Small Batch Baking in a Tiny House

Small Batch Baking by Debby Maugans Nakos

I love the smell of fresh baked foods in my Tiny House. Something about the smell of baked goods makes my home feel even more cozy and warm. I enjoy baking in general, but seeing as how I have a tiny family in my tiny house (just two people) baking large cakes, lots of muffins, or a dozen cupcakes just means we will feel compelled to eat them or they will go to waste. I don't like to let things go to waste so I started looking around for cookbooks aimed at small batch cooking. I was pleasantly surprised to find to find a line of cookbooks by Debbie Maugans Nakos. Her first book in the series is aptly named Small Batch Baking: When Just Enough for 1 or 2 is...Just Enough. 

I am not a fan of collecting a ton of cookbooks due to my limited space, but if I like one well enough I gladly add it to my cookbook library. I find this book to be well worth the investment (under $11). The book is not super large either, measuring 7" x 8" and about 2" thick. Perfect for the Tiny House kitchen. 

Tiny House Homestead's Cookbook Library

Ms. Maugans Nakos goes into great detail about how to scale down ingredients for small batch baking. For example, she explains how to use a large muffin pan to bake mini pies. I would never have thought to use a muffin pan to bake pie! There is a section for conversions that clearly explains how to scale down recipes too.

Included are recipes for cakes, pies, tarts, coblers, crips, crumbles, baked puddings, muffins, and breads.  There are even chapters for Valentines Day and other holidays. A wide variety of goodies to satisfy the sweet tooth. There are over 200 delicious recipes for you to try.

If you like to bake like I do, I highly recommend you pick up a copy of Small Batch Baking. Yum!

Small Batch Cooking - Just Enough For One or Two

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I live alone. Well, not exactly alone. I do have a cat and a dog, and occasionally my boyfriend flies in from Seattle, but for the most part, I live alone. One of the biggest complaints I hear from friends, and one that I make as well, is that cooking for one stinks. The main complaint is that if you cook more than you need for a meal or two, you feel compelled to eat it anyway, even if you are full or really shouldn't eat more. I was raised not to waste food. As a result, it sits on my waist. Do you know what I am talking about? Are you guilty of it too? I think I may have found a cookbook that you may want to own as well!

Debby Maugans Nakos has written a pioneering cookbook aptly entitled: Small-Batch Baking. She has taken everyday baked-good's recipes for foods like cookies, cake, pies, tarts, crisps, crumbles, and sweetbreads, and rewritten them to make make, well like the title says, small batches. Such a brilliant concept!

Each recipe is "just enough" for one or two people, with no risk of left-overs. Instead of measuring your ingredients in cups, recipes are measured in tablespoons. Scaled down pans create the beautiful shape of the bunt cake we have all come to love so well, but instead of being 10 servings or more, you get two. There are simple recipes for muffins, but also fancier recipes such as Creme Brulee. The cookbook has 225 fantastic recipes to choose from. Breakfast and desert have never been better!

I found this book on Amazon for $13.95, but actually purchased it on Ebay for less than $5 including shipping! It is published by Workman Publishing, NY, ISBN#0-7611-3035-7. Another great thing about this book is it is sized smaller than a typical cookbook. This will make it convenient to store in my Shouse kitchen.

If you like to cook, enjoy baked goods, and, like me, have little self control, check out this cookbook! I like it so much I gave them as gifts this past holiday season. Oh, I don't want to forget to mention that Debby also has a Gluten-Free version AND a chocolate lovers version. Yum!