I have to agree with EWSflash about not cutting recipes out of books. Copy them, look on line if you can find the recipe and save it or scan it from the book. I have purchased used books that are missing pages and it is very disappointing because those are usually the best recipes in the book!

We recently moved and I have purged probably 300 cookbooks(out of 1600+) and I used much of the criteria found here. I am currently in a rental and will be moving again in 6 months so most of my cookbooks are in the garage in boxes. We are in CA so the humidity is low in there. I am paying attention to which books I go to the trouble and dig through boxes to find and keep out on the limited shelving we are currently using. I have purged a few more books in the process and will continue to do so before we move into our new house.

That said, I can relate to this dilemma and have a very hard time letting cookbooks go. Being able to get them at the library eases the loss of some and honestly, I have really not missed any of the books I have let go. If I have to replace one because of regret, I will, but generally, it frees me up to purchase newer and more desirable books. I cannot always apply the one year rule to cookbooks, because I keep books for all sorts of reasons, not just strictly recipes(like the author, the stories, the historical reference, nostalgia, etc) although, they are, obviously, important.

Good luck!

Hi Geekmom,

Thank you for the reply. I may try to find the book at the library and try out some recipes first. I will go look at that thread and see the feedback - I know there are a few recipes on the web from Ad Hoc at Home. If I bake anything else, I will post a review.

OK. So I love this thread for 2 reasons. One, I have this beautiful book and have been dying for an excuse to test drive it. Two, we stopped in Vegas on our move from Pittsburgh, PA to Northern California and we had brunch at Bouchon(took our pastry basket to go with us for our road trip). We are currently in a rental house, waiting for our house to be built, and I had to rifle through numerous boxes of packed cookbooks in the garage(I have an enormous collection) to find my copy of Bouchon Bakery.

The first recipe I chose to make was the Classic Chocolate Chunk Cookie on page 34. It is simple, I had all the ingredients on hand and I make very good choc chip cookies, so I wanted to see how these compared. The recipe is a little fussy for such a straightforward drop cookie but the end result is a delicious version of this timeless classic.
The ingredients are pretty standard: butter, sugar eggs, flour, soda and chocolate(no vanilla here, which I often omit myself). The quantities are very specific, such as 5.9(not 6) oz butter and 3 T plus 2 1/2 tsp eggs. I did weigh everything and measured accurately for this first run, although, confession time, I used 1 whole egg which was 7 grams short of the weight required by the recipe. I was not going to crack a whole egg to obtain 7 grams. I used half each Ghirardelli 60% dark chips and half Milk Choc chips and did not put them in a strainer, since I had no crumbs from chopping chocolate anyway. I followed the mixing procedure outlined in the recipe(except, confession time again) I did not pre-mix the sugars and molasses - just added them to the creamed butter in the mixer bowl) I did pre-mix the dry ingredients and combined all as directed. Chilled the dough for 30 plus minutes and made 8 giant cookie dough balls. These I weighed to make sure they were all the same weight for even baking.
I do not currently have a convection oven, just an electric, smooth top, Whirlpool in this rental house. I checked the oven temp with a thermometer so I knew the oven was @ the requisite 325F. The cookies baked close to 20 minutes - maybe 19 and were gorgeous, not too thick, not too flat, right in between.(I apologize for not getting a photo - did not realize I was going to write this review and now they are gone) I promise to take a photo next time and post it in a follow up.

This recipe really does produce a righteous cookie, crispy edges, chewy center and great balance of cookie to chocolate(confession 3: I used a total of one cup of chocolate and recipe calls for just slightly more) and sweet to salty.

Conclusion. I will be making this one again but do not know if it differs enough from my standard recipe to be so fussy(again knowing that I have made a lot of chocolate chip cookies over the years,including professionally) Having said that, I appreciate the attention to detail and the clear instructions, because if you follow the recipe and directions you will end up with one tasty, giant, perfect chocolate chip cookie!

