Tate’s Bake Shop Cookery Book Is a Pleasant Return to Simpler Times
Welcome to Cookbook of the Week . This is a series where I highlight cookbooks that are unique, easy to use, or just special to me. While searching for a specific recipe online serves a quick purpose, flipping through a truly excellent cookbook has its own magic.
My cookbook of the week is often a hot new release, unless I decide to highlight one that came out a few years ago. But it’s been a while since I’ve done a true retro cookbook. My very first cookbook of the week was Hershey’s Best-Loved Recipes , and while it’s not that old, this week’s selection has been a reliable companion for a long time.
This week I decided to turn my attention to Tate’s Bake Shop cookbook, not only because it’s full of recipes for amazing sweet treats, but also because it always offers a welcome respite from the irritating modern internet bakeries.
A little about the book
Tate’s Bake Shop is an actual bakery in the Hamptons on Long Island. It’s a small shop with creaky wood floors and a warm atmosphere—at least that’s how I remember it from my summers working in Bridgehampton. I’d occasionally pop in and pick up a cookie, but that was long before I realized they were Tate ‘s cookies—before their green bags started showing up in the cookie section of every grocery store. You may have tried the crisp, flat cookies Tate’s is now famous for, but did you know they make more than just cookies?
This cookbook is from Tate’s Bake Shop founder Kathleen King. Turns out she makes some damn good cookies… and some damn good pie, and some scones, and some blueberry buckles. I love the Tate’s Bake Shop Cookbook because it’s filled with tried-and-true, classic baked goods. The whole Tate’s brand is built on a homey, cozy, old-fashioned vibe, and that’s what you’ll find in the pages of this cookbook.
There is nothing fancy about it. It does not aspire to be part of your coffee table decor. The recipes are mostly one-pagers with short notes and simple text, and the pictures are found only in the center. This is a cookbook that is meant to be dog-eared, annotated, used by your children, and occasionally splashed with flour – a cookbook that is meant to be loved.
A Great Cookbook for Spoon and Bowl
Although I’ve had this cookbook for almost 15 years, I haven’t opened it in a while. I skimmed through the recipes and noted a few that caught my eye or that I remembered being delicious. Reading through the quick instructions, I noticed some trends: Most of the recipes are homemade, a few are borrowed from family or friends, and King uses salted butter without regard for anyone’s opinion.
It’s a breath of fresh air to see a cookbook, especially a baking cookbook, filled with short, simple recipes. Recipes that don’t require an electric mixer are almost too good to be true. But here they are, each recipe enticing in its simplicity: sour cream pound cake, chocolate jam, sticky toffee date pudding , and those famous chocolate chip cookies you know from the store.
Reading these recipes is almost soothing. Dramatic, I know. But I often feel like social media recipes and new cookbooks are throwing everything at me at once to get my attention. This cookbook feels less like an attempt to impress readers by being trendy or shocking us with new flavor combinations, and more like a collection of personal favorites from a hometown baker.
Baking with this cookbook is like a baking meditation. No need to plug in an appliance or pause a YouTube video. Just grab a bowl and a wooden spoon and spend a little time making something delicious. It’s great for beginner bakers or anyone who loves baking in theory but hates getting too many bowls dirty or when recipes get complicated.
A dish I baked this week
I love cookies, but we already know how good Tate’s cookies are, so I wanted to show something else. Luckily, it’s blueberry season, so that’s what made my decision. I settled on the Blueberry Buckle.
Without taking a photo of the recipe itself (which is not cool to do), I want to illustrate the simplicity of this buckle: the instructions for the entire crumb cake are complete in 12 lines. The title is a three-sentence story about how it won a baking contest in Maine, and how King’s niece improved the crumb texture. If you ever wanted a recipe to cut to the chase, this is it.
A buckle is a cake-like treat with a crumb top and fresh fruit mixed into it. (It’s easy to get confused between buckles, betties, cobblers, and chips.) The cake batter is easy to mix by hand. Using salted butter eliminates the worry of measuring another ingredient, and all the other ingredients were readily available in my pantry. About 15 minutes later, I was ready to pop the whole buckle into the oven.
I don’t know if I’ve had a buckle before, but I would definitely vote for this to win this baking contest. The cake component is perfectly tender, and I really don’t know why or how – there’s no sour cream or buttermilk in it. It must just be the perfect balance of softening the fat and strengthening the gluten. The blueberry to cake ratio is also perfect. I know people always ask for more berries, but if there are too many, the berries drown or make the cake too wet. The crumble on top is exactly how it should be – sweet, buttery and slightly tangy. It’s good enough to eat on its own.
I could see myself making this buckle for a picnic or a friend’s summer birthday brunch. June is just around the corner, so I’ll be keeping my copy of T ate’s Bake Shop Cookbook on hand for other berry-infused summer dishes.
How to buy
Even though this is an old book, it is still available in hardcover . However, if you are looking to save money, be sure to check out your local used book stores. Old books like this are almost always available used for a fraction of the original retail price. If you are more of a digital baker, you can also spend less and download an ebook .