Spotlight On - Baking: From My Home To Yours - The Round-up!

Hey everyone, and thanks for coming to check out the round-up for Spotlight on - Baking: From My Home To Yours. This is a cookbook event/review that I organized with my friends at Houghton Mifflin Publishing Company. We asked 24 bloggers to join me in checking out the new cookbook Baking: From My Home To Yours by the wonderful Dorie Greenspan.

I would like to thank all the bloggers who agreed to take part in this with me. I've enjoyed chatting with so many of you over this past month, getting to know you a bit better and discovering some new food blogs from you along the way. I'm glad all of you had a good time too.

We've got lots of great reviews and delicious food, so let's get started.

First up we have the lovely Jasmine from Toronto, Ontario and her always delicious blog Confessions of a Cardamom Addict. Jasmine has also just started up a new site The Sensual Gourmet that you should check out too. For the Spotlight Jasmine tried out the Mango Bread, Tribute to Katherine Hepburn Brownies, Tiramisu Cake and the All American All Delicious Apple Pie.



Kalyn is the author of the popular blog Kalyn's Kitchen in Salt Lake City, Utah. As many of you know, Kalyn's blog is mainly about the South Beach Diet, so I was so happy when she agreed to join us and prepare a (somewhat) suitable dessert for those on the program. The Parisian Apple Tartlet looks delicious for anyone, dieter or not. Thanks Kalyn!





Next up is Peabody from the totally amazing blog Culinary Concoctions by Peabody. Last month Peabody won the Edible Category in Does My Blog Look Good In This? and it was well deserved. She rocked this event with the Chipster Topped Brownies and Cranberry Upside Downer.








Michelle and her blog Je Mange la Ville hail from beautiful Portland Oregon. She made the Swedish Visiting Cake and some delicious Real Butterscotch Pudding. Thanks for joining me Michelle!





Nic at the popular Baking Sheet is from Los Angeles, California. She is a great baker and enjoyed Dorie's Cinnamon Chocolate Square.










Here's our first international blogger! Pam is a wonderful blogger and soon-to-be-mom over at Posie's Place in Germany. Despite calling herself a novice baker, Pam really hit it out of the park with the scrumptious Tall and Creamy Cheesecake. Pam I hope you saved me a piece!




And my good friend Mary (aka Breadchick) with her blog The Sour Dough from Cambridge, Massachusetts who co-hosted WCC #10 with me tried out a ton of recipes! Ready, here we go, My Best Chocolate Chip Cookies, Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins, Flaky Apple Turnovers, Caramel Topped Flan, and the cover recipe - Devil's Food White Out Cake. They all look super Mary!



One of my favorite Canadian bloggers, heck, favorite bloggers from anywhere is Ruth from Toronto Ontario and the delicious Once Upon a Feast. Ruth says that Dorie's Tribute to Katherine Hepburn Brownies are the best brownies she's tasted EVER! Sounds good to me, thanks so much for taking part Ruth!





Another favorite of mine is the lovely Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice who is also from Toronto, Ontario. There must be something in the water! Ivonne tried out the Buttery Jam Cookies and Flaky Apple Turnovers and loved both. Grazie, Ivonne for taking part in the Spotlight!






Next up is Haalo and Cook Almost Anything At Least Once from Melbourne Australia. Haalo has some of the most beautiful food photos on the internet, in my opinion. For the Spotlight Haalo prepared the Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler and Brown Sugar Bundt Cake








Say Hi to another fellow Canadian, recently moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia; Paige aka Chef Girl. Paige enjoyed both the Oatmeal Breakfast Bread and Cranberry Upside Downer. Thanks for taking part in the Spotlight Paige!




Rachel from Baltimore, Maryland has two great blogs; the always yummy Coconut and Lime and her newer site, the stylish Food Maven. Here's what Rachel thought of the Allspice Crumb Muffins and Brrrownies.




I was so thrilled when Emmy from Vegan Diva agreed to take part. With many people either unable to or choosing not to eat dairy/animal products, Emmy takes 2 recipes and shows us how they can be veganized. Here's her versions of Dorie's Dimply Plum Cake and Peanuttiest Blondies. Emmy, thanks again!







I love to visit Lea at Copperpots in Viera, Florida. She's so much fun and has tons of great looking food. Thanks Lea for trying out the Basic Biscuits and Lemon Poppyseed Muffins. They look super!





Not only does Sarah Jane has a fabulous blog, Chef Sarah Jane, she also has a fabulous name! (It's sort of weird too, she's Sarah Jane, I'm Sara Jean...)Another Canadian, but living in LA, Sarah gave two of the most popular recipes a try, My Best Chocolate Chip Cookies and Lemon Poppyseed Muffins.




And here's the lovely Lis from Ohio and her equally lovely blog La Mia Cucina. Lis baked up a storm to share with us the World Peace Cookies, Tarte Tatin and Almost Fudge Gateau and the Sugar Bundt Cake. Lis, you rock! And PS - Happy Birthday!





Morgan made my day when she agreed to take part in this here Spotlight! She is a fellow Calgarian and author of the food/life (is it OK that I called it that?) blog Musings of a Wench. Morgan checked out two recipes - My Best Chocolate Chip Cookies and Coconut Tea Cake.




I'm sure most of you know Meeta of What's For Lunch Honey? from Weimar, Germany. Meeta has both wonderful recipes and some beautiful photography on her site. Thank you, Meeta, for trying out theClassic Brownies and Cranberry Upside Downer for us. Gorgeous as usual!







I was very happy to discover Pavani and Cooks Hideout a while back. Pavani cooks tons of amazing looking food, and I've tried some of her Indian recipes. So. Good! I'm so glad Pavani agreed to help me out for the Spotlight. Here's her review of the book and the Gooey Chocolate Cakes.



Linda, who joined me for a different cookbook review in the summer, is back again! Here's Linda's (from Kayak Soup) take on the Applesauce Spice Bars.






Next is Jen from Sydney Australia and her lovely site Milk and Cookies. Jen has some fabulous baking and restaurant reviews. I wish I could fly over to Sydney and eat at some of those places, they sound so good. Jen tried her hand at the Rugelach and World Peace Cookies and loved both. Thanks Jen.








Yay!!! Tanna has come back from her long trip (lucky gal!) and has a new website too, The Half Cup. Unfortunately her first site became corrupted. Sorry Tanna. But thank you so much for taking part and trying out all these yummy recipes: Dimply Plum Cakes, Sweet Potato Biscuits and Madelines.







Do you all know Stephanie? The whiz of a hostess over at Dispensing Happiness? Among other things, she hosts a Blog Party every month; you should check it out. Stephanie and her cool cupcake stand joined in and tried out the Chocolate Chunk Muffins, Allspice Crumb Muffins and Chocolate Malted Whopper Drops.







A Thank You to Cate from Sweetnicks who squeezed us into her very busy schedule. Hope your Mom is feeling better Cate. Cate couldn't resist trying the Quintuple Chocolate Brownies and frankly, who could blame her? They sound delicious.








And me, well I'm Sara of i like to cook, from Calgary Alberta and I enjoyed every minute of this event! I'd like to thank my husband Scott and all my other tasters who helped me eat all the Savory Corn and Pepper Muffins, Coco Nana Bread, Brownie Buttons, Fresh Mango Bread and Buttery Jam Cookies. It was tough, but somehow we did it!



I love special guests, and here's one for the round up. Helen from Tartelette emailed me and told me that she too had this book and was loving every single thing she had made out of it. Helen has a delicious blog full of scrumptious treats. Helen - I'm still waiting for one of your delicious macaroons! Is it on it's way?? Thanks for emailing me Helen, and thanks for contributing your posts on Dorie's Lemon Merengue Tarts and Applesauce Spice Bars. Delicious!





Well friends, that's it! Once again I'd like to thank all the bloggers who took part . I'd also like to thank Houghton Mifflin Publishing Company, especially David, for asking me to work with them for this event. It was a total thrill. And finally, a HUGE thank you to Dorie Greenspan for just being a warm, talented and gracious person. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as we enjoyed putting it together.

Cheers!