Our January/February 2020 issue is our first issue of 2020, and it has all the cozy recipes you need to warm your soul as winter sets in! It’s the height of Meyer lemon season, and we’re celebrating with an epic Meyer lemon blowout. If you’re looking to spend a chilly weekend in, our deep dive on homemade doughnuts will make for the perfect baking project. Turn to our collection of chocolate cakes for those times when only decadence will do, or break out your cast-iron skillet and bake up scones, chocolate cinnamon rolls, or a zesty coffee cake. And let’s not forget that Lunar New Year is just around the corner on January 25! We’ve got four mouthwatering takes on traditional Chinese recipes to celebrate this new year in full flavor. Whether you’re baking up Pineapple Buns or a nostalgia-inducing batch of Classic Peanut Butter Cookies, 2020 is sure to be one sweet year.
Scroll down for a preview of some of our favorite recipes in the issue and for an exclusive recipe share!
Yeast Doughnuts with Vanilla Bean Icing
Though they’re an all-American treasure, doughnuts have become something that one buys rather than makes at home. No more. In this issue, we offer you tutorials, tips, and test-kitchen approved recipes to take the intimidation out and add back in the joy of eating a still-warm homemade doughnut. The pièce de résistance of this story is our Yeast Doughnuts with Vanilla Bean Icing—the granddaddy of classic doughnuts. Our streamlined formula makes for a lighter-than-air yeasted ideally suited for the fryer. Dipped in Vanilla Bean Icing or rolled in cinnamon sugar, the final product offers simple perfection in iconic style.
Mexican Chocolate Cinnamon Rolls
In this issue we show you that your cast-iron skillet isn’t just for cooking. This workhorse of the kitchen conducts thorough, even heat for cakes and breads with perfectly golden exteriors and extra-tender crumbs. These Mexican Chocolate Cinnamon Rolls are just one of three epic recipes you’ll love to bake in your cast-iron. Once you have a taste of these rolls, you won’t ever go back to classic cinnamon rolls again. We filled them with chocolate, but not just any chocolate—Mexican cinnamon chocolate. Once you smother these rolls in our luscious Cream Cheese Glaze, they’re best served straight from the skillet to keep them warm and gooey.
Barbecue Pork Buns
January 25th kicks off the Lunar New Year, a 15-day-long celebration of the beginning of the new year in the traditional Chinese calendar. We’re kicking off this new year in sweet fashion with an entire feature dedicated to home baker-friendly recipes inspired by Chinese tradition. One of our most epic is these Barbecue Pork Buns, our take on char siu bao. A Cantonese dim sum classic, this bao is special because it is steamed rather than baked, making it both fluffy and sturdy enough to hold a delicious filling. For this recipe, we created our own makeshift steamer basket out of disposable aluminum foil cake pans, but if you have a steamer basket the recipe will turn out just as deliciously.
Brooklyn Blackout Cake
Introducing this issue’s cover star: the Brooklyn Blackout Cake! The original recipe dates back to 1972, and though it has been lost through the ages, this decadent chocolate cake lingers as one of the most imitated cakes in American history. Our pudding-filled take on the blackout cake gets an aromatic boost from freshly brewed coffee in the batter and espresso in the fudgy Whipped Chocolate Frosting. Otherwise, it’s a true-blue tribute to the dark, crumb-covered original that launched a thousand other sweet reproductions.
Spiced Lemon Crinkle Sandwich Cookies
In the midst of winter’s chill, there’s a new arrival in the produce section that’s guaranteed to brighten up your baking: the Meyer lemon. We’re paying tribute to this citrus sovereign in five vibrant recipes, one of which is these showstopping sandwich cookies. Boasting a double dose of Meyer lemon zest and juice, these chewy sandwich cookies are the ultimate citrusy indulgence. A touch of cardamom and ginger rounds out this recipe with sweet heat, and a tangy Cream Cheese Frosting plays up the Meyer lemon’s sweetness.
Dark Chocolate Sheet Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting
To help you satisfy those cold weather cravings, we’re featuring an all-out chocolate blowout in a feature on our best ever chocolate cakes. Fudgy, decadent, and cocoa-rich, these recipes will satisfy even the most ardent chocoholic. Click the link above for one of the most epic recipes from that story: this Dark Chocolate Sheet Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting. The classic pairing of chocolate and peanut butter is back and more indulgent than ever. We coated an incredibly fudgy dark chocolate cake with a generous slather of Peanut Butter Frosting.
Thanks, Bake From Scratch for sharing the article.
Great article.
Thanks, Bake From Scratch for sharing the information.
Informative Article.
Great article.
I bought the Jan/Feb issue from our local grocery store. We made the Brooklyn Blackout Cake which was phenomenal. The first batch of lemons from our Meyer Lemon tree was used to make the lemon bars which was outstanding. Today, we made the dark chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting as cupcakes and took them to a birthday party. The comments expressed exactly what we thought “yummy’. Yesterday, we made the steamed buns. I don’t eat pork so we used a meat substitute. Our house guest, who is from Tokyo and does eat steamed meat buns, said that she really really liked the ones we made. I want to eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner.