Dappled: Baking Recipes for Fruit Lovers: A Cookbook Hardcover – July 2, 2019

Now, I love me some pie. My mother can tell you that I've been stealing fruit from our orchard trees, sneaking into the kitchen to bake pies since I was 6 or 7 years old and haven't stopped since. However, you can never have too many good pie recipes, and who better to learn from than the Queen of Pie herself, Nicole Rucker. Since purchasing this book the week it came out, I have made that perfect key lime pie at least 5-6 times to the delight of my husband and many fellow party-goers. IT IS PERFECTION. The kabocha squash pie? RIDICULOUS. I will never make a pumpkin pie from a tin ever again.I am slowly replacing my own tried-and-true pie recipes one by one with those of Ms. Rucker, and I am all the better baker for it. Honestly, my only gripe about this book it that I can't figure out which treat to make next and being forced to eagerly await the next fruit to come into season so I can whip up another of these recipes.

I consider myself an amateur baker, so I was a little intimidated when I thumbed through this book. Everything is beautiful, and the recipes appeared to be beyond my skill level. However, when it came down to actually following the recipes, I found that, yes, it was definitely beyond my skill level, but baking items in this book inspired me to get better at baking and to bake more and more items from this book. So far, everything has been absolutely delicious, and I would recommend this book to bakers of all skill levels. If you're already good, you'll have a whole new arsenal of delicious baked goods to wow your friends with; if you're like me and more of a casual, bake-when-I-feel-like-I-need-sweets kind of baker, you'll be impressed with your own ability to create amazing goodies. Buy this book!

I buy far too many cookbooks, and Dappled has been an absolute highlight of this years haul. Nicole Rucker is the Pie queen of LA and has created a beautifully written book that I sometimes just pick up top read her delightful recipe intros. I’m learned so much about fruit and ripeness and have gotten over my intimidation with fruit based desserts having this approachable book in my kitchen. It’s like having this inspiring and experienced pro iat your side coaching you along. I particularly love that there is so much more than pie recipes (the Banana Buckwheat Cake especially excellent). And like others have already said, the pie crust recipe alone makes this book worth it. Don't hesitate to buy this one.

I’ve baked about 10 recipes from this book, and there have been hits and misses. Still, I keep it handy, and turn to it again and again because it is just so delightful. It’s bright, colorful, and the recipes are straightforward and brimming with flavor.The Spiced Apple Wedding Cake pictured in my review was amazing. Just amazing. I love the flavors of apple and ginger together! And this cake has a wonderful crumb, warm spice flavor, and creamy frosting. Perfection.Rucker’s pie crust technique is something different — sort of a mad genius approach that DOES work!Don’t just flip past the banana cream pie recipe. It’s not your ordinary BCP. The almond cream layer at the bottom anchors the flavors of banana and cream. It’s dreamy and I will return to it.The sour apple pie is solid.The apple Brown Betty opened my eyes to this classic American dessert! I grew up on apple crisps, and tend to fall back on crisps. But an appleBrown Betty is no harder, and OMG so good.Frankies Lemon Pie - nice strong lemon flavor.Chocolate pear spoon pie - a miss. Didn’t bake right.Peach cobbler - amount of sugar called for is off, and the ricotta biscuits were fine but not life changing.Fermented bananas - made three attempts and they all molded.Clearly, I love this cookbook, and find the recipes accessible and uncomplicated. They’re pleasing recipes, many are variations on classics that are worth your time to try. But, I ask publishers, why can’t you ensure there are no gross errors like the one calling for 2+ cups sugar in the peach cobbler? Clearly that’s not right, and wastes a ton of expensive fruit. I can accept that my attempts at fermented bananas don’t work in my kitchen, or that the spoon cake recipe didn’t come out right for me, but not gross recipe measurement errors.

After browsing through, I decided to start with the Mango Coconut Bundt Cake because I had all of the ingredients on hand. The recipe is clearly written and easy to follow. Quite a few dishes to wash from the prep, and worth the effort and time. The result was a wonderfully light texture!For now, this book will be a go to when I have a couple of hours to play and want to make something with fruit.Update: I adjusted a long time favorite Apple Crisp recipe with a couple of additions from the recipe in this book. Easy to make with fabulous results!I'm looking forward to making many of the recipes and dappling in my kitchen.

I love this cookbook. The pictures and writing are well done. It is certainly original. I bake as a side job and several of the recipes have been a hit (especially the peach cobbler w ricotta biscuits and that almond cream is fantastic!) The only caveat is the copious amounts of sugar called for in the recipes. While, each person has their own tastes, of course, I find these recipes to be way too sweet. To anyone cooking from this book , I just recommend that you taste taste taste and follow your tastebuds instead of what the book calls for when it comes to the sugar.