I cannot wait to bake something else out of this book. This is my first Thomas Keller cookbook, and I have my eye on Ad Hoc at Home now. It is in my cart on Amazon, and I just might have to pull the trigger, before the month ends.

Flourgirl, I can so relate to your post and have way too many cookbooks and books in general myself. I will say they are very organized, but still, it is a lot and they are in several rooms. In preparing to sell our house, I had to pare down and have gotten rid of several hundred books, including mostly cookbooks. I also packed up numerous boxes and put them in storage. I had a folding wrought iron bookshelf in the kitchen full of cookbooks that had to be put away. Additionally, I have two boxes of books, again mostly cookbooks, that are ready to take to Half Price Books.
I, of course, acquire new ones here and there, and make myself get rid of at least one for every new one I bring in the door. I find it much easier to give away fiction books than my cookbooks. Parting with any at this point is hard because I have culled so many already and what is left, I think are the keepers. However, I know for certain, there are more that I can live without. My favs are the baking ones, but in truth, I love them all.
I have a full wall of cookbooks in my dining room(my "library") and I wonder what people who are looking at our house, think about that.
My plan for today, is to look through and pull several more off the shelf to get rid of. If and when, we really need to downsize in a big way, I will be in trouble! Luckily, I have a very understanding husband who appreciates my passion.

Me too! I just got a Vitamix for Christmas. My daughter has been going crazy making various green smoothies, as a baker, I was wondering about getting the dry blend container for grinding various grains. I may hold off a bit but I am curious to hear feedback from those who have it.

I am so glad to hear that - impulse buy at TJ Maxx for $4.99 and it looks lovely. Great bedtime reading and the recipes looks wonderful.

Purchased a few at Half Price Books this weekend and got a couple of books for Christmas(purchased for myself!)

A Table in the Tarn
Bake by Alison Thompson
Williams Sonoma Roasting - $3
Saveur The New Comfort Food
Pies 200 Sweet and Savory Recipes
Barefoot in Paris(have most of her other books - have wanted this one for a while)

Meanwhile, I have put a few books in the donation/sell pile.

Debating placing an order through TGC while they have their bundle sale. I want the new Short and Sweet by Dan Lepard and Brown Betty Cookbook and Simply Sensational Cookies.

Bouchon Bakery is a gorgeous book for all you bakers and would be pastry chefs out there(like me!) I got it recently and have not had much time to peruse but first glance hooked me. It is large like his other books with gorgeous photography and lots of instruction. Simple to complicated pastries and baked goods. As we are moving to northern CA, as soon as we sell our house, a trip to his bakery is on my short list of places to visit when I get there. Meanwhile, the book will tide me over until then.

No yolks. Best rugelach ever - Lora Brody, in Cooking with Memories which is also in Rose Levy Berenbaum's Christmas Cookie book. Barefoot Contessa has a great recipe too. I will be making some rugelach for a cookie exchange in a couple of weeks. I make these every year and I sear, I cannot be left alone with these things, crazy good and I will eat them until they are gone.

I have made these and they are delicious. I believe that I did not flatten before baking as the recipe calls for and I probably chilled the dough. I like my cookies to be a little less flat, but I am always trying out new CCC recipes!
Last week I made Bobby Flay's Red Velvet Cake for work and it was a huge hit. It was a thing of beauty and was moist and delicious. I actually tripled the buttercream which made for a very decadent and rich layer cake. I cut thin slices and everyone enjoyed it. I received a lot of compliments and I highly recommend that recipe.

I used this recipe(the non vodka one) from Serious Eats for Thanksgiving pies this year and I highly recommend it. Easy to work with and flaky. I made the vodka one a couple of years ago and it was very soft and harder to handle. I prefer this one.

