Customer Reviews

Jim Fobel's Old-Fashioned Baking Book: Recipes from an American Childhood

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have this book in hardback. I have made at least 30 of the recipes from it and not once had a failure. I now bake pies exclusively from this book. I love the notes Mr. Fobel writes about the history of each beloved recipe. The books introduction makes facinating reading too. Great!

I bought this book several years ago and still use it weekly. It is my absolute favorite cookbook! The recipes are easy to use and kid friendly. My entire family loves the sweet treats I bake using Fobel's recipes. What a wonderful cookbook. Thanks for sharing Jim!

What makes this book special? That you can find there many of the specialties of American Baking. Instructions are clear and recipes fantastic. However, don't expect to find sophisticated desserts (I thought so). This book is for everyday baking. Perhaps you can adapt some of the recipes for special occasion, but this book will be your everyday baking guide.

The format of the cookbook is simple and without airs, like the old-fashioned American desserts represented throughout. There are no elaborate photo spreads of artsy kitchen-work, just the occasional black and white photo from Fobel's family album. The font is reasonably large, so you won't have to squint even if your vision is getting a little fuzzy. Ingredients are set apart visually from instructions, and instructions are divided into short, convenient numbered steps that make the recipes easy to follow.

And as for the recipes--oh, my, the recipes! There's a marble cake that's hardly any more difficult to make than a boxed cake mix, yet infinitely more moist and delicious. There's a raspberry cream pie that we picked up the ingredients for on the spur of the moment (the raspberries looked too good to resist that week), and I can still taste its exquisite sweet-tartness. You'll find recipes for traditional favorites such as coconut cream, pecan, and pumpkin pies, but you'll also find things like banana meringue pie, Mrs. Paasanen's cheese pie, and a glazed strawberry pie. Cakes range from a golden fruitcake to burnt butter cupcakes, chocolate coffee cream roll, and a maple layer cake.

There are coffee cakes, sweet rolls, yeast breads, cookies of all kinds, and of course cobblers, crunches, etc. Whether you want something simple that mostly uses dry ingredients and a few things you probably already have around the house, or you're in the mood for something that uses the best of the season's fresh fruit, you'll definitely find it here!

Mr. Fobel started from a pile of crumbling, yellowed recipes that inevitably left out changes and whole steps that his family members knew by heart, and recreated the nostalgic wonders of his childhood for us to enjoy in our own kitchens. These are painstakingly tested recipes that come out beautifully and result in absolutely delicious foods, and this is a cookbook well worth purchasing!

I have cooked side by side with Jim as a child and I know from being next to him as his assistent that he is a very creative person. Jim and I shared lots of excellant food and great fun through the years. I have to say he is a very talented man. I know you will love all his cookbooks and you will use them over and over again, if you love to spend time in the kitchen, I highly recommend all of his cookbooks.

...please accept my sincere congratulations and thanks for an absolutely fabulous baking book, where every recipe is delicious and never disappoints. I'm from a family of German baking women -- you know how fine an art baking is in Deutschland -- and have shared your recipes and books with them along with best friends. This afternoon I made your scrumptious lemon bars, which my husband and I enjoyed with a small glass of white wine. Truly heavenly. Thank you, Jim.

Every recipe a pleasure. Mr Fobel's wonderful book has the definative recipe for dozens of baking favourite.

I'm a carribean, looking for the authentic american baking, and I find the Jim Fobel's recipes the most valuable of all. This book is the allegory of the true american baking. A most have, to share with future generations.

I received this book as a gift in 1989. It is the BEST baking book I've ever owned. I need a new one because it is falling apart. The "Almond Ring" pastry is the best - it has been a Christmas morning tradition in our family since I first made it in 1989. The "Devil's Food Cake with Chocolate Fudge Frosting" is the most incredible chocolate cake I've ever made. If you want to learn the basics about baking from scratch, this is the book for you. I will buy this book for each of my kids when they move out - they have learned to bake from scratch over the years by making recipes from this cookbook. Anyone who loves old fashioned baking needs this book!

I bought this book in the late 80s and have used it steadily through the years. The book was out-of print but recently made a comeback as a paperback. By today's cookbook standards, this isn't a very sophisticated work - and that's fine by me. The recipes come under the heading of "comfort desserts" and the dozen or so that I have used have always turned out well. The Oatmeal Cake with Crunchy Oat Topping is my favorite - a great old-fashioned cake to take to informal gatherings. The Irish Soda Bread, Russian Tea Balls, Applesauce Cake, Cardamom Cookies, Date Crumble Bars, and Pecan Pie are all delicious. Think elementary school bake sales.

The recipe for Cardamom Bread (Nisua) is huge and unwieldy (five braided loaves!) - unless you're the proud owner of an equally hefty Viking 7-Quart mixer. Fobel said he was not able to successfully reduce the recipe to a more mangeable size - perhaps he just didn't try hard enough. My own recipe for Swedish Cardamom Bread makes three braided loaves - as much as anyone would want to handle at one time in a home kitchen. The "1933 Glory Cake" is tooth-achingly sweet and the "Maraschino Cherry Cake" just isn't appetizing - but I prefer sour cherries for baking.

These are easy recipes delivered in a straighforward and friendly manner - and the price is right. Comparable to Marilyn Moore's "Wooden Spoon Dessert Book" and Lee Bailey's "Country Desserts". I give it 3.5 stars.