Milk Street Digital Class: Better Baking Spices with Rosemary Gill & April Dodd

About this Pre-Recorded Class:

Chocolate and chili. Molasses and black pepper. Garam masala and pumpkin. Bay leaf and berries. Savory spices transform baked goods for the better, adding a subtle (or bold) twist to your cookies, cakes, crumbles and compotes. In this 90-minute Workshop taught by Milk Street’s Rosemary Gill and April Dodd, you’ll make four desserts with an array of spices and spice blends we’re more accustomed to using in dinner: Poached Fruit with Bay, Fennel and Black Pepper, Pumpkin Bread with Garam Masala or R as el Hanout, Coriander-Ginger Streusel Topping and Mini Almond Cakes with Spiced Chocolate. As we bake, you’ll learn how to use savory spices subtly, to underscore and complement the sweetness we seek in dessert and practice using a bolder hand to create more dramatic changes. For example, garam masala in pumpkin bread is a gentle upgrade from the standard ginger and cinnamon. Ras el hanout—made with ginger, cinnamon, turmeric, coriander, chili, black pepper and more—is a bolder change that we love. Adding just bay leaves to wine creates an elegant and slightly herbal poaching liquid for plums. Adding fennel seeds and ample black pepper to the mix creates a complex foil to the fruit’s sweetness. We explore all of these options and more. We also talk about which savory spices you can use liberally and which need a gentler touch, when to toast spices you use in desserts and when to use them raw, and the different impact that ground and whole spices have on a dessert’s flavor. If you’re interested in better baking options, join April and Rosie to learn the savory side of sweet.