Pure Vanilla

So there’s this blog called Piece of Cake that I’ve been reading for about a year and seriously if you’re not reading it already, you need to start. Shauna is super witty, smart, and has great taste – as evidenced by her new cookbook Pure Vanilla. I got mine in the mail the other day and read it pretty much cover to cover. Honestly, it was really hard to decide what to try first. But since I had a loaf of bread to use up, I went with the Vanilla Bean Bread Pudding. And boy-howdy, was it a good decision.

I had it for dessert last night and breakfast this morning and I plan on finishing it tomorrow morning with my mint-mocha coffee. Yum! I think the next thing I try will definitely be the Glazed Vanilla Bean Doughnuts…or the Vanilla Cloud Cake…or the Tres Leches Cake. See what I mean? It’s hard to decide. Not only is this thing chock-full of really tempting recipes, it also has super useful information as well. One of my favorite tips to amp up the vanilla flavor was to add the vanilla to the fats in a recipe ASAP which is kind of the opposite of most recipes I’ve read. Usually you’re instructed to add the vanilla right at the end and I’ve always wondered why. Turns out, adding it to the fat earlier intensifies the vanilla flavor. I guess some recipes might not want that, but all the ones in this book most certainly do!

So yeah, I think you all need this cookbook. Like now. I know I said I was going to eat it for breakfast tomorrow, but I hear that bread pudding calling my name from the fridge. If you’ll excuse me….