Dorie

I'm a huge fan of Dorie Greenspan.  I just think she's so...cool (my education has given me an incredibly vast vocabulary).  Did I tell you I once saw Dorie G. in the subway station? I did. I'm pretty sure she lives in my neighborhood, which of course I take as a reflection upon how great I am because Dorie lives in my nabe.  I know that seems like circular reasoning but, yeah you're right.

She's this petite little pixie with tons of talent who exudes warmth and a kind of joie de vivre.  Plus, she has an apartment in Paris. I die.


I first heard of Dorie Greenspan while reading Paris Sweets.

I would type "Source" and link it, but If you can't tell this is from Amazon I can't help you

This is one of the most charming cookbooks I have ever read.  I mean, first of all, it's about Paris. It's not just about desserts and recipes that Dorie found at some of the best patisseries in Paris--she has little stories and side notes about each place, which for me, read like a guidebook.  When my family and I visited Paris eons ago, I made a spreadsheet listing all the places Dorie highlighted in her book, with notes on location and what was the best thing to try at each place, all ranked by priority.  Type A I am.  My brother-in-law apparently told my sister that if he never saw another patisserie again, that would be fine. WEAK.

Dorie's also very well-known by helping to write a baking cookbook with Julia Child--Baking with Julia.

My absolute favorite recipe from this book is the French Apple Tart.  So incredibly tasty and pure apple-y, and quite a presentation.

Source

And then there's Dorie's own book of baking recipes, Baking: From My Home to Yours.

I cannot tell you how excited I was when Baking came out.  I love this book.  I won't necessarily make everything (actually I'm positive that I won't), but it's such a pleasure to read, and the recipes I have tried I enjoy very much (except for that frosting recipe that really went wrong but I think that's because my candy thermometer is a piece of big poo).  I went through a phase where I made her banana bundt cake repeatedly.


Dorie is a very popular woman (deservedly so)--she's appeared regularly on NPR's All Things Considered (though I'm not sure whether she's doing that anymore), and there's even a fan base of home cooks that have started a baking group, Tuesdays with Dorie, that make a recipe from Baking each week and blog about it.


I actually started this post to tell you about a few recipes from Baking that I made recently, but I got all distracted. So this is just my "I worship you" homage to Dorie.


Do you have any food idols?  What are your favorite cookbooks/baking books?