America's leading bakers share secrets of creating flawless treats with a collection of recipes for muffins, cakes, custards, tarts, cookies, and pies.

Read Along or Enhanced eBook: The baker, Van Amsterdam becomes known in Colonial America for baking his St. Nicholas cookies but his greed drives hime to he become stingy in his business. When an old woman buys a dozen cookies from him and expects to receive 13, he withholds the last one. Unfotunately, his business goes downhill until the day she returns for 12 more cookies. But this time he gives her an extra measure and the custom of offering a "baker's dozen" or 13 items spreads throughout the colonies.

Why not give more? Van Amsterdam the baker was well known for his honesty as well as for his fine Saint Nicholas cookies. He always gave his customers exactly what they paid for -- not more and not less. So, he was not about to give in when a mysterious old woman comes to him on Saint Nicholas Day and insists that a dozen is thirteen! The woman's curse puts an end to the baker's business, and he believes it would take Saint Nicholas to help him. But if he receives that help, will it be exactly what he imagined? Find out in this inspiring legend from Dutch colonial New York about the birth of an honored American custom. TEACHERS AND LIBRARIANS -- A READER'S THEATER SCRIPT OF THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE IN AARON'S BOOK "FOLKTALES ON STAGE," OR FREE ON AARON'S WEB SITE. ///////////////////////////////////////////////// Aaron Shepard is the award-winning author of "The Legend of Lightning Larry," "The Sea King’s Daughter," and many more children’s books. Once a professional storyteller, Aaron specializes in lively retellings of folktales and other traditional literature, which have won him honors from the American Library Association, the New York Public Library, the Bank Street College of Education, the National Council for the Social Studies, and the American Folklore Society. Wendy Edelson has applied her award-winning skills to a wide range of illustration projects, including picture books, pet portraits, posters, and puzzles. Among her clients have been Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo, the Seattle Aquarium, Pacific Northwest Ballet, the U.S. Postal Service, Cricket Magazine, McGraw-Hill Education, and the American Library Association. ///////////////////////////////////////////////// HONORS American Bookseller Pick of the Lists Trumpet Book Club selection Valerie and Walter's Best Books for Children "The good will of legendary Saint Nick resonates in this tale about the origin of the term 'baker's dozen.' . . . Shepard's easy-to-follow retelling has an appropriate Old World flavor." -- Publishers Weekly, Sept. 18, 1995 "A particularly nice holiday story accented by paintings full of detail. . . . Well-paced and a good length for groups or individuals, this is right on target for audiences. Edelson's artwork is filled with marvelously-alive characters who almost step from the pages." -- Ilene Cooper, Booklist, Sept. 15, 1995 "A lush new version of a traditional tale. . . . Well-chosen words and a nicely-paced text that begs to be told aloud. A treat for the holiday season." -- School Library Journal, Oct. 1995 "Aaron Shepard retells a favorite colonial legend with the voice of the storyteller." -- Jan Lieberman, TNT, Fall 1995 "A fine tale of generosity for St. Nicholas Day or any day." -- Marilyn McPhie, Storybag, Special Review Issue 1997 "A story with a message to be heard during the holidays and all year long." -- Children's Book Review

In this James Beard Award-winning cookbook, George Greenstein reveals 125 recipes for the yeasted and quick breads that have been handed down through his family by three generations of bakers—the breads that made his bakery so well-loved for so many years. For more than twenty years, Greenstein owned and operated a Long Island bakery that produced a wide variety of baked goods, from many different ethnic traditions—focaccia and Irish soda bread, Bavarian pumpernickel and naan—including many from his own culture, such as Jewish corn bread, challah, and bagels. Now that most neighborhood bakeries like Greenstein's are long since closed, this classic collection not only teaches bakers everywhere how to make those delicious, classic breads, but it also preserves authentic versions of the recipes for all to enjoy. With the same helpful features that made this a cherished cookbook upon its original publication—separate instructions for mixing each recipe by hand, food processor, and stand mixer; tips for baking a week's worth of bread in as few as two hours; invaluable baker's secrets; and a very approachable style throughout—this revised edition also includes twelve new recipes to satisfy both old fans and new. So bring the spirit of that great old bakery back to life right in your very own kitchen, filling every room of your house with the wonderful aroma of freshly baked bread. And rest assured you'll bake with ease and success every time, thanks to George and his long-learned, very happily shared SECRETS OF A JEWISH BAKER.

Joy the Baker Cookbook includes everything from "Man Bait" Apple Crisp to Single Lady Pancakes to Peanut Butter Birthday Cake. Joy's philosophy is that everyone loves dessert; most people are just looking for an excuse to eat cake for breakfast.

