Cook the Collection #1: The Dahlia Bakery Cookbook

If you’ve ever been to Seattle, there’s a good chance you’ve eaten at one of Tom Douglas’ restaurants. At last count he’s operating 11 restaurants in the city, plus a catering venue and a line of dry rubs for cooking at home. Frankly they’re all pretty great and even the newer restaurants seem to become instant classics, but the grand dame of them all is the Dahlia Lounge – and its offshoot the Dahlia Bakery. Last year the Douglas empire released its newest cookbook: The Dahlia Bakery Cookbook.

I received the cookbook this past Christmas and baked some cookies right away (the molasses ginger cookies, which were excellent) but then set it aside for awhile. I picked it back up again this week and was reminded right away by what a great instructive book it is. The recipes are written clearly and simply and there are plenty of baking tips (like quickly warming up refrigerator chilled eggs) that will improve my baking even when I’m not  baking from it.

I was looking for a quick recipe and decided on the Prizewinning Pecan Brownies. Now I have to confess I’m a boxed brownie gal (really embarrassing confession time – I’ve never made brownies from scratch before) but these brownies are the best ones I’ve ever eaten. Really. The best ones ever. I’d make another batch right now except then I’d eat the whole batch myself, so I’ll refrain.

Embarrassing confession #2 – even though these are supposed to be pecan brownies, I don’t care all that much for nuts in brownies and we didn’t have any pecans in the house so I skipped that ingredient altogether. Also, I love a bit of cinnamon along with the chocolate in brownies, so I added a half teaspoon of that to the recipe. This recipe alone is worth the price of the book, and this cookbook’s earned it’s place on the shelf!

Do you have the Dahlia Bakery cookbook? What do you think of it?