Tag: spices

The New Sugar & Spice: a Recipe for Bolder Baking by Samantha Seneviratne

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new sugar and spiceRaise your desserts to a whole new level of flavor with The New Sugar & Spice, a collection of more than eighty unique, unexpected, and uniformly delicious recipes for spice-centric sweets.

Veteran baker Samantha Seneviratne’s recipes will open your eyes to a world of baking possibilities: Her spicy, pepper-flecked Chile-Chocolate Truffles prove that heat and sweet really do go hand-in-hand, and a fresh batch of aromatic, cinnamon-laced Maple Sticky Buns will have the whole family racing into the kitchen. Discover new recipes from around the globe, such as Sri Lankan Love Cake or Swedish-inspired Saffron Currant Braid. Or, give your classic standbys a bold upgrade, such as making Raspberry Shortcakes with zingy Double Ginger Biscuits.

Filled with fascinating histories, origin stories, and innovative uses for the world’s most enticing spices–including vanilla, cinnamon, peppercorns, and cardamom — The New Sugar & Spice guarantees that dessert will be the most talked-about part of your meal. (description from publisher)

The Spice Merchant’s Daughter by Christina Arokiasamy

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Open your kitchen and cooking to the spices of Malaysia. You’ll quickly discover that exotic flavors such as star anise, turmeric and saffron add a new level of complexity that the whole family will enjoy – and incorporating them into your meals is simple and straightforward.

In The Spice Merchant’s Daughter, Christina Arokiasamy shares her story of growing up in Kuala Lampur where her mother ran a spice stall. She also shares the secrets of her family’s spice recipes and advice on how to build flavors layer by layer. While Arokiasamy trained as a corporate chef (she currently runs a cooking school in Seattle), she also understands the daily task of cooking for a family using American ingredients.

Though many of the 100 recipes are dense with flavor (such as Braised Pork in Caramelized Soy Sauce or Rice Noodles with Seafood and Basil) they are also relatively easy to make. Arokiasamy is an excellent teacher and offers tips and guidelines, including make-ahead spice rubs, pastes and other seasonings and a discussion of essential pantry items.

What makes The Spice Merchant’s Daughter especially wonderful though is Arokiasamy’s evocative memories of growing up surrounded by the sights and smells of her native country. You’ll want to checkout this book for the recipes, but you’ll also want to read it for it’s window into another, exotic world.