Genevieve Ko updates our favorite classic baked goods using flavorful whole grains, nuts, flours, fruits, vegetables, and fats in Better Baking: Wholesome Ingredients, Delicious Desserts.

Genevieve has co-authored numerous cookbooks, but this title is her first solo effort. After more than a dozen years developing recipes for food and health magazines and collaborating with noted pastry chefs, the author was determined to create treats that were just as indulgent as their original counterparts without sacrificing flavor. 

After a lifetime of baking and more than a decade of  doing so professionally, she discovered that wholesome ingredients could make desserts more delicious when  the right proportions and proper techniques are utilized. Swaps were made for such ingredients as butter for oil, in whole or in part, at times leaving the beloved ingredient of most bakers in for the milky taste and the tender crumb. She found using oil in some recipes rendered amazing results. Some dairy products like cream and sweet cheeses were traded for butter or oil, resulting in especially soft and flavorful pastries. The swaps continue throughout the book delivering baked goods that are better in both taste, texture and nutrition. The author states that the "better" in the title refers just as much to the foolproof techniques and shortcuts in this book as it does to the tastier treats themselves.

Each and every photograph of the recipes shared here are as decadent as the original versions found elsewhere. The Flourless blueberry muffins are one of my son's favorites and the Buttermilk pecan stick buns are incredible. Numerous other recipes are tagged to make including the Green tea almond raspberry rainbow bars and the New York apple cider crumb cake. I love that I can bake for family and friends using thoughtful ingredients. Genevieve proves that wholesome baking can be rewarding and delicious.

I was fortunate to meet the author at IACP and I mentioned how much I loved her book. Thanks to her publisher, we are able to offer three copies of this book in our promotion below open to US and Canadian members. Be sure to add this scrumptious cookie to your bookshelf to make later. 

 


Chocolate sunflower-oat lace cookies
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Lace cookies, which are intricate webs of toffee, look more complicated than they are. And these are far easier than many other recipes. Oats don't require the resting that flour does to produce the cookie's signature crispness, and the sunflower seeds in the batter make it spread easily since they're chopped into bits. When these ingredients are cooked in the melted butter, they develop a toasty depth. The only problem with these cookies is how irresistible they are.

Makes about 5 dozen
Gluten-free, no nuts

  • ¼ cup (24 g) old-fashioned rolled gluten-free oats
  • ¼ cup (37 g) raw sunflower seeds
  • 4 tablespoons (56 g) unsalted butter
  • ⅓ cup (69 g) sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1 large egg, at room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 2 ounces white chocolate, melted
  • 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted

1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350°F. Line a half sheet pan with a nonstick baking mat or parchment paper. If you have more pans and mats, prepare them too.

2. Pulse the oats and sunflower seeds in a food processor until the oats are finely chopped. Most of the seeds will be chopped too.

3. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the oat-seed mixture and cook, stirring, until the oats and seeds are a shade closer to golden, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the sugar and salt, stirring until the sugar almost dissolves. Remove from the heat and stir to cool slightly.

4. Stirring vigorously, add the egg to the pan. (Stir fast: You don't want the egg to scramble.) Stir in the vanilla. Using a ½-teaspoon measure, scoop ½-teaspoons of batter onto the prepared pan, spacing them 2 inches apart.

5. Bake until the batter spreads into flat, lacy golden brown disks, 7 to 9 minutes. So that you can reuse the pans, as each batch comes out, carefully slide the baking mat with the cookies onto a wire rack, run the pan under cold water to cool quickly, and wipe it dry. Then transfer the cookies to the wire rack with a thin spatula to cool completely and place the mat back on the pan. Repeat with the remaining batter.

6. Drizzle the chocolates over the cookies. Let stand until set.

MAKE AHEAD

The batter will keep in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. The cookies will keep for up to 1 week if it's cool and dry. (They become sticky and soft in humid weather.)

Text excerpted from BETTER BAKING © 2016 by Genevieve Ko. Reproduced by permission of Rux Martin Books/ Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.

The publisher is offering three copies of this book to EYB Members in the US and Canada. One of the entry options is to answer the following question in the comments section of this blog post.

Which recipe in the index would you try first?

Please note that you must be logged into the Rafflecopter contest before posting or your entry won't be counted. For more information on this process, please see our step-by-step help post. Be sure to check your spam filters to receive our email notifications. Prizes can take up to 6 weeks to arrive from the publishers. If you are not already a Member, you can join at no cost. The contest ends at midnight on April 11th, 2018.