Cookbook Author Serves Up More Desserts

Dorie Greenspan’s latest book on how to bake some of the simplest, sweetest, and most seductive desserts you’ll see this year arrives in bookstores on Oct. 19, just five days short of her 74th birthday.

“Baking With Dorie: Sweet, Salty and Simple” is a 400-page volume of 150 recipes that has taken her three years to produce. Featuring an abundance of tempting, mouth-watering color photos by Mark Weinberg, the book is full of tips, basic techniques and clear, easy-to-follow instructions.

The book is neatly organized into sections on cakes, cookies, pies, and — in a first for Greenspan — savory pastries. Sunday brunch fans might enjoy her take on Smoked Salmon Roll-ups, which would also be right at home at a fancy Yom Kippur break-fast or as a first course for a special dinner. It is essentially a simple lemon-and-poppyseed sponge roll filled with cream cheese, scallions, capers, chives and smoked salmon.

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Likewise, there’s another brunch or light lunch dish that starts with store-bought puff pastry, topped with hummus, za’atar — the ubiquitous Israeli spice blend — and vegetables cut into ribbons.

Greenspan’s brioche babka is said to have more flavor and texture than store-bought varieties.

Greenspan has created four variations of rugalach, the Eastern European favorite, which she says was one of the first things she baked. It’s based on a recipe she got from her mother-in-law, but for the book she has created a chocolate filling that also features in her brioche babka recipe.

For those looking for something different on Friday night, there’s a Roman Lemon Cake, which is a simple, light, springy ring dessert served, perhaps, with berries or a fruit compote on the side.

In search of a different flourless dessert? Greenspan has recreated a dense cake with a rich chocolate flavor that she first enjoyed in Portugal. It’s layered with a whipped chocolate ganache and topped with a dusting of cocoa.

Smoked Salmon Roll Ups might make a classy addition to a Sunday brunch or as a starter for a fancy dinner.

And finally, if you’ve already started to look for inspiration for next month’s Thanksgiving dinner, you might find her recipe for a maple-walnut pie a good place to start. It’s essentially the familiar pecan pie recipe updated with maple syrup and brown sugar instead of the usual corn syrup sweetener. Walnuts stand in for the pecans.

“Baking with Dorie” is Greenspan’s 14th book. The consummate cookbook pro has won five awards from the prestigious James Beard Foundation and another pair from the International Association of Cooking Professionals.

Dorie Grenspan will appear in a livestreamed conversation with Melissa Clark, the cookbook author and food columnist for the New York Times, on Nov. 9, 8:00 p.m. EST.