S From Agave to Turbinado, An essential guide for home cooks curious to experiment with dozens H ome Baking with Every Kind of w of traditional and alternative natural sugars and sweeteners Natural Sugar and Sweetener e ome bakers, rejoice! Agave table recipes organized into chapters e H nectar, cane syrup, evapo- comprising Breakfast Treats; Cakes; t rated cane juice, demerara, Pies, Tarts, and Cobblers; Cookies; Spoon ! golden syrup, jaggery, musco- Desserts; Candy; Frozen Desserts; and vado, palm sugar, panela, Sucanat, super- Savory and Sweet Main Courses. Each fine sugar, turbinado—and even good, recipe showcases one or more sweeten- old-fashioned granulated sugar, now ers’ distinctive qualities: Pumpkin Waffles available organically grown . . . all these with Muscovado Syrup; Lemon Cupcakes sweeteners and more, once to be found (pictured on the front cover) made with only in obscure outlets or outside the agave syrup; Panela Ice Cream with United States, are now widely available Cinnamon Caramel Sauce; Chocolate from supermarkets and specialty gro- Demerara Fudge; and Spiced Cashew Suca- cers nationwide. Longtime professional Nuts made with Sucanat. Niall also offers F E r baker Mani Niall, drawing on twenty- delicious recipes to take best advantage v o e m fciovoek yse awrist ho f tehxepseer iternacdei,t iaocnqaul aainntds haoltmere- odfa rgkr abnrouwlante sdu wgahrist,e s suucgha ar sa Mnde ltli-ginh-tY oaunrd- ry Ki Ag n a native sweeteners, and shows how best Mouth Chocolate Cake with Dulce de Leche d v taon dta tkeex taudrevsa.ntage of their unique tastes aMnedri nLgeumeo. An sCouurrdc ePs isee cwtiitohn Benroswurne sS yuogua’lrl of N e to T a u Sweet! offers more than 100 delec- be able to find every sweetener used. t r u b r i a n “Anyone who loves to bake will be thrilled with Mani Niall’s collection of l S ad u o r etecxipteusr efes.a Ftruorming M aann ignon-oPvinaetaivpep alen Md soejintosa Gtrioannaitla n teow S ptiaclkeyt tTeo offfe fela Pvuodrds ianngd, gar , Ho a m there’s something in here that’ll hit every sweet spot.” n e —David Lebovitz, author of and d S Ba w k e i e n t g Mani Niall has been a professional baker for more than twenty-five en w years. The author of Sweet and Natural Baking and Covered in Honey, he e it r h is Executive Chef for Just Desserts, the San Francisco Bay Area’s award- winning bakery, and the proprietor of Mani’s Test Kitchen, a product With development, culinary education, and consulting company. Visit Mani Niall online at www.manistestkitchen.com. mani More than 100 niall mani niall Recipes $18.95 / £10.99 / $20.50 CAN COOKING / BAKING DA CAPO PRESS Author of and Lifelong Books A Lifelong Original A Member of the Perseus Books Group Cover design by Georgia A. Feldman www.dacapopress.com Cover photograph by Sheri Giblin Author photograph by Mark McLane 1600940040 text.qxd:1600940040 text 7/30/08 1:52 PM Page a Acclaim for Sweet! “Here at last is a sweet treatise on the heartbeat ingredient of every baker’s kitchen: the sweetener. But not just white or brown sugar—here are the full spectrum of sugars, ex- amined at close range. In prose that is as engaging as it is informative, professional pastry chef and baker extraordi- naire Mani Niall corrals over thirty natural—and readily available—sugars, sweeteners, and syrups and matches them up with original and totally creative recipes that sing with flavor.” —Marcy Goldman, pastry chef, author of A Passion for Baking, and host of www.betterbaking.com 1600940040 text.qxd:1600940040 text 7/30/08 1:52 PM Page b 1600940040 text.qxd:1600940040 text 7/30/08 1:52 PM Page i Sweet! 1600940040 text.qxd:1600940040 text 7/30/08 1:52 PM Page ii Also by Mani Niall Sweet & Natural Baking: Sugar-Free, Flavorful Desserts from Mani’s Bakery Covered in Honey: The Amazing Flavors of Varietal Honey 1600940040 text.qxd:1600940040 text 7/30/08 1:52 PM Page iii Sweet! From Agave to Turbinado, Home Baking with Every Kind of Natural Sugar and Sweetener with More Than 100 Recipes Mani Niall A Member of the Perseus Books Group 1600940040 text.qxd:1600940040 text 7/30/08 1:52 PM Page iv Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book and Da Capo Press was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed in initial capital letters. Copyright © 2008 by Mani Niall Photographs copyright © 2008 by Sheri Giblin All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Printed in the United States of America. Text design by Trish Wilkinson Set in 12 point Goudy by the Perseus Books Group Cataloging-in-Publication data for this book is available from the Library of Congress. First Da Capo Press edition 2008 ISBN: 978-1-60094-004-0 Published by Da Capo Press A Member of the Perseus Books Group www.dacapopress.com Da Capo Press books are available at special discounts for bulk purchases in the United States by corporations, institutions, and other organizations. For more information, please contact the Special Markets Department at the Perseus Books Group, 2300 Chestnut Street, Suite 200, Philadelphia, PA 19103, or call (800) 810-4145, extension 5000, or e-mail special.markets @perseusbooks.com. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1600940040 text.qxd:1600940040 text 7/30/08 1:52 PM Page v This book is dedicated to my mother, Barbara Case Nial. 1600940040 text.qxd:1600940040 text 7/30/08 1:52 PM Page vi 1600940040 text.qxd:1600940040 text 7/30/08 1:52 PM Page vii Contents Preface xi Chapter 1 • Sugar and Your Kitchen 1 Chapter 2 • In the Baker’s Kitchen 29 Chapter 3 • Breakfast Treats 39 Mom’s Classic Granola 40 Wild Berry Pancakes 42 Pumpkin Waffles with Muscovado Syrup 44 Banana Upside-Down Muffins 46 Orange and Fig Spelt Muffins 48 Sunflower and Fresh Berry Whole-Grain Muffins 50 Cinnamon “Doughnuts” 52 Cranberry-Almond Breakfast Bars 54 Crystallized Ginger Scones 56 Demerara Currant Scones 58 Mexican Breakfast Bread Pudding 60 Pear-Raspberry Coffee Cake 62 Pineapple Gingerbread Turnovers 64 Maple-Pecan Sticky Buns 66 The Wallah’s Vanilla-Spice Chai 68 Spicy Hot Chocolate 69 vii