Welcome to “Cookbook of the Week.” This is a series where I highlight cookbooks that are unique, easy to use, or just special to me. While finding a particular recipe online serves a quick purpose, flipping through a truly excellent cookbook has a magic all its own.
This week I chose to highlight Tate’s Bake Shop Cookbook not only because it is packed withrecipes for fabulous sweet treats, but because it always offers a nice break from the annoyances of modern internet baking.
This cookbook is from the founder of Tate’s Bake Shop, Kathleen King. It turns out she makes a heck of a cookie...and a heck of a pie, and scone, and blueberry buckle. I love Tate's Bake Shop Cookbook because it’s filled with reliable, classic bakes. The entire Tate's brand is built on homemade, cozy, old-fashioned vibes, and that’s what you'll find in the pages of this cookbook.
A great cookbook for a spoon and a bowl
While I’ve owned this cookbook for nearly 15 years, I haven’t cracked it open in a while. I meandered through the recipes and marked some titles that caught my eye, or that I remembered being tasty. As I read through the short directions, I noticed some trends: most of the recipes are mixed by hand, several recipes are from family or friends, and King uses salted butter without a care in the world for anyone else's opinion.
Reading these recipes feels almost soothing. Dramatic, I know. But I often feel like social media recipes and newer cookbooks are throwing everything at me at once to catch my attention. This cookbook seems less an attempt at impressing readers with being on trend or shocking us with new flavor combinations, and more like a collection of personal favorite recipes from your hometown baker.
Baking from this cookbook feels like pastry meditation. No need to plug in an appliance or pause a YouTube video. Grab a bowl and a wooden spoon and take a moment to make something delicious. It’s great for a beginner baker, or anyone who enjoys baking in theory but hates dirtying too many bowls, or when recipes get complicated.
The dish I baked this week
Credit: Allie Chanthorn ReinmannWithout taking a picture of the actual recipe (which isn’t cool to do), I want to illustrate the simplicity of this buckle: The instructions for the whole cake, with a crumb topping, are completed in 12 lines. The headnote includes a three-sentence story about how it won a bake-off in Maine, and how King’s niece improved the crumb texture. If you’ve ever just wanted a recipe to cut to the chase, this is it.
I don’t know that I’ve had a buckle before, but I definitely would have voted for this to win that bake-off. The cake component is utterly tender, and I don’t really know why or how—there’s no sour cream or buttermilk involved. It must just be a perfect balance of tenderizing fat and strengthening gluten. The ratio of blueberries to cake is also perfect. I know folks are always begging for more berries, but if you have too many then the berries sink or they make the cake too wet. The crumb topping is exactly as it should be—sweet, buttery, and lightly spiced. It’s good enough to eat on its own.
How to buy it
Despite being an older book, it’s still available in the hardcover. However, if you’re keen to save a buck, do check out your local used bookstores. Older books like this are almost always available used for a fraction of the original retail price. If you’re more of a digital baker, you can also spend less and download the ebook.
Tate's Bake Shop Cookbook: The Best Recipes from Southampton's Favorite Bakery for Homestyle Cookies, Cakes, Pies, Muffins, and Breads $31.94 at Amazon Shop Now Shop Now $31.94 at Amazon Read More Details
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