As I mentioned the other day, I was attending a dinner for master pastry chef, Nick Malgieri, in the spectacular kitchen of my dear friend, Julie.
Well, it was quite an event. At the risk of sounding like the food blogger that I was, I have to tell you that all of the food bloggers who attended the dinner pulled out their best recipes to share with Chef Nick and the group!
There were beautiful salads with grains like faro and couscous, 
and a pasta and greens salad with freshly grilled tuna fish,
delicious broccoli with sesame seed oil and pepper, a huge assortment of gorgeous cheeses and for dessert, an incredible selection! There were black and white pepper cookies with a bourbon buttercream filling, 
chocolate cookies with chocolate nibs, 
puffy heart cookies, 
a pumpkin, ginger and pecan cheese cake, 
and of course, some offerings from Chef Nick – a bourbon chocolate cake,
and some hazlenut biscotti with a touch of anise.
Each guest received a signed copy of Chef Nick’s newest book - Bake! Essential Techniques for Perfect Baking. This is a great book for both the beginning and experienced baker, with photographs illustrating the techniques used to make most of the recipes. I always find it a huge help to have the steps shown one-by-one. 
I am going to give my copy of Bake! to one lucky reader. All you have to do is leave a comment and tell me what your favourite baked good is by Friday, February 25th. It can be bread or biscuits, cookies or cake, pies or pizza. If you want to link a recipe in your comment, I am sure other readers would appreciate that.
Oh, you want to know what I took to the party? Ice.
So sorry to miss this fun party. I Love to bake pizza with E. http://stonehillfield.blogspot.com/2010/09/uncle-charlies-pizza.html Enjoy.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite baked goods are cookies and buttercream frosting, although I am not sure that frosting counts as a baked good! It is rare to find a baker who is a cookie artist!! Usually they are too crispy or just so-so on the flavor.
ReplyDeleteWhat a delicious dinner Meg...So many delectable choices, a veritable feast. Baked goods....only one...probably a New York style cheescake would be up near number one for me.....xv
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty hard to ruin ice, yes?? My favourite baked good is actually pretyy humble....home made hot tea biscuits fresh out of the oven and served with my homemade chili. Every time I have them I think of my gram and her wonderful cooking. She didn't even use a bowl to make her tea biscuits and pastries...right on the counter is where she mixed everything.
ReplyDeleteLooks like you had fun. I used to hate baking but have since discovered the joy in good results from the oven.
ReplyDeleteMy family loves my baguettes and this recipe is easy.
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/French-Bread-235423
Hi Meg, Great to meet you and thanks for the wonderful post. I'm going to "steal" your photo of the group for my post on the event. I'm happy to see you love both Nina Campbell and Billy Baldwin too!
ReplyDeleteWarm, homeade biscuits! Looks like you had fun, what a great giveaway. Thanks Meg!
ReplyDeleteApricot Foldovers - my mom's recipe that I make every Christmas. It is a lot of work, but well worth it.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite baked good is a one layer confection called "Cake for a Chocolate Fool". This cake is dense, rich and only needs some confectioners sugar and a few berries to make it fit for a king. The book would be a great addition to my cook books.
ReplyDeleteWhat a party!! You lucky girl!! And loved your contribution.........ice. TOO funny.
ReplyDeleteI would love to win the book on baking!
Man, I look like I'm 12 in that group photo! At least the salt and pepper cookies look good :-)
ReplyDelete(Needless to say, I don't need to be in the drawing).
My mother's baked cheesecake recipe and my own chocolate fudge pound cake that I've been making for gifts and social occasions for more years than seems possible. Also, the wonderful memories of my German grandmother's baking -- there was always something on the cake stand.
ReplyDeleteI'm only 45 minutes away. Maybe next time you can sneak me in??
ReplyDeleteI am a better cook than baker, but in the summer I can be relied upon to bake a few fresh fruit crisps or crumbles. Blueberries and peaches are a fave of mine.
Jane
Great post! What a fabulous spread. Nick's book looks divine, but I'm afraid I aspire only to eat the end results...not make it. Ice? You crack me up!
ReplyDeleteWow! Everything on the table was gorgeous! The book is drool worthy, too! One recipe that I'm finding to be a hit is German apple cake (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/German-Apple-Cake-I/Detail.aspx). Personally I like the apples chopped super fine vs. chunky, and it stays moist for days.
ReplyDeleteOh my! You are titillating the senses of someone who loves to bake. What fun you all must have had...the food looks wonderful. My favorite baked good must be my homemade white chocolate & craisin scones. I learned the art of baking them at the hands of a master baker named Sibby Barrett in her kitchen @ Onion Creek Kitchens. She has a wonderful bed & breakfast in the Texas Hill Country where she offers cooking classes of every ilk, from entire meals to specialty baking. My husband and I will never forget the time we spent with her, learning how to make these wonderful pastries. And we got to bring our beloved dogs with us...hers is a VERY pet friendly
ReplyDeleteB & B. I know I would LOVE Nick's book! Please count me in for the giveaway!!
