I first came across this cookbook (by the Baked bakery in NYC) looking for recipes for homemade granola. I love granola and am always appalled by how much commercially made granola costs (I have a soft spot for Dorset cereals, although I buy their muesli and not the granola). And when I tasted the granola at Bread & Cie in San Diego, I couldn’t get that homemade feeling out of my head. It was just comforting – and so tasty!

So making use of old google, I came across this recipe on Amateur Gourmet. And since I had pretty much everything I needed in my kitchen, I gave the recipe a try, substituting dried cherries (didn’t have any) with dried apricot and adding a bit of shredded coconut. Tasted good but just a bit too salty.

And so I made it again, halving the salt (about 1/2 tsp), again adding some shredded coconut, sliced almonds, raisins and apricot. I also reduced the sugar. And instead of just using rolled oats, I used 1 cup rolled oats and 1 cup of a mixed grain cereal (rye, barley, oats). I gave this batch away to my mother-in-law who was heading home to Singapore after a visit with us.

Then today I thought that I would make another batch, this time without the nuts (adding more raisins and apricots), just in case wee reader would try some. And he did!

Another recipe I tried was the chocolate chip cookie (someone posted the recipe here). I made it the first time a couple of months ago, but neglected to read that very important step that said ‘refrigerate for 6 hours’. And so, the result was a batch of chocolate chip pancakes. Tasty yes, but so so flat and ugly.

So I made it again, and just to be on the safe side, refrigerated it overnight (ok maybe that had something to do with a sudden craving in the afternoon for said cookies). And they were great. So great I had four that very day. Erm yeah, I did say I had a craving right?

The bakery is probably best known for their brownie (recipe here), named by America’s Test Kitchen as best brownie recipe, and it sounds like a rich sinful brownie (the photos on that blog I linked to look divine!). This weekend perhaps!

Weekend Cooking at Beth Fish Reads is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, beer, wine, photographs