Just placed an order at bookcloseouts.com since they had a 50% off sale. I started with Nigella's How to Eat($5.49) for COTM and then added the Butch Bakery, Vegan Bake sale, Pillsbury Best of the Bake Off and Betty Crocker Best of Baking(feeling nostalgic), Put 'em Up( a canning book), Desserts 4 Today and Heartland Baking. Considering our house is on the market and we will be moving soon, I really should stop. I will try to cull some books this weekend to maintain some balance. It's hard though, since I like all the books I have which is saying something since I have so many. sigh....

OK. I confess, I was at Half Price Books yesterday and found a few cheap books I had to have.

A Baker's Odyssey $3.99
The Kind Diet (for my daughter who is vegan) $7.99
Fog City Diner Cookbook $3.99
The Eat Clean Cookbook $2.00
Plus, there was a 15% off coupon, so how could I resist? This was my big splurge for Black Friday.

For Thanksgiving, I made a pecan pie, with bourbon which was gooey and delicious. Also, we had several showings of our house yesterday so I baked chocolate chip cookies, before we left. I do not know if it will help us sell our house, but the cookies were delish! Recipe from Williams Sonoma Comfort Food cookbook. Pecan Pie from Fanny Farmer Baking book with 2 T added Bourbon. Making a Red Velvet cake today for a friends birthday. I am planning to try Bobby Flay's recipe. My son wants some Oatmeal Bread which is out of the Food that Really Scmeck's cookbook. An oldie but goodie.

This recipe looks great. I may have to try that one this year!

Yesterday, I made Whole Wheat Blackberry Ricotta Scones from 101 Cookbooks which is a variation on a Smitten Kitten recipe originally made with raspberries.. Delicious and moist, not too sweet and not too dense, even with the whole wheat flour.I sprinkled them with raw sugar before baking. Hubby loved them, he adores blackberries. I will definitely make these again and I will try making them with raspberries.

http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/...

I love this. We are selling our house so I have been cleaning out the pantry for a while. I completely emptied and cleaned our second fridge and moved it into the garage so I do not want to use it. I have made various meals such as a Thai Chicken soup with some Asian broth and rice noodles and frozen chicken, Mac and cheese with jarred alfredo sauce, pantry elbow macaroni, sharp cheddar and frozen bread crumbs, and an asian meal with frozen egg rolls and sticky rice(for some reason I have 5 pounds in my pantry). French toast this morning from frozen bread and using up eggs and milk. Freezer still not empty(where did all this stuff come from???) but getting better. I need to buy my turkey today so it can thaw and I need the space in my fridge. Once we move and I get a new fridge, it will not be a side by side.

As a former Montrealer, I love Tourtiere myself with a side of Chili Sauce. Last year I made a recipe from Chuck Hughes(recipe on cookingchanneltv website). It is made with ground pork and veal(I substituted ground turkey for the veal) and shredded potatoes. I used chicken stock in place of veal stock. I made the crust with lard and butter and made half the recipe into 2 9" pies. I baked one and froze the second one unbaked and we had it about a month later. We thought it was delicious, not dry and nicely spiced. I will be making it again this year. HTH nadia

Made a pumpkin cranberry bundt cake from myrecipes.com with a couple of modifications. Did not use cranberries or pecans in the filling. Increased the diced apples to 2 cups, added 1/2 tsp cinnamon to the filling and cooked it on the stove for 5 minutes or so and let cool before using. It is a very moist and tasty bundt cake with a maple glaze. I also made the Chocolate Chip cookies from Williams Sonoma Comfort Food cookbook. Half semi sweet and half milk chocolate chips without the nuts. My co-workers will have some goodies to munch on today!

I made the meatloaf from the same cookbook and the macaroni and cheese which both constitute baking, right? I mean they went into the oven : )

Rubee, can you let me know what you think of the new Nathalie Dupree cookbook? I really like her and have most of her previous books. Having lived in Atlanta for several years, and enjoying southern food, I have a lot of southern cookbooks and I am not sure if I need one more : ) I had the opportunity to meet Nathalie at a cooking class in Atlanta and she is very nice. She used to have a cooking show on PBS when I lived there which I enjoyed..

