this I've added more yoga and dance classes and long winter walks. The precious light of winter has its own appeal and those thin rays of Vitamin D do disproportionate good. Season all this with reading tons of diverse and exciting new books (am I the only one to finally read The Alchemist?) and then top it off with some Event-Brite occasions that range from the art of making kombucha to sourdough bread and WP workshops. We are what we digest and so I am making my diet varied and plentiful.

So this time I've decided so simply feature (for the most part) fresh recipes I've always wanted to create and/or recipes I want to perfect. This is just where I am in life and in baking: I want pure, simple, aesthetic little bites. I want to go slower and more thoughtfully and savour. Happily too, there's so much I am still learning about baking that I love sharing with you. Until a short while ago, many people would write and tell me they're too tired to cook or bake or watching their calories or scaling back. And then the emails changed and I also saw this in the behaviour of friends and others. People are actually reinvesting in their food. They want to eat better whether they're thirty or sixty. They are slowing down to really cook and spend time with themselves in the kitchen and eat healthy but wonderfully. I see this across the board as people are more mindful overall and finding the energy and patience to take care of their health inside out. There is no substitute for home-crafted, lovingly seasoned food. Make less perhaps but make it homemade and find the time. It's a joy.

February 2018 Recipes
Baking Little Bites with Love and Craftsmanship

On to practical matters of baking! In this issue I gave a lot of thought about what to share with you too. It’s always a toss-up of seasonal or holiday notes or something trendy. Not surprisingly, considering this is a one-person baking operation, a baking ‘theme of the month ‘gets lost in the shuffle. So this time I’ve decided so simply feature (for the most part) fresh recipes I’ve always wanted to create and/or recipes I want to perfect. This is just where I am in life and in baking: I want pure, simple, aesthetic little bites. I want to go slower and more thoughtfully and savour. Happily too, there' so much I am still learning about baking that I love sharing with you. Until a short while ago, many people would write and tell me they’re too tired to cook or bake or watching their calories or scaling back. And then the emails changed and I also saw this in the behavior of friends and others. People are actually reinvesting in their food. I notice everyone seems to want to eat better whether they are thirty or sixty. They are slowing down to really cook and spend time with themselves in the kitchen and eat healthy but wonderfully. I see this across the board as people are more mindful overall and finding the energy and patience to take care of their health inside out. There is no substitute for home-crafted, lovingly seasoned food. Make less perhaps but make it homemade and find the time. It's a joy.

Among other temptations like Red Velvet Cheesecake Cupcakes, Mac and Cheese Muffins (Super Bowl snack anyone?), Cherry Cranberry Cookies, Butter and Cream Shortbread, here's some thoughts on this month's recipe collection.

Notting Hill Brownies, downloaded over 2700 times and with over 155, 00 Google hits were a must for those of you wanting something chocolate-y this month. (Of course there are tons more chocolate recipes in the Betterbaking.com Recipe Data Base so knock you out). I still love this recipe although nowadays I make the brownies in small bites, using a silicone mini-muffin tin (because it leaves the edges slightly softer).

The Cheddar and Scallion Scones are the result of a cafe stopover that had great coffee but also served up these fantastic, savory scones. It’s rare that I make a savory scone and this one really called out to me.

The Healthy Black Bread is exactly that. I wanted big, bouncy and healthy bread, bursting with multi grains, seeds and nutritious whole flours that was also moist, great slicing bread for any sort of sandwich. My first baking tests were so grainy and seedy that the rough stuff actually slit through bread’s gluten strands as it rose! Clearly it needed an intervention. I am thrilled to give you test #4: the perfect healthy black bread.

Southern Cream Biscuits came about with my wish for a wee, warm bread to serve with weekend fried chicken. I’ve always been fascinated by the notion of no-butter biscuits that rely on whipping cream as the only fat.  My fascination was well-placed. These biscuits are amazingly tender, easy and crisp-edged with flavor.

The French Butter Cookies are a triumph. It began with testing many recipes for Brittany Butter Cookies, a specialty cookie that I adore. But all the recipes were dry and dense with an excess of egg yolks. Meh. So I concocted a totally unique dough, full of butter, cream and brown sugar, packed it into tiny muffin wells, dusted them with an egg glaze sugar and tiens! This is a French butter cookie de plus and perfect for when friends drop by. They’re great keepers and freeze like a dream too.

Once again to everyone: please register at the new site even if you just want the newsletter. For those who are paid members of Betterbaking.com, you need to email me via that site or editors@betterbaking.com so I can give you your new log in to the new site.  Please also follow me on Instagram so you will see previews and highlights of new recipes. The old site (www.betterbaking.com) will stay up as long as possible and the recipe data base is identical except on the new site, each recipe posted each month, features a photo!

Happy Valentine’s Day, keep baking – go slower, try softer or do less but keep baking. It’s not baking; it’s life.

Warm wishes

Marcy Goldman
Author, Master Baker

https://betterbaking.com/recipe-items/cheddar-and-scallion-scones/

https://betterbaking.com/recipe-items/healthy-black-breada/

https://betterbaking.com/recipe-items/southern-cream-biscuits/

https://betterbaking.com/recipe-items/macaroni-cheese-muffins-with-soda-cracker-crumb-topping/

https://betterbaking.com/recipe-items/6359/

FREE Notting Hill Brownies
https://betterbaking.com/recipe-items/notting-hill-brownies/

https://betterbaking.com/recipe-items/butter-and-cream-shortbread-biscotti/

https://betterbaking.com/recipe-items/cranberry-cherry-russian-tea-cakes/

https://betterbaking.com/recipe-items/sour-cherry-cranberry-raspberry-shortbread-squares/

FREE https://betterbaking.com/viewRecipe.php?recipe_id=2122&