I have a lot of cookbooks. I don’t know if it is a big collection, but yes, from my perspective, it is quite a lot. I keep adjusting space to accommodate them in the little book shelf that HD got done to keep mine as well as the kids’ books, but with the way it is going, I may have to ask him to make another one for the kids. 😛 As of now, I have literally put a stop on my buying. In the past three months, I have bought only one cookbook, which is an achievement, taking into account how impulsive I am. 😀 The Sharjah Book Fair is coming up next month and I am chanting to myself – “no more cook books”!!! Hehe…
That was when I thought, why not I do cookbook reviews? I have enough of them to do for a few years, if I do one in a month. Hehe… But I am not sure if I can keep the pace and push it into my schedule. InShaAllah, I would like to really try doing it. At least with this activity, I would touch all my books as well as try some interesting recipes from them as well! 🙂 The very first review I have done on the blog were Jehanne’s books and after that, it is this one! That’s a long time, but better late than never. So off to what is in store for today…
Today I am reviewing a book called “The Ultimate Low Fat Baking Book”. I picked this up in June from the Borders bookstore in Mirdiff City Center. (Don’t think I have a sharp memory, whichever I remember I will post! 😉 ) The book’s consultant editor is Linda Fraser and is published by Hermes House. I have a lot of baking related books with me but many of them are the rich bakes – loaded with a lot of butter, milk and eggs. I will slowly review those books too since they have some amazing recipes too. This book caught my fancy after flipping it through at the store. Why? Most of the recipes in it have very limited butter, milk and eggs. It actually makes it easier to make it eggless or even vegan, because of the lower quantities used. The book contains all sorts of bakes – breads, cakes, muffins and savory, plus covers some basics of baking like how to prepare your pans, different types of icing, how to use yeast, etc.. All recipes rotate over the same principle, so if you love your baked stuff but like to make it lighter to enjoy it guilt free, then this is definitely the book for you. I have already tried a couple of bakes from this, but decided to choose this one while doing the review, since it is literally fresh – baked at the beginning of this month and hence has some better looking morning pictures! 😉
I love orange bakes and that is why I decided to choose this, even ahead of the Banana Walnut Bread in the book. Oranges are in season now and I had plenty in my fridge. Moreover, we had bought some wild honey from back home at a decent price while coming back from our lightening trip to Kakkayam. Oh, by the way, I didn’t seem to talk about that, did I? It was an amazing place, such untouched nature… I will cover that in another blogpost, InShaAllah, now I better not sway away from the topic… 😀 So coming back, since I had both ingredients handy, I decided to bake this delicious quick bread. You won’t be able to decide whether you taste the orange more or the honey. 😀 The flavors are nicely balanced and the aroma is amazing. The crumb of the bread is slightly dry since fat is quite low, but then you can enjoy two thick slices with your cup of tea for breakfast or your evening snack! Hopefully I will try more from the book soon and will share on the blog as well, InShaAllah… 🙂
I hope you all enjoyed the review. I am trying to see if I can keep the last Saturdays of the month as the book review day, but not sure if I will be able to keep up the schedule, hehe… 😀 But will try my level best, InShaAllah… till then, let’s get going to the recipe!
Orange Honey Bread
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1 cup wholewheat flour
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 30 ml butter soft
- 1 cup clear honey
- 1 egg lightly beaten
- 1 tbsp orange zest
- 3/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
- 3/4 cup chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 160 degrees. Grease and flour a large loaf pan and set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk the soft butter till creamy.
- Add in the honey and whisk well, then stir in the egg. Add in the orange zest and combine.
- In another bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients till well combined.
- Into the honey mixture, alternate the flour mixture and orange and fold in with each addition,ending with the flour mixture.
- Fold in the walnuts.
- Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 60-75 minutes till skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
- Allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes before flipping onto the rack and cooling completely.
- Slice and serve with tea or coffee!
Such a lovely looking bread..I love orange cakes/bread ..this looks yummy even with the whole wheat flour added
Thank you so much Gloria…
Yummilicious!!????They lookking so refreshing and the piks are very nice????????????????
Thank you so much Shazia… 🙂
Love what I read here about the book. So far I haven’t bought any book that deals with low-fat and so on. I should. The bread looks heavenly. I’m also a big fan of oranges in bakes.
This is the only low fat baking book I have, and have seen too hehe… Thanks a lot Kanak…
The bread looks splendid. I love the combo of honey and orange.
Thank you so much Angie…
Wow i love it when citrus is used in baking. Like u i love buying cookbooks its sort of satisfying right to have a book in your hand rather than through online. Right now i am trying to get rick steins venice to istanbul but hubby just went dont you have enough already hehehe its like an obsession right
Even I love hard books and keep flipping through it every now and then, irrespective of whether I cook any thing from that or no, and yes, they are expensive… hehe… Thank you so much Nammi…
Rafee this orange bread look beautiful!!
Thanks a lot Gloria…
Orange and honey cake with less fat – wow! I am not yet a cookbook hoarder and don’t think I will become one. 🙂 You should do reviews or anything that will make you cook from those collection of books. I would also prefer to know how many recipes are there in the book, no. of pages, price range, those will just add more information about the book. All the clicks are amazing! Did add any personal raf touch to the recipe? 😛
Yeah don’t become one, it takes up a lot of space in the house… hehe… thank you for the suggestions, I will incorporate it into my next review, InShaAllah… 🙂 The only personal touch I added was using part wholewheat flour, nothing else… hehe… thanks a lot Fami…
I have totally stopped buying cookbooks Rafee! Don’t know why! Me too waiting for the book fair!
Orange loaf looks yummy!!!
I think I have stopped but then my hands itch, and I get myself at least one… I hate myself for it! Thanks a lot Priya…
Really tempting yummy cake
Thanks Beena…
Looks fabulous!!
I do not have cookbooks lying around but I have lot of recipe cut outs from magazines. I hope I do try them all out 🙂
Haha… I better not talk about the amount of cut outs I have, three thick books and still counting… 😉 Thanks a lot Ria…