It takes a really special baking book to make it on to our kitchen shelves these days and that’s exactly what The Violet Bakery Cookbook by Claire Ptak is. Ptak, formerly the pastry chef at Alice Water’s legendary Chez Panisse restaurant, now runs the Violet Bakery in Hackney. She has a refreshingly simple approach to the guilt that comes with eating sugar-laden cakes, emphasising that “if you are going to treat yourself, it better taste good, right?” We’ve only baked one recipe from this book so far: Egg yolk chocolate chip cookies but they were unlike any cookies we’ve made before. Ptak is obsessed with making ingredients taste like themselves, or the best version of themselves and her recipes use buckwheat, spelt and agave as well as the usual butter, eggs and caster sugar. Each recipe has been carefully considered and she brings a Californian freshness to staid teatime favourites such as Victoria sponge and lemon drizzle loaf. This is a thoughtful, as well as joyous, cookbook.
Here’s a video of her making cinnamon buns to whet your appetite.
