BAKE! : Essential Techniques For Perfect Baking :

Bake! is the ultimate collection from acclaimed pastry chef, teacher and cookery writer Nick Malgieri. It is an indispensible collection of the 20 essential techniques of successful baking and contains 125 recipes. Each chapter starts with an Essential Technique or Master Recipe, which is accompanied by practical step-by-step photography. Nick then shows you