Homemade Decadence by Joy the Baker: Birchbox Book Club (December)

 Birchbox Book Club: December Selection

Please Note:  All Pictures are my own photos of Joy the Baker's Book: Homemade Decadence

Homemade Decadence: Joy the Baker (Blogger & Author)

Please Note:  This Post May Contain Affiliate and/or Referral Links

Birchbox Book Club:

Birchbox is now a well known brand, most well known for catering to the world of beauty lovers.  The brand that started the "Subscription Box" revolution and that has relied heavily on YouTube "How-To" videos and "Word of Mouth" marketing to gain a foothold in the beauty industry, has now dipped it's toes in a variety of areas.  One of the latest items on the Birchbox agenda is their "Book Club".  Birchbox started it's book club in June of this year, debuting with the summer hit from Emily Straub, "The Vacationers".  They have since covered a wide array of book genres including fiction, as well as non-fiction books from celebs turned authors such as: Mindy Kaling, Amy Pohler and now blogger turned author Joy the Baker.

To learn more about Birchbox and their Book Club: 

birchbox.com

Homemade Decadence 

Joy the Baker: A blogger turned Author

Bloggers everywhere are probably giving a big yelp at December's Birchbox Book Club Selection.  Afterall, blogging is one of those "hobbies" that can instantly make you feel a "kindred" spirit with others.  Granted, I'm personally nowhere near as great at blogging as "Joy the Baker" is, but still it's really awesome to see someone find such success in blogging and their other pursuits.

To follow Joy The Baker's Blog:  joythebaker.com

With 145 THOUSAND followers on Facebook, 171 THOUSAND followers on InstaGram, it's safe to say that Joy has "arrived".  She started blogging in 2008 and now her list of accomplishments include weekly podcasts, two cookbooks and a huge ton of fans who follow her every move.  She must be doing something right!

She began her blog out of a love for all things cooking.  She was raised by parents who shared a love of cooking delicious food and it was a love that was passed down to Joy herself.  She's a self-taught cook, following with the likes of Rachel Ray who is also a "Self-Taught" cook.  On her "About Me" page she labels herself:  Author, Photographer, and Donut Enthusiast.  Being a blogger myself, I know that there are many more hats that she wears.

A Baker, I am Not...

I sadly am not a huge baker.  There's something about the Precise measurements that totally throw me off.  I'm a southern girl where we are raised to cook with a "pinch of this" and a "itty bit more of that", I was self-taught from watching those around me cooking and I can tell you measuring cups play almost no role in my own everyday cooking.  Give me a recipe that requires exact measurements and I'll show you how to "Sure Fire Screw it UP"!  

My mother, however, is a Queen at baking.  Growing up friends delighted in her homemade Rice Krispies (That tasted FAR better than Kellogs ever made them), her Rice Krispies recipes varied from butterscotch Rice Krispies to Chocolate Covered Rice Krispies.  So, when I found out what the December Birchbox Book Club Selection was, I knew I had to have it so that my mother could discover some new hits in which to treat her adoring family at family get-together's.

Peeking between the Pages of: Homemade Decadence

Five Delicious Sections:

Joy The Baker has cleverly placed her delicious looking recipes into five easy to navigate sections:

Intro: Table of Contents

• Brunch
• Cookies, Brownies & Bars
• Pies, Crumbles & Cobblers
• Layer Cakes, Cupcakes & Skillet Cakes
• Ice Cream Social

The sections all feature amazing recipes with unique flavor profiles and combinations.  Some of the recipes seem a tad intimidating to a self-proclaimed CRAP BAKER like myself.  However, they all look so amazingly delicious that I may someday be forced to break out of my comfort zone to try a few of these out for myself.

Delicious Recipes, Gorgeous Pictures....

Brunch: Breakfast Nachos p. 52

The mark of a great "Cookbook", in my eyes is a combination of unique recipes with flavors I haven't thought of before mixed with gorgeous photography.  This book definitely has both.  She's taken sometimes ordinary ingredients and the ways in which she combines flavors turns them from simple, everyday recipes to sensational discoveries.

With 125 different recipes, this book is destined to have a recipe or two that everyone can fall in love with.  There's even on recipe inside the Brunch section that I am definitely going to be trying as soon as I can gather all the required ingredients.  It's more "Cooking" than baking and it seems like something I definitely could try!  The recipe, found on page: 52 is called "Roasted- Potato Breakfast Nachos" and while it's labeled as a breakfast item, it seems a delicious treat anytime of day!