“A must-have for all serious bread bakers; an instant classic.”—Peter Reinhart, author of Bread Revolution True rye bread—the kind that stands at the center of northern and eastern European food culture—is something very special. With over 70 classic recipes, The Rye Baker introduces bakers to the rich world of rye bread from both the old world and the new. Award-winning author Stanley Ginsberg presents recipes spanning from the immigrant breads of America to rustic French pains de seigle, the earthy ryes of Alpine Austria and upper Italy, the crackly knäckebröds of Scandinavia, and the diverse breads of Germany, the Baltic countries, Poland, and Russia. Readers will discover dark, sour classic Russian Borodinsky; orange and molasses-infused Swedish Gotländ Rye; nearly black Westphalian Pumpernickel, which gets its musky sweetness from a 24-hour bake; traditional Old Milwaukee Rye; and bright, caraway-infused Austrian Country Boule Rounding out this treasury are reader-friendly chapters on rye’s history, unique chemistry, and centuries-old baking methods. Advanced bakers will relish Stanley’s methods, ingredients, and carefully sourced recipes, while beginning bakers will delight in his clear descriptions of baking fundamentals. The Rye Baker is the definitive resource for home bakers and professionals alike.

Baking is about memories: recipes handed down from generation to generation and tastes that conjure childhood—think of Proust’s madeleines or your mom’s chocolate cake. Sweets are often bound up in our emotional life as adults, too: they’re how we reward ourselves or our children, how we celebrate holidays, birthdays, and special occasions, and how we honor guests. In Baking from the Heart, more than fifty of the nation’s preeminent bakers share their recipes for cookies, cakes, and other dessert favorites, and the memories of why they hold that recipe dear. From the Apple Snacking Spice Cake that Joanna Chang made her fourth-grade teacher to show her how much she loved her to the Polvorones that were a Sunday after-church treat in Miguel Ravago’s home, these are recipes—and stories—to treasure. When James Beard Award–winner Greg Patent was a teenager, he won a trip to New York City to compete in the Pillsbury Bake-Off with his Cherry-Apricot Coconut Bars. Forty years later, his mother earned a place in that same competition with her Walnut Fudge Bars. World-renowned chocolatier Jacques Torres tucked a few pints of hand-picked Michigan blueberries into his luggage so he could again make Blueberry Dame Blanche, the jam-filled cookies he made when he was a child in France, with his aging mother. For her son Gio’s first Valentine’s Day at school, Food TV’s Gale Gand concocted Marshmallow Heart Throbs, a cupcake he could cut into the shape of a heart. When Jimmy Schmidt’s family vacationed in Wisconsin, his contribution to his mother’s Black Walnut Pound Cake were the walnuts he picked and shelled with his siblings, aided by their father who would crack the hulls by driving over them in his ’55 Chevy. Like many of the other contributors, Jimmy Schmidt serves up two recipes with reminiscences (the walnut cake and his Blueberry Slump) for our delectation. Baking from the Heart is also sweet inspiration for anyone who wants to join in The Great American Bake Sale™. When Share Our Strength—the nation’s preeminent hunger-fighting organization—joined with PARADE magazine to launch The Great American Bake Sale™ in 2003, the country’s response was overwhelming: nearly half a million people baked, bought, or sold, raising over a million dollars to end childhood hunger. (More information appears inside.) A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book benefit Share Our Strength, one of the nation’s preeminent anti-hunger agencies.

Paul Hollywood is Britain's favourite master baker. His new book is all about bread - how to make it and how to use it. But while it's all very well making a lovely loaf of bread, can you guarantee that it won't be wasted? You know those times when you have a lovely crusty loaf, fresh from the oven, and you have a horrible feeling that after the initial excitement is over, half of it's going to get pushed aside and not eaten...? Well, maybe it's time to bring bread back into mealtimes for real. Not only does Paul teach you exactly how to make a variety of breads, but for each one there is a spin-off recipe that shows you how to make a fantastic meal of it. The book has six chapters, each with five bread recipes - plus the spin-off recipes for main courses. Not only are Paul's recipes delicious but they are also foolproof, with comprehensive step-by-step photographs. Try your hand at a basic white bloomer, which can become a savoury picnic loaf; stilton and bacon rolls, which are excellent served with celery soup; fluffy crumpets, which become the base for eggs Benedict; flatbreads, which are a natural pairing with chickpea masala; ciabatta, which the Italians have traditionally used as a base for tomatoey panzanella; pizza bases, which can become home-made fig, Parma ham and Gorgonzola pizzas; or white chocolate and raspberry bread, which makes for the best summer pudding you've ever tasted. Tying in with the BBC2 television series, Paul Hollywood's Bread is all that you could want from a book and more. Get baking!

A comprehensive cookbook from the Good Housekeeping test kitchens provides classic recipes for baked goods, including chocolate walnut tarts, drop sugar cookies, buttery blueberry pie, lemon ricotta cheesecake, and traditional Irish soda bread.

An indispensable bread-making book, The Essential Bread Cookbook brings together a baker’s dozen of the very best recipes for baking bread at home. Included are breads made with yeast and without, from white to whole wheat, and from flat to sweet. Think French-style bread, sourdough, rye bread, raisin bread, brioche, and even lemon bread, as well as many other bread recipes. Taken from the best-selling classic Beard on Bread by James Beard, the “Dean of American Gastronomy,” this is the perfect cookbook for home bakers of all ages—from kids to teens to adults—who want to make and enjoy delicious fresh bread at home.