CookThatBook

Interview conducted & written by
Stay-At-Home-Chef

The past year has held a lot of change, including a big move into the city and a return to the world of full-time employment, and while all of these new adventures were welcome additions to our lives somewhere along the way I lost my food writing mojo. Looking for inspiration, it was while I was flipping through the pages of Rosie Daykin’s Butter Baked Goods book that I came up with the idea of baking my way through each of the heavenly looking recipes. There are a lot of baking challenges in the blogosphere, but there was just something oh so charming about Butter that inspired me and made me want to make (and eat) everything in its pages.

The first recipe we tackled was The Dream Slice. Described as the Butter Café’s most popular bar, I thought this was as good a place to start as any. And I was right. What a fun, tasty treat to kick things off! There are three separate elements involved in this recipe but the instructions are straightforward and approachable, even for those who may be just picking up their whisks for the first time.

A shortbread type base is quickly baked off before going back into the oven with a filling of walnuts, maraschino cherries (I used cherries that were naturally coloured – no chemicals here folks!) and coconut, and once cooled a topping of whipped buttercream icing is spread overtop as the finishing layer. Voila. Guaranteed to make your taste buds happy, The Dream Slice was easy to prepare and served up beautifully, perfect for that afternoon tea party or baby shower or simply eaten out of the pan at night after the kids and hubby are asleep. Not that that would ever happen. Ever.

So here we are – the first month of this exciting new challenge and I am happy to say I’m in fine company!

Tina from The Pink Spatula was the first person I mentioned the monthly challenge to, and once she said she was ‘in’ I knew this was going to be fun.

Kimberley from pinksiren.blogspot.com has previous experience with the Butter book and jumped right into the monthly challenge with tasty results!

Christina also kept us company this month and had the following to say:

Delicious bars that I would probably never have made on my own accord. 
They taste nothing like you would imagine with the ingredients listed. 
Everyone who tried them loved them. The crust was easy and turned out 
lovely. I will definitely make these gems again!

And finally, I’d like to give a shoutout to Deborah who was having ‘one of those days’ in the kitchen while attempting this month’s challenge. You know those days – where nothing seems to go right? But she’ll be back for next month!

Want to join in on the fun? Pick-up a copy of Butter Baked Goods and send me a photo of that month’s recipe challenge or send a link to your blog post. Recipes reviews must be posted before the 20^th of each month. To get things started, the wonderful folks over at Random House of Canada are providing five lucky readers with a giveaway copy of Butter Baked Goods! To be eligible for the draw, simply leave a comment below telling us what your favourite treat to bake happens to be. Winners will be announced during next month’s recipe roundup. Good luck!

Next Monthly Butter Challenge: Ooey gooey Saturday Morning Cinny Buns (page 53). Don’t forget to send your pics or blog post links before August 20!