I love to bake, but I don’t always want to make a huge batch of cookies or a whole two-layer cake. I love the idea of small-batch baking, but it’s not easy to find recipes. Until now.
Dessert Cooking for Two offers over 100 recipes for all sorts of sweet treats that can be made in a small batch, perfect for just one or two people. Double Chocolate Cookies, Red Velvet Layer Bars, Apple Pie Bars, Classic Vanilla Cupcakes with Buttercream, Mini Carrot Cakes, Lemon Meringue Mini Pies, Bourbon Peach Cobbler, Lemon Curd Tarts, Chocolate-Hazelnut Filled Scones, Dark Chocolate Almond Butter Cups, Pecan Brittle, Chocolate Souffles, Salted Caramel Pot de Creme, and even Hot Fudge Brownie Sundaes with Spiced Candied Pecans. Just to name a few.
Author Robin Donovan is a food blogger and cookbook author who grew up with a sweet tooth. Her mother didn’t like to keep sweets around the house, but that just make Donovan want them more. When she became a mother, she didn’t want her daughter to go through that too, so she started experimenting with small-batch baking, so they could eat sweets, the really good homemade kind, but not have a bunch left over. We all get to benefit from her hard work.
These recipes include ones that are especially fast to make, some that are no-bake for when you don’t want to turn on the over, lightly sweet for when you want less sugar, and mini equipment. But don’t let the idea of “mini equipment” scare you. While you can go buy new pans for smaller baked goods, Donovan also offers hacks so that you don’t have to do that.
Not just recipes, Dessert Cooking for Two also gives you help setting up your pantry and introductions to baking techniques like melting chocolate, creaming, folding, cutting in, whipping eggs, tempering eggs, pastry dough, and decorating cake and cookies. She also offers advice on using leftover dairy ingredients and eggs as well as storage ideas for raw ingredients and baked treats both. This book could be used for beginners as well as advanced bakers, and it would be perfect for anyone with a tiny kitchen. I do wish that there were more photos, but the smaller size is nice too.