How to Be a Domestic Goddess: Baking and the Art of Comfort Cooking

Customer Reviews

Fun baking advice with a British flair

Most of the time when I browse the cookbook aisle at my local bookstore, I'm faced with a never-ending array of cookbooks with a couple of good recipes but mostly stuff that I'll never make. It is hard to find a cookbook that will end up being a treasured repository of personal and family favorites - they just don't come along that often.

When I picked this book up, I thought the name was just a good gimmick, a way to get people to take a look. I was doubtful that there would be much substance behind the nice photography and catchy name. How wrong I was! As I went through this book, the exciting and fun looking recipes amazed me. The recipes weren't all new or flashy, but they were uniformly inspiring. The first recipe in the book is actually a simple lemony loaf cake recipe... but it was the first thing I made because it sounded so yummy! On top of the recipes themselves, the commentary from the author helped me to become enthusiastic about the recipes and about baking in general.

The overall style of the cookbook is really nice. Great pictures for almost all of the recipes. Clear instructions in the recipes themselves. The introduction to each recipe was very well written. Many recipes had variations and other ideas listed.

This cookbook is definitely not for everyone. It does have a British slant both in the commentary and in some of the recipes. For example, there are several recipes for different kinds of mincemeat pies that I'm doubtful I'll be making anytime soon. There are also more subtle ways the British slant comes out, especially in the choice of ingredients. For me, this just added to the charm of the cookbook. The only negative comment I have about the cookbook is that in some cases, I would have liked an explanation of WHY a certain technique was being used. For example, in a recipe for a chocolate loaf cake, you are instructed to alternate adding tablespoons of hot water with tablespoons of flour. I would really like to know why and that type of explanation would have fit in well with the overall style of the book, but it was missing.

Overall, a great and fun cookbook that gave me some inspiration for the holiday season and actually got me back into my kitchen when I was feeling a bit "burnt out" on baking.

domestic goddess isn't what you think

At first I thought Lawson was referring to some 50s TV housewife with her title, and I was happily proven wrong on the very first page. This book is a delight from word go, and the recipes I've tried so far--a rhubarb cordial and a batch of cupcakes--have been excellent. Lawson's writing shows plenty of wit and intelligence, but there's a warm sense of causualness in the pre-recipe notes that makes me feel I'm jotting down kitchen tips from a hip friend. While simplifying the art of baking tremendously, she also manages to infest a baker (or wannabe) with a terrific sense of accomplishment and pleasure. Not only do I plan on eventually trying every recipe in the book (they all sound so good!), but I have every intention of buying a copy for every baker I know.

mmmm

this book is great!! some recipes might not work out right (for example, i think the last reviewer coincidentally tried out all of the recipes that previous reviewers didn't enjoy..) but i know a lot of them are delicious!! it's sort of a shame that they happened to try the some of the only ones out of the book that happen to be bad. all books are bound to have a couple that aren't great or anything.. i've tried many recipes already and they are great. not hard recipes and the results are very delicious. for example.. the dense chocolate loaf cake is reallly good, as is the banana bread and cheese danishes that were easy to make b/c of the method she provides. and how about those schnecken, eh? just as the title states, this is comfort cooking and everything in here seems to scream out comfort. beautiful pictures, can't wait to try more. hope this helps! by the way, you really DO feel like a domestic goddess. :)