This new baking book has a long history. Author Erin Dooner is from Plano, Texas and grew up on real American baking: brownies, cakes, cookies, … Things do happen. She met a man from Berlin, fell in love and now lives in Berlin. She loves him and she still loves her brownies.
In Germany, she naturally sampled the delicacies of the myriad of local bakeries. And while she appreciated the German style of cakes and cookies, there was always that longing for the flavors and textures of Texas. She tried baking at home, but German ingredients — the very nature of German flour — made getting Plano-style results in Berlin impossibly difficult. The textures, tastes and even the sweetness levels were just different. And different meant not the same as Texas.
Fast forward. Erin became a food experimenter, using the different flours and grains available to her. She began to blog her results, telling folks about the intricacies to achieve “home” flavor with “foreign” ingredients. She was coincidentally using many gluten-free grains at a time of rising interest in gluten-free desserts. Erin was working gluten-free but seeking to use these grains to achieve flavors that mimic those Texas originals.
Of course, a Quinoa Brownie is going to be a tad different. Those differences and the healthy aspects of using a range of ancient grains are explored in Sweet Side’s many chapters including:
- Bars
- Cookies
- Brownies and Blondies
- Cake and Cupcakes
- Pie and Tarts
- Fruit Desserts [buckles and crisps!]
- Extras [adornments for topping desserts like ice cream, lemon cured and dulce de leche]
The recipe ideas include ones that will be familiar and some very new ones:
Buckwheat Double Dark Chocolate Brownies
Cinnamon Apple Blondies
Emmer Autumn Apple Cookies
No-Bake Peanut Butter Coconut Chocolate Bars
Quinoa Brownies
Raspberry Almond Buckles
Spelt Banana Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Honey Frosting
Teff No-Bake Chocolate Mint Tartlets
Walnut Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookies
Erin has spent months or even years developing each of these recipes. Suzen and I are about to embark on some recipe testing. Some of these recipes are very close to the white flour originals: like that Walnut Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie. It’s a just a matter of whole wheat flour subbing for white. In other cases, like the Quinoa Brownies, the dish will have a different nature. How different? Stay tuned to find out.
This is an intriguing book. You just might to get your own copy and begin your own exploration. Please let me know what you have tried and how you enjoyed it.
And now it’s off to the market and the Bob’s Red Mill section to stock up on whole wheat and spelt and teff and definitely some quinoa.