At Home with Magnolia: Classic American Recipes from the Owner of Magnolia Bakery (Hardcover)

~ (Author), John Kernick (Photographer)
Key Phrases: besciamella sauce, heavy large pot, cup minced garlic, Locatelli Romano, Heath Bars, Chile-Lime Mayonnaise (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A Greenwich Village landmark, the Magnolia Bakery features homemade desserts that people line up for. Recipes from the famous store were featured in The Magnolia Bakery Cookbook by Magnolia owner, Alyssa Torey. In At Home with Magnolia, she provides 90-plus all-course, all-occasion formulas--classic and original--for dishes like Chicken Kiev; Leek, Corn and Mascarpone Tart; and Gemelli with Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Artichokes, Arugula, and Yellow Pepper. This is good, simple-yet-sophisticated food with a definite lightness-of-hand; keyed to seasonal bounty, the recipes--including desserts like Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies with Heath Bars and Pecans, and Pineapple Cheesecake with White Chocolate Sauce and Macadamias--are also easy. With many color photos of the dishes and of the author on her farm (where, presumably, the recipes originated), this is just the sort of collection cooks will find themselves relying on again and again. --Arthur Boehm

From Publishers Weekly

This cheery cookbook celebrates the timeless appeal of homemade chicken and chocolate cake on the kitchen table. Torey, owner of the Magnolia Bakery and author of The Magnolia Bakery Cookbook and More from Magnolia, has built her culinary career on simple, classic recipes. Here the focus moves away from cookies and cupcakes (recently namedropped in a Saturday Night Live sketch) to the dishes she makes in her own home in upstate New York. Colorful photographs depict Torey, her partner and collie dogs in their country-style house amid vintage textiles and tableware. Torey is a believer in fresh, seasonal eating. Her homey, elemental dishes span the seasons, from light summery Eggplant with Red and Yellow Cherry Tomato Sauce to an autumnal Butternut Squash Soup with Apple and Onion. Dinners are divided up into no-fuss "weekday" and more complicated "weekend" categories. She's also included the formulas for two of her famous cupcakes: Chocolate with Butterscotch Frosting and Orange Vanilla. Torey goes easy on the text, offering minimal instruction, but these are straightforward recipes to follow, and the result is a tasty blend of nostalgia and innovation. (Oct.)
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; illustrated edition edition (October 16, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471751375
• ISBN-13: 978-0471751373
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 8.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #117,046 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite cookbook ever, November 19, 2006

By	Emily Ragsdale (Kansas, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Every recipe I've tried from this book has turned out deliciously. The Macaroni and Cheese recipe alone is to die for, but then you add the Meatloaf, the Chicken and Broccoli au Gratin, the Everyday Chocolate Cake...just buy it, and use it often. You won't be sorry.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic!!!, February 11, 2007

By	Andrew'sMom "creativebaker" (New York) - See all my reviews

I love this cookbook. I made the lemon tarragon chicken tonight - it was absolutely perfect and the green beens!! Wonderful. I have so many "note" stickers in this book - I should have just started at the first recipe and worked my way through instead of wasting a package of "note" stickers. I have all of Magnolia's cookbooks - and you can't go wrong with purchasing them -- they are keepers and this one is particularly great to give as a gift - so many interesting and wonderful recipes and nice stories and pictures.

I think it unfair for someone here to give this book a 2 because they made a mistake and thought it was a cupcake book...don't blame the book for that!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Earthy, eclectic, accessible recipes, May 6, 2008

By	C. Ebeling "ctlpareader" (PA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

AT HOME WITH MAGNOLIA is a personal and eclectic collection of recipes inspired by what author and Magnolia Bakery owner Allysa Torey cooks at home in upstate New York. It is not a large collection, nor particularly ground-breaking, and it is as much a style book loaded with romantic Martha Stewart magazine like photographs of Torey`s enviable homestead as it is a cookbook.

Torey in upstate New York can depend on her own garden and the local farmer's market in season but is otherwise stuck with the kind of supermarket those of us who live beyond suburbia and exurbia are used to. Thus her lists of ingredients are not exotic and overly expensive, and will not leave many people scrambling to find substitutes or giving up. Her recipes are obviously inspired by a fresh abundance of ingredients. They are simple, but not simplistic or accidental: obviously she has learned what ingredients go together well. She is not averse to using the occasional prepared item: there's one recipe that calls for a can of soup! My favorite: the turkey sausage and broccoli rabe cavatelli. I make it with chicken sausage and have experimented with dandelion greens which worked just fine. Some of her recipes use more heavy cream and butter than I like, and then there are some that call for leaner ingredients. There is, for Magnolia Bakery fans, a cupcake recipe. It is the buttermilk pie, however, that I'm going to give a whirl next. Like I said, the book is eclectic and accessible.