A Look Inside the Sections...

Just a peek at some of the type of recipes you'll find in Homemade Decadence.

The Breakfast   which starts out with "Fresh Raspberry-Honey Butter" and features recipes for different flavored scones, Hawaiian sweet pineapple breakfast rolls, Roasted Strawberry & Balsamic Grits, to French Onion Quiche there are a ton of new recipes for you to sink your teeth into! These are definitely recipes that make you get outside of your comfort zone and try new and exciting flavors!

Vanilla Bean Confetti Cookies: Page 88

The Cookies, Brownies & Bars  features recipes: Dark Chocolate, Pistachio & Smoked Sea Salt Cookies, Vanilla Bean Confetti Cookies, Lemon Bars and a sure fire hit with Toasted Marshmallow Squares (These are just a HIGHLIGHT of all the recipes featured, there are so many more delicious recipes)

Chocolate Dipped Cookie-Dough Balls: Pg. 99

Pies, Crumbles & Cobblers

Church Party Peach Cobbler w/
 Orange & Cinammon Dumplings  (Pg 169)

Joy the Baker starts out this section with "How to Make Perfect Buttermilk Pie Crust" With just a handful of ingredients she teaches us how to make our own HOMEMADE pie crust!  She makes it seem fairly simple!

Recipes range from: Happy Birthday Brownie Pie, Chocolate Pudding Pie, Lemon-Blueberry Pie, a Strawberry-Ginger Crumb Cobbler, and ends with an intriguing "Mango-Rose Water Cheesecake".

There are also a few different recipes for different crusts as well.  She seems to be taking it to the basics and teaching us "newbies" how to make magic in the kitchen.  

Layer Cakes, Cupcakes & Skillet Cakes

S'More Cake: Page 193

Much like she did with the pies and teaching how to start with a basic crust, she does the same with the Cakes!  The section begins with a Basic Three-Layer Yellow Cake recipe and features other basic cake recipes.  She's sectioned the cake recipes from the frosting recipes so that they can be easily mixed to your heart's desire.

There's even a "Vegan" cake recipe.  Recipes like Under-Baked Chocolate Chip Skillet Cake, Brown Sugar Cupcakes,S'more Cake, and Almond Angel Food Cake w/ Vanilla Scented Citrus the recipes in this section with leave your mouth watering.

Ice Cream Social:

Lavender-Earl Grey: Pg 238

Last, but certainly not least is the Ice Cream Social.  Probably not for the faint at heart, ice cream recipes require a lot of elbow grease and a ton more dedication.  But, if you are brave enough to withstand, the results I'm sure will be well worth it.  With your standard French Vanilla Bean ice cream to a bit more bold flavors like: Rose Water Ice Cream with Pistachios & White Chocolate this section probably features the most unique flavors out of the whole book.

If I sat here and talked about every yummy recipe in this book, this post would end up being a mile long.  There are truly an outstanding number of unique flavor combinations that Joy the Baker has put together in this cook book.  There are even a number of recipes for unique Drinks that have been included as well.  From Red Snapper Cocktail to Mango-Watermelon Tequila Sunrise (Pg.63-69 showcase some of the drink recipes included in the book) these are definitely some interesting flavorful drinks!

Caramel Swirled Sweet Corn Ice Cream
Pg. 241

Bread & Brown Butter Ice Cream
Pg. 250

Overall: 

Gosh, this is probably the longest book review I've ever done and trust me I've put out some long-winded book reviews in my time!!  Although I'm not necessarily a baker, I do enjoy my food and even more I love to look at delicious food.

The mark of a great cookbook should leave your mouthwatering and you searching for ingredients to see if there is anything you could make RIGHT NOW with the ingredients you have on hand.  If a cookbook doesn't make you want to rush out to the store to pick up strange sounding ingredients, you probably aren't reading the right ones.

This cookbook even has a non-baker like myself wanting to test out and try some new and exciting recipes!  While I may not try all of the recipes, there are definitely a few that are on my "Must Try" list!  I think that the recipes Joy the Baker has produced in this book are truly unique.

