From Publishers Weekly
Even the most enthusiastic home bakers may admit there are times when they really only need a few muffins for breakfast or a couple of cream puffs for a dinner party—not a dozen or more of each. When standard recipes won't reduce neatly (how do you halve an egg, for example?), frustration ensues. Nakos, a Shape, Southern Living and Cooking Light contributor, takes more than 250 classic cakes, pies, cookies, cobblers, puddings and breads and downsizes their proportions to yield just the right number of goodies for small families, singles, newlyweds, empty-nesters or the leftovers-averse (do such people exist?). Nakos certainly is creative: she uses tin cans to bake two-layer coconut cakes and chocolate cakes, jumbo muffin tins for Peach Pie and Pineapple Upside-Down Cake, and small loaf pans for Moist Fudgy Brownies. Meanwhile, a full-size loaf pan turns out Mississippi Mud Cake or Gingerbread Roulade, and one regular baking sheet does the job for Cinnamon Hazelnut Biscotti. Small-batch baking as formulated by Nakos is liberating: with quick mixing, baking and clean-up times, the whole process of producing, say, eight Pecan Snowball Cookies for tea time, or two Honey Apple Oatmeal Crisps for a sweet breakfast, is less overwhelming. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Book Description
Small-Batch Baking is how to have your cake, and eat it all too. It's baking a plate of cookies (not 4 dozen) to greet the kids when they come home from school, or a few muffins (not 12) when that's all you need for Sunday brunch. It's for the perfect tart to end a small, romantic dinner--or the indulgence of a one-bowl dessert just for you (Honey Apple Oatmeal Crisp, anyone?). Most of all, it's to bring home the joy of baking, when home is just the two of you--small batches whip up quickly, clean up quickly, and don't require hours at the oven.

Written by Debby Maugans Nakos, who clearly possesses the Southern baking gene, Small-Batch Baking offers 200 irresistible recipes from across the baking spectrum: triple layer cakes, bundt cakes, angel food cakes; pies and tarts; cobblers, crisps, crumbles, and short cakes; cookies, bars, squares; biscuits, muffins, scones, breakfast breads; and a whole section just on Valentine Specials--Double Hot Chocolate Soufflés, Chèvre Cheesecakes with Honey Anise Ginger Syrup, Vanilla Banana Caramel Flan.

A batch of Cream-Filled Chocolate Cookies--that yields a half-dozen. A Coconut Layer Cake, just for two. Individual servings of Cinnamon French Toast Pudding or Southern Peach Cobbler with Bourbon Cream. It's all the bewitching pleasure of home-baked, but--finally--for just one or two.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Why be stuck baking two dozen cookies when you want only six? A tart for twelve when it's just the two of you? Or, to satisfy a craving, a huge batch of brownies, most of which will still be there to tempt you-and make you feel guilty-the next day?

Mixing creativity with ingenuity, Debby Maugans Nakos shows how to make desserts and breads that yield a sensible yet spectacularly delicious one or two servings: Double Hot Chocolate Souffle; Brandy Caramel Pumpkin Pie; Rosemary Focaccia; Cherry Macadamia Bars. Each mini masterpiece has that distinct "from scratch" hallmark: a pie's tender flake, the moist crumb of a layer cake, a biscuit's deep, buttery richness, the satisfying chew of a rustic bread.

A short primer introduces Small-Batch techniques and tips, such as baking with medium eggs; recycling 14- and 15-ounce cans to use as layer-cake pans; picking up a jumbo muffin tin because it's perfect for deep-dish fruit pies and single-serving upside-down cakes; how to measure small but precise amounts of chocolate, flour, yeast, cornmeal.

But for the most part, Small-Batch baking is just regular baking made easier for the smaller household. There's less to prepare, fewer bowls, no need to drag out the heavy-duty mixer, shorter baking and cooling times, and no leftovers to worry about. And nothing is sacrificed-not flavor, not texture, and certainly not variety.

Layer cakes, popovers, sweet rolls, honey buns, scones, focaccia, tea breads, cream puffs, souffles, tortes and tarts, crostatas, brownies, cobblers, mud pies, muffins, charlottes, sabayons, buckles, cookies, bars, cheesecakes, mousses, bread puddings-more than 225 recipes cover the gamut, sweet and savory. One whole chapter is devoted to Valentine's Day-start with Baked Raspberry Almond French Toast for breakfast in bed, and end with Apricot Meringue Cookie Tarts. Another chapter celebrates comforting puddings so sublime you may just want to curl up with one in place of supper. There are holiday treats, elegant desserts for an intimate dinner party, goodies for lazy mornings, after-school cookies, special-occasion cakes-it's all the pleasure of homemade, without the temptation to overindulge.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Even the most enthusiastic home bakers may admit there are times when they really only need a few muffins for breakfast or a couple of cream puffs for a dinner party-not a dozen or more of each. When standard recipes won't reduce neatly (how do you halve an egg, for example?), frustration ensues. Nakos, a Shape, Southern Living and Cooking Light contributor, takes more than 250 classic cakes, pies, cookies, cobblers, puddings and breads and downsizes their proportions to yield just the right number of goodies for small families, singles, newlyweds, empty-nesters or the leftovers-averse (do such people exist?). Nakos certainly is creative: she uses tin cans to bake two-layer coconut cakes and chocolate cakes, jumbo muffin tins for Peach Pie and Pineapple Upside-Down Cake, and small loaf pans for Moist Fudgy Brownies. Meanwhile, a full-size loaf pan turns out Mississippi Mud Cake or Gingerbread Roulade, and one regular baking sheet does the job for Cinnamon Hazelnut Biscotti. Small-batch baking as formulated by Nakos is liberating: with quick mixing, baking and clean-up times, the whole process of producing, say, eight Pecan Snowball Cookies for tea time, or two Honey Apple Oatmeal Crisps for a sweet breakfast, is less overwhelming. (Dec.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

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