Cookbook Spotlight: Gale Gand's Brunch

I was lucky enough to be asked to be a part of a cookbook spotlight in the blogosphere. Invited by A Blithe Palate, this Cookbook Spotlight was for Gale Gand's Brunch! It's the brand new brunch cookbook by the one, the only, Gale Gand. Here's the background on the Cookbook Spotlight, I'm so thrilled to be a part of it.

Now to preface, I love brunch. Everything about it. It's relaxing--you're not in any rush to get to work, and you can linger over the newspaper, and of course, there are the mimosas!

The second I heard about this project, I got really excited. I'm a big Gale Gand fan, and put her together with brunch, and I'm in! So the hardest part about this project? Picking a recipe to make!! I mean, how do you choose out of the 100 amazing recipes in the book?

There's the recipe on the cover--baked eggs in ham cups. YUM. An amazingly gorgeous cucurumao--basically poaching eggs in a tomato sauce. Looks heavenly. There's a drinks section...and of course, the baked goods section.

When I first got the book, I thought I'd go all out. Make a whole bunch of recipes. Try 'em all. Maybe even make brunch for some friends! But then, I got the book after the weekend had passed. And the week got busy. And in attempts to make 'brunch for dinner' after work one night, did not quite work out.

So what did I do? I started easy. I didn't go all out. I didn't make the baked eggs in ham cups. I passed on the breakfast crepes. I tried not to linger on the goat cheese and chive hash browns (I have a thing for potatoes at brunch...gotta have 'em!)

I made the pear streusel coffee cake. I love coffee cake. I always have. Ate it growing up...I think because it was also a favorite of my mom's. In any case, this being the first recipe I made seemed just right.

It was SUPER easy. And SUPER quick. (Perfect for my busy life these days.) Here's what the coffee cake looked like right out of the oven:


I love that it has pear in it...and that it's subtle. Something a little different. The pears also give it a little bit of moisture. And even after a few days, the cake was still really good. Really good. I dug right into it (and yes, poured myself a cup of milk!) I brought some to work--it was a hit. I gave some to my sister. She loved it.

So now that I've met my deadline...I'm already regretting not doing the big brunch spread. And doing other bloggers proud. Sigh. I promise dear readers. I WILL make ALL of the recipes in this book. One by one. Slowly but surely. (Ok, maybe not all, but definitely most of them!)

I want the nectarine skewers...and already am getting excited for stone fruit season. I'm excited for the herbed mini popovers (anyone got a popover pan I can borrow?) The gougeres! (Wonder if they'll be as good as the Bar Tartine ones?) Cinnamon sugar doughnuts! (Doubt they'll be as good as the ones at Incanto...) The peanut butter and jelly turnovers look good (and I already know that I'm going to have to make those for Vanessa one of these days!) The cheese and tomato galette looks delish, and perfect as heirloom tomato season is around the corner. There's a recipe for salami and scrambled eggs--and I've got to say, I'm pretty excited about that one.

So. Dear readers. Maybe you'll just have to tune back in here to see how these other recipes turn out for me. I can't wait to see and hear about what the other bloggers made. And I wonder if anyone else choose my pear coffee cake? And more importantly, did anyone make the ham cups??