Buy The Book:

Homemade Decadence is available on Amazon in either Kindle or Print:

Joy the Baker: Homemade Decadence on Amazon

Birchbox AUGUST Book Club Review: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? By Mindy Kaling

BIRCHBOX:

Birchbox is a beauty subscription service that costs just $10/ monthly and subscribers receive 5 deluxe sized samples ranging from Haircare to Skincare to Cosmetics.  They also have a wonderful point system, in which subscribers can earn "birchbox points" to spend in their HUGE store, that has all kinds of fun stuff!

Birchbox Book Club:

Just recently, I believe in June, they started having a monthly book club.  This month's selection was Mindy Kaling's book, "Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns).

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER:

So, for those of you who read my blog often, may have noticed that I have added a ton to my plate.  I've also been doing a ton of product reviews.  So, it's really taking some getting organized to learn to balance everything from my Book Blog to my Beauty Blog as well as my money maker "Selling jewelry".  It's really a hit or miss thing for me to try to figure out how to get everything accomplished.  I see other folks posting maybe 3 or 4 blog posts a day and am amazed at how wonderfully organized they must be!!

OK SO ON TO THE BOOK!

This book is a bit of a departure for my normal style of reading.  I tend to read mainly chick-lit fiction.  However, I truly did love this book.

It's a perfect book, for times when you don't have a lot of time to invest in a "story".  As it's mainly a book filled with lots of little stories.  The book was filled with lots of tid bits about Mindy Kaling's life!  Told through the mouth of Mindy, she can make even the most ordinary event sound hilarious.

The opening page, had me dying with laughter.  She definitely has a unqiue voice and a different perspective than a lot.  She doesn't seem to take herself too seriously and is able to "poke fun" at herself, which is always good for a laugh.

*** Excerpt taken from: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns
Thank you for buying this book.  Or, if my publisher's research analytics are correct, thank you, Aunts of America, for buying this for your niece you don't know that well but really want to connect with more.  There are many teenage vampire books you could have purchased instead.  I'm grateful you made this choice.

With an opening like that, how could it be anything BUT fun!  She also responds to the question:  "Is this one of those guide books celebrities write for girls?, with:  Oh, Hell no.  I'm only marginally qualified to be giving advice at all.  My BMI is certainly not idea, I frequently use my debit card to buy things that cost less than three dollars because I never have cash on me, and my bedroom is so untidy it looks like vandals ransacked the Antrhopologie Sale section.  I'm kind of a mess.

She definitely was able to push back the "celebrity Mindy" and make us feel as if she's just one of the girls.  I mean, sure she's been on several sit-com's and movies, but she's just like us...  Only not.

If you like light hearted books, that are fun with several little stories within, this is a book you would definitely enjoy.  I really enjoyed her writing style and her humor.  Anyone who can so eloquently laugh at themselves, is alright in my book.

There's a Best Friend's Right and Responsbilities Section for the important things Best Friend's should do for one anohter.  Things like, borrowing ALL your clothes (That's a given), be honest about how you look (GENTLY), trying to like ones' boyfriend, being there when your depressed.

She goes on to tell about her time on The Office, and how she got the role of Kelly Kapoor.  She basically gives us an inside look inside the mind of Mindy Kaling, along with some of the background on how she became the successful actress, but how she maintains to be just a "normal" girl who happens to be a Hollywood star.

I'm so not a nonfiction person, for the most part.  So, for a book that's nonfiction to hold my interest, it really takes an interesting and unique approach, and Mindy Kaling, certainly had that in Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns.  It's a book, I would definitely recommend to other folks!  It's a great GIFT book, as she so jokingly put it, it really is.  It's a book you could keep in your ahem "bathroom" for those times that you might be there for a little longer than usual.

I totally give this a Sassy Gal FIVE star rating!  It was so much fun, yet infomrative, it didn't have me nodding off as some books have been known to do!  It's a book that I think I could read, and reRead and get something a bit different each time.

TO follow Mindy on Twitter:  Mindy on Twitter
To learn more about Birchbox or to subscribe:  Birchbox.com
Follow Birchbox:  Birchbox on Twitter

To purchase this book:
Just $4.99 on Kindle!

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) 

 Did you read the August Birchbox book club selection?  If so, what did you think of Mindy Kaling's book and how would you rate it against other Non-Fiction works?

Thanks for once again tuning into another post!  I hope that you weren't bored to tears and maybe even learned something!  I would love to hear from you!  I like to know I'm not talking to myself!!  So maybe just a comment that says:  Yup, I was here, would be nice :)

Until Next Time!

Sassy Gal
xoxo