Thursday, September 4, 2008

Test-drive a cookbook today



I love libraries.  We moved around some when I was little, and one of the first things we did in a new town was find the library.  (Heck, even as an adult, that's one of the first things I've done after moving.)  To get a library card, you had to be able to write your name.  I can remember my younger sisters practicing, so they too could have library cards.  We'd go about once a week, and if I was lucky, my 10-book limit would last that long.  In high school, I even worked in the reference department of my local public library.  As a grown-up, I still love libraries, but I don't get there as often as I'd like.  And I don't take my children as often as I'd like, either.  I really need to do something about that, but as a working mom it can be hard to find the time.  Not that anyone in this house lacks for books--my husband is a bit supporter of Half Price Books. =)   And we spend some of our time and money at Borders, as well.  There are books by certain authors (cookbooks and fiction) that I know that I'll buy without a second thought.  But for other books, the library is a great way to decide if I want to spend my money.  

So where am I going with this?  =)  One of the blogs I enjoy is The Food Librarian.  Yesterday she had a delicious-looking post about Magnolia's Raspberry Cream Cheese Breakfast Buns from a cookbook that she borrowed from her library. I love just about anything raspberry, and I love baking breakfast foods.  The timing was great, since today is my day off.  So I made these for breakfast.  I made half the recipe, which made nine standard sized muffins.  To keep the buns from sticking, I used some Pam for Baking on the muffin cups, which worked quite well.  I topped the cream cheese batter with some of my favorite raspberry butter and swirled it around.  Since my buns were smaller, I only baked them for 20 minutes, which was just right.  


The verdict?  Wow, these are awesome.  The cake part is delicious by itself, but it's fantastic with the raspberry swirl.  I ate two (hey, mine were only half the original size!) for breakfast and am tempted to have another one for lunch.  I should save them for my other taste-testers, though.  You can find the recipe here if you want to try them for yourself.  

I already checked, and unfortunately neither of my nearby libraries has a copy of More From Magnolia.  But they do have some others (such as David Lebowitz's The Perfect Scoop) that I've been meaning to check out (ha! library pun! =) ).  So along with my other errands for this afternoon, I'm off to the library!


5 comments:

  1. Ahh! I love to hear about people going to their library and happy memories you have of libraries! That rocks!

    Your buns look fantastic! (that sounded weird but I hope you understand that isn't harassment! :) Having them without liners looks great!!

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  2. i love anything w/fruit in it and i esp love raspberries! these look so good!

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  3. These look delicious! I'm a library addict too and often walk out with arms FULL of books (mostly cookbooks!).

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  4. I LOVE the Library. We go at least once a week and Christian, my youngest, surprised me this afternoon when we drove past the building and he said "bibary" from the backseat!! I'm proud that he knows. These look quite tasty! By the way...I have another blog award coming your way. Check out my blog when you get a chance!

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  5. They look so good, I can hardly believe it. I am really going to try those - even though I am a far better cook than baker!

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