Warm Your Bones: Cozy Recipes for Chilly Days and Winter Nights

Cookbook By: Vanessa Seder

“Warm Your Bones assumes that using a stove and oven and warming up your kitchen is a good thing; thus long, slow-cooking processes like braising, roasting, baking, and stewing come into rotation,” Vanessa Seder. I had no idea when I bought Warm Your Bones: Cozy Recipes for Chilly Days and Winter Nights that it was written by someone who lives in Maine. That’s where my mom’s side of the family is from and where I was born.

No matter what time of year it is I find myself turning to cozy recipes. I’m not sure how much it rains where you live but even during the summer sometimes you want your house to just feel warm and cozy.

Flipping through this cookbook I found a bunch of recipes I wanted to make but narrowed it down to two that I couldn’t resist: Banana Maple Bundt Cake with Creme Fraiche Glaze and Classic Stovetop Macaroni and Cheese. Keep reading to see what I thought of each recipe.

Banana Maple Bundt Cake with Creme Fraiche Glaze

My family knows that I am a sucker for anything that has maple sugar in it. I’ve been known to eat an entire box of maple sugar candy in an afternoon. So when I saw this Banana Maple Bundt Cake I knew I wanted to make it. The granulated maple sugar was hard to find locally so I ordered it off Amazon.

I made this bundt cake twice – my first try everything that could go wrong went wrong (none of it had anything to do with the recipe) – including my stand mixer not mixing the batter thoroughly and I didn’t realize it until I poured it into the pan. Unfortunately, at that point I knew I had to toss the batter as it was sticking to the pan so I couldn’t save it. I took a day and then tried again; this time everything went really smoothly. It’s a little hard with bundt cakes to be 100% sure they are done and I wish I had taken this one out a few minutes earlier than I did.

I’ll be honest I don’t love banana bread (which is weird since I love bananas) so I was disappointed that the banana flavor took over the maple flavor in the cake. It was more of a banana bundt cake with a hint of maple. My sister, however, loves banana bread and loved this cake with the maple.

I do wish recipes with bananas in them would have a weight of the bananas and not just say 3 as they vary so much in size. I’m not sure if my bananas were larger than the recipe intended which would affect the banana to maple ratio.

The recipe is easy to follow and does make a beautiful delicious bundt cake if you love banana bread. I would make this again for my family knowing how much they all love banana bread but for me I probably wouldn’t eat it again as its not to my taste.

Classic Stovetop Macaroni and Cheese

Who doesn’t love a good mac and cheese? I’m always on the search to find the best macaroni and cheese recipe. The classic stovetop macaroni and cheese recipe is so simply to follow and most of us will have all of the ingredients in our kitchen. Surprisingly I didn’t have a white medium-sharp cheddar cheese so I went to pick some up in the store and they didn’t have any medium-sharp, so I just went with sharp.

Making the macaroni and cheese was quick. I think grating the cheese took the most time! When I was whisking the milk, it didn’t seem like it was thickening until all of a sudden, it just thickened, so don’t worry if it seems like it isn’t working.

The classic stovetop macaroni and cheese was so good! I can’t wait to make it again and next time I think I will try one of the variations either the baked macaroni and cheese or the lobster macaroni and cheese.

Overall, I liked Warm Your Bones: Cozy Recipes for Chilly Days and Winter Nights. I know that I will be making the Classic Stovetop Macaroni and Cheese on a regular basis. The recipes are easy to follow and tasty. I did find that some of the ingredients are a little harder to find locally, but I am okay with that. This is one of the reasons I read recipes multiple times so I can figure out if I need to order an ingredient. Warm Your Bones: Cozy Recipes for Chilly Days and Winter Nights is a great cookbook for anyone looking for cozy delicious recipes.