I used to work at a bakery in Atlanta and we made the best coconut cake. It started with 2 10" yellow layers cut in half(well, you could use any size). Soak each layer with Coco Lopez. Ice each layer with Cream Cheese icing and sprinkle coconut on each frosted layer - I prefer toasted coconut. Cover the whole thing with Cream Cheese icing and toasted coconut. Yummers!

As part of my quest to continue to deplete pantry and freezer in preparation for moving, I made Rice Krispie treats, extra gooey and I have an Apple Brown Betty (so old fashioned) from Fannie Farmer Cookbook, baking in the oven right now. My house is so clean right now, to prepare for sale, that I almost hate to mess up the kitchen, almost......

Thanks for reviewing this one. I am not a big ice cream person but occaisionally I enjoy it - especially premium ice cream in unusual flavors. I borrowed the book from the library and made salted caramel in my Deni machine and it was really delicious with a wonderful smooth and creamy texture. I have been debating about buying the book because I am a baker and love desserts and her recipes sound very intriguing. Plus, her ice cream is $9.99 a pint at the grocery store!

This week was a cookbook bonanza for me. I received Bouchon Bakery and Dahlia Bakery from TGC and I also received my order from Bookcloseouts.com. This included Garde Manger by Chuck Hughes, Desserts from the Loveless Cafe, Chocolate Cakes, Rosies Baking Book the Guy Fieri cookbook and several others. I am so mad at the Post Office because they left the bookcloseouts box on the back patio and it got soaked from all the rain we have been having. The box was completely soaked and a couple of the books were wet. It is very lucky that they were not ruined. I only found the box because I went out to do some recycling and there it was with our wet mail sitting on top! Seems like they should have a plastic bag or something to use when it is storming like that. I hope to be able to look through my new stash this weekend and report back.

One of the young kids at work is interested in cookbooks and with all the new ones I have purchased, I should go through and pull out a few of my myriad of cookbooks and give them to him. With us moving, I know I could spare a few and make some room. I am in trouble this fall season because there are so many new releases!

tiffeecanoe - I have those chocolate chips from ALDI and I will have to try that recipe. How did you like the quality of the chocolate from ALDI? Their prices are good.

Chocolatechipkt, thank you very much for posting - they sound delicious. If I make them this weekend I will report back. I know my son would be very happy! I may try making them with dried cherries and chocolate chips : )

ooooh, I am jealous, I love The Strand! It is a must for me when I visit NYC. Last time I was there - 2 years ago- Joel Grey (of Cabaret fame and Jennifer's dad) was coming out as I was going in. The cookbook selection is amazing and I could browse for hours.

Chocolatechipkt, my son loves scones and these sound delicious. Any chance you could share the recipe? I have cranberries and chocolate chips so I may have to make these for him.

roxlet - I like that! I think I read that, somewhere too. With al the baking I do, if it can help me sell my house, that would be fantastic. I have also heard that you can leave fresh baked cookies out. Maybe I should frezze some chocolate chip cookie dough balls so I can bake some at a moments notice : )

I love biscuits and made some myself yesterday to go with bacon and eggs. Recipe from Southern Plate - daddy's rise and shine biscuits - I kneaded them and rolled them out and they rise nice and high and have a flaky, but not dry. texture. We will be putting our house on the market shortly so I am trying to use up some pantry and freezer ingredients in my cooking and baking. That's my current challenge.Also, made Chocolate chip cookies for my son to take to a party and a Raspberry Banana Bread by Robin Miller, from her first book. One of my favorite banana bread recipes and it is made without any added fat.

I am expecting Bouchon Bakery and Dahlia Bakery cookbooks from TGC (I used points and bought Bouchon Bakery for $7.99) and then I am done.....until the new Macrina Bakery cookbook comes out and Smitten Kitchen and oh, I want the new Baking Out Loud and Standard Baking Co. and Susan Feniger's Street Food. Boy, am I in trouble!