Weren't those salt and pepper sandwich cookies divine? Loved seeing everyone and I can't wait to get my hands and pans dirty with these recipes. I've been drooling over that book since I brought it home.
ReplyDeleteLooks like a wonderful evening! I just LOVE Julie's kitchen and the photo reminded me of our brunch - If only that table could talk (better that it doesn't!)
ReplyDeleteTo bake - my specialty is a blueberry tart - will send you the recipe at some point. I WISH I could make light - flakey - true southern biscuits - I however have mastered the hockey puck biscuit!
Peppermint chocolate snaps - crispy chocolate cookies with ground up candy canes. The candy canes melt when you bake them and they are super yummy.
ReplyDeleteIt is almost lunchtime and after reading this great post, I'm starving. Everything looks delicious.
ReplyDeleteWait, what?! I can only pick one baked goodie - that's difficult! Looked like a stellar dinner party!
ReplyDeleteWe love blueberry muffins here.
http://stitchforkdesigns.blogspot.com/2011/02/sugar.html
xo Cathy
Just realized I was so busy sending you the recipe for a wonderful "Apple-Pear Galette" which I made as a gift during the Christmas season that I forgot to leave my comment and get my name in the pot for winning the cookbook. Anyway, it turned out beautifully, won rave reviews, and was said to be "restaurant quality." Easy to make (calls for ready-made refrigerated pie crust, Empire apples and Bartlett pears), the recipe is from Real Simple, November of 2008, I believe.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite baked goodie is shortbread, the simpler the better. But tomorrow I am actually making Nick's Supernatural Brownies. Synchronicity. http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Nicks-Supernatural-Brownies
ReplyDeleteMy favorite baked goodie is scones!
ReplyDeleteI'm sentimental and miss all of my mother's baked goods. She was a master amateur. Her church dinner rolls, sticky buns for my father's friends, her light as air pastry for pies and cobblers (I really miss her peach cobbler.) Her fresh coconut cake, her Christmas cookies, including a really old recipe for oatmeal cookies that I make every Christmas as tradition. Her french loaves with cornmeal on the bottom, the cupcakes for school. She once told me she learned to make biscuits when she was three years old. She would make me cinnamon toast cut into tiny squares for my little girl tea parties.
ReplyDeleteMy advice to younger women who still have their mothers? Whatever your mother makes that you adore: Greek salad, her lasagna, her New Year's Punch...learn how to make it NOW.
hi, meg,
ReplyDeletejust sent you barbara tropp's ginger pecan torte recipe from the new york times (1988). my alltime favorite, and my friends love it as much as i do. it is a passover recipe, but it can be adapted to gluten free and other health needs. barbara tropp was a jewish girl from forest hills who went to china to learn to cook when jewish girls mostly made reservations. she was a lovely friend, and her china moon cafe in san francisco is much missed.
Gorgeous photos of food!! I would have to narrow down my favorite baked good to Toll House Chocolate Chip cookies. Comfort and memories all rolled into a couple of bites. A glass of milk, on the side.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite item to bake is chocolate chip cookie bars. Milk chocolate chips and ground outmeal. It makes a large batch and I bake them on a cookie sheet. They are to die for!!!
ReplyDeletei have always loved cooking but just got into baking and such after i took a pastry class in november so this book would be perfect! my favorite baked good is definitely apple pie - or anything closely related to that. thanks for the giveaway!
ReplyDeletehttp://lachapstickfanatique.blogspot.com
I think my favorite baked goods are cookies. I am trying to channel my Italian roots and have been learning to bake italian cookies which my family devours at every holiday or special event. Baking is something my Mom is great at and she always has a simple but delicious treat waiting for us when we visit. Thank so much for the contest. I am shouting "Big Money" as we speak :-)
ReplyDeleteI love to bake just about anything, but I think my favorite is apple crumb pie or anything with a crumb topping.
ReplyDeleteI find brownies somewhat irresistable - to make and to eat! Cakes and pies when I'm feeling more motivated. Muffins and quickbreads when I want breakfast. Oh wait, was the question just ONE favorite?
ReplyDeleteOh I would love to win! Right now my favorite baked good is Irish Soda bread, because I am getting ready to make it for St Patty's day!
ReplyDeleteI was looking at the book at my mother's house and was telling her that I needed to get it because I wanted a good technique book. I came home and read this post. What timing! I love gingerbread cookies with just a little bit of royal icing. mmmm.
ReplyDeleteThoughts of D.W.'s impending trip to London make me think of scones with clotted cream, but in the USA my favorite is a cinnamon roll! One never outgrows cinnamon (or Red Hots as decoration for that matter). Makes me want to throw some flour around right now.
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