The Sprinkles Baking Book by Candace Nelson + Win a copy!

It’s been a fantastic year for cookbooks, and out just in time for holiday baking (and giving!) is The Sprinkles Baking Book: 100 Secret Recipes from Candace’s Kitchen by Candace Nelson. It’s the first cookbook from the investment baker turned pastry chef and founder of America’s first cupcakes-only bakery, Sprinkles. Inside are 50 cupcake recipes including customer favourites and new ones created for the book, as well as 50 other desserts (brownies and bars, pies and tarts, loaves and puddings and more). I want to try them all! But I started with two. 

Sprinkles has expanded its offerings since it first opened in 2005 — now the 22 locations carry a variety of desserts, and a baker’s dozen Sprinkles Cupcake ATMs dispense cupcakes and cookies 24/7. (Yes a cupcake ATM! Brilliant, right?)

I asked my daughter to pick a couple of recipes for us to try and much like her mama she marked off a good 20 before we narrowed it down to two.

First, the chocolate peppermint cupcakes with chocolate peppermint frosting, which Lily chose full well knowing her little brother’s not a huge fan of peppermint. (More for her.) These were easy peasy to make, ‘tho they did take a good 7 or 8 minutes longer to cook than the recipe called for. (Before I had a copy of the the book I pored over Candace’s seven cupcake secrets. Mind blown!) The real chocolate in the frosting made it rich and deelish. I added just a dribble of milk to make it easy to spread, but still plenty thick to hold up.

Kids will love crushing the candy canes with the rolling pin to sprinkle on top. If you plan to keep any leftover cupcakes on the counter, hold off on the sprinkling until just before serving as the candy canes tend to melt into the frosting overnight. (If you store the cupcakes in the fridge they should be totally fine.) And if you don’t want them too pepperminty, skip the crushed candy canes and use other sprinkles like we did for James.

And Candace’s chewy chocolate chip cookies are the bomb! We used chocolate chunks instead of chips but followed the rest of the recipe to a T and the results were phenomenal — maybe the best we’ve ever made! Next time I’ll pull them out a little sooner, like when they’ve got just a hint of gold. The slightly larger cookies that were a little paler than the rest were chewier than the others, which I preferred.

And now what to make next? If it’s cupcakes you fancy, there are recipes for everyday ones (red velvet, vanilla, peanut butter chip), fancy (strawberry cheesecake, pineapple upside-down, chai latte) and seasonal cupcakes (Blake Lively’s s’more cupcakes, lemon blueberry, key lime pie). And the other baked goods go on and on: brown butter snickerdoodles, date-honey sesame bars, a grapefruit tart with gingersnap crust that looks unheard of, and a variety of casual, special occasion and birthday cakes. Celebrity favourites from Jessica Alba, Julia Roberts and others are sprinkled throughout, along with family recipes that look as good as they sound.

In addition to the recipes you’ll find a detailed list of pantry staples, baking tools and equipment and plenty of practical tips. It’s a gorgeous gift for the bakers on your list!

GIVEAWAY

To enter to win a copy of The Sprinkles Baking Book, tell me one of the recipes mentioned in this post that you’d like to try. This entry is mandatory.

For an additional entry, follow try small things on Facebook and share this post, then tell me you did so and your name on Facebook in the comments below.

For a third entry, follow try small things on Instagram, like this photo, and tell me your Instagram handle in the comments below.

And feel free to tweet the following once per day and leave the url for your tweet in the comments below (one entry per tweet). Make sure you’re following try small things on Twitter for your entry to count.

#WIN The Sprinkles Baking Book by Candace Nelson from @trysmallthings http://bit.ly/sprinklesbakingbook CAN 12/18 #sprinklesbakingbook

The giveaway is open to Canadian residents 18+ and ends at 11:59 p.m. EST on December 18, 2016. The potential winner must respond to prize notification within 48 hours, including the correct answer to a skill-testing question, otherwise another winner will be selected.

Congratulations to the winner, Stephanie L!

Hachette Book Group Canada sent me The Sprinkles Baking Book in exchange for an honest review, however all opinions are my own.