The Butter Celebrates! cookbook by Rosie Daykin is a wonderful collection of sweet recipes to share with family and friends for special occasions. The hard cover book, beautifully photographed in shades of pale pink, is very appealing.
Upon opening the book, the first chapter you will find is The Real Definition of Celebration, which I find to be a good read. “The laundry can wait until tomorrow, for today there is cake to be sliced” says Rosie. I think that’s a great motto to live by.
The next chapter Essential Elements of Entertaining guides you on how to host a celebration, the The Necessary Bits and Bobs for Successful Baking chapter has a comprehensive list of pantry items and tools and equipment, and the Some Gentle Reminders chapter is full of tips to help you in making your baking a success.
The Occasions
The Butter Celebrates! cookbook includes recipes for St. Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter at Butter, Mother’s Day, Butter Babies, Welcome Wagon, Butter Creams and Frostings, Summer Celebrations, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas and Happy New Year.
There is a Sweet Package chapter at the end of the book that shows some great and unique packaging ideas for sharing your baked goods.
Sample Recipes by Occasion
Chocolate Cake for Two, Irish Coffee Cupcakes, Hot Cross Buns, Lemony Lemon Loaf, The Reveal Cake, Pear Ginger Cake, Vanilla Butter Cream, Bailey’s Butter Cream, Nanaimo Bar Cupcakes, Sweet Potato Chews, Spicy Graham Apples, Falling Leaves Cookies, Chocolate Hazelnut Rugelach, Butter’s Delicious Fruitcake and Boozy Chocolate Truffles.
The over 100 sweet recipes are easy to follow with the ingredient list (imperial measurements only) on the left and the instructions on the right of the page accompanied by beautiful colour photos. Every recipe includes tips for storage and some also include tips for finishing touches. The added bonus for me is the ribbon bookmark attached to the cookbook to mark the recipe you want to make. It works much better than the sticky notes I use that at some point mysteriously disappear.
Tested Recipes
Christmas Panettone
Since I purchased Butter Celebrates! just before Christmas, I decided to make the Christmas Panettone on page 210. Panettone is center stage on our dessert table at Christmas. It’s a tradition to make it every year and every family has their own version. The recipe for our panettone does not include dried sour cherries or candied citrus peel or even cranberries like this recipe calls for and I wasn’t sure how it would be received by the family. Actually, it turned out beautifully. The top turned a lovely golden brown and it had a melt in your mouth taste. The addition of the dried fruit gave it texture. My family enjoyed it, but they’re loyal to the family traditions.
Peanut Butter Dog Bones
Ever since we adopted our first dog, Maya Stella, seven months ago, I have been baking her treats. They’re much healthier than the store bought ones and she absolutely loves them. So, I just had to make the Peanut Butter Dog Bones on page 151. The ingredients are all natural, contain peanut butter and no sugar. Needless to say, they’re one of Maya Stella’s favourite treats. I made a batch to give to her doggie friend, Roscoe, for Christmas. . Rosie makes these treats for her dog Zelda, pictured above.
Little Cinnamon Heart Cookies
My husband and I enjoy celebrating St. Valentine’s Day with a quiet dinner at home, a bottle of wine and usually a chocolate dessert. This year I will be making the Chocolate Cake for Two (page 28). In the meantime I made the Little Cinnamon Heart Cookies (page 24). What intrigued me about these little heart shaped cookies was the crushed pepper flakes listed in the ingredients.
Cinnamon is one of my favourite spices and the addition of the crushed pepper flakes just enhanced the taste of the cinnamon without being too strong of a flavor.
Bookshelf Worthy?
If you love to bake for different occasions, absolutely. These recipes can also be served for dessert or at any time to satisfy your sweet cravings.
About the Author
Rosie Daykin is the owner of the popular bakery, Butter Baked Goods in Vancouver and author of the Butter Baked Goods cookbook,
Butter Celebrates!
Author: Rosie Daykin
Publisher: Penguin Canada, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited
Hardcover: 260 pages
ISBN: 978-0449016862
Acknowledgement
Excerpted from Butter Celebrates Copyright © 2015 Rosie Daykin, Photography copyright © 2015 Janis Nicolay. Excerpted by permission of Appetite by Random House, a division of Random House of Canada Ltd. a Penguin Random House company. All rights reserved
You can unsubscribe any time!
Leave a Reply