(c) Abrams Books
On the eve of the release of their latest book, Baked Elements, Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito, the authors and proprietors of Baked, a favorite bakery in Red Hook, hosted a talk at the New York Public Library on regional desserts.
The topic was a part of the Lunch Hour series at the NYPL (the exhibition I had written about earlier) and a throwback to their second book, Baked Explorations. Valerie and I were only too happy to attend.
I will say straight out that I am not an objective observer since I love Baked brownies, bars, and cookies. They often feature my personal favorite combination of salty and sweet and are always a comforting and worthwhile treat i.e. you always feel satisfied and not guilty about indulging in one of their rich treats.
Matt and Renato led off the discussion by talking about signature desserts around the US – for New York, these were the often under-appreciated black and white cookies. Hint: besides the Baked version (cakey and delicious), the Baked boys recommended William Greenberg’s cookies as a representation of a NY classic.
They then launched into an entertaining retelling of the process of writing Explorations, testing readers’ and fans’ family recipes, many of which turned out to be too sweet or imprecise, or using ingredients like suet. Matt joked, “Another good reason to put people’s recipes in your book – they will buy a lot of copies!”
Renato then talked about reworking other signature desserts from around the country where, upon some exploring, it turns out the food landscape is not nearly as homogenous as many may think.
These included the heartland turtle bar (Iowa), buckeyes (Ohio), and Dr Pepper and pineapple jell0 salad (Texas), which they re-worked into their own version – strawberry jello, sweet cream cheese filling and a pretzel crust.
Matt and Renato also turned out to be huge fans of the banana cream pie and debated why it’s so popular in LA but less so in other parts of the country. In the end, we all agreed that no matter the food trends, certain long-lasting tastes still remain the same.
P.S. Baked Elements is due to be released on the first of September. And make sure to try the recipe for the signature Baked brownie.
Sweet and Salty! yum.. I look forward to more recipe from Matt and Renato.. c
I love sweet and salty together 🙂 Good morning, C!
Mmmm their concept for this recipe book sounds delicious 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
I can’t wait for the new one – cooking with 10 of their favorite ingredients :).
Gorgeous, I remember that lunch truck and the neon lights! it looked inviting and this book looks very promising! Hands up for your ultimate brownie recipe when you get round to it!!! 🙂
Thanks, Alice! I do love the Baked recipe, but it’s super fudge-y and dense, really indulgent though absolutely delicious, and great for mix-ins (such as here: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2008/11/baked-altoid-brownies/). For my everyday brownie treat, these are my current favorites: http://saffronandhoney.com/2012/06/13/30-minute-brownies-with-speculoos-and-walnuts/ 🙂
The photos in this book must be stunning.. I love this sort of cookbook. I can see adding this one to my collection!
They have a very specific style aesthetic – playful, but very clean and beautiful photography. Holds for the food too! I had a grasshopper bar from Baked yesterday 🙂
Is a grasshopper bar like a nanaimo layer with a green middle??
Their version of it is a brownie layer on the bottom, very light mint cream filling and a harder chocolate layer – still pretty thick – on top.
yum… I was hoping it was mint.. I think that’s like our nanaimo bar-ish:D
Definitely a book I will want to purchase. I will circle a reminder to get it as soon as it comes out, so thanks for a great review.I have taken note of your mention of these NYPL lunch hour series before, and I’m a bit envious. They sound great to me! Debra
The ‘regional desserts’ one is already out! The Essentials is the one coming out in Sept – just to clarify :). I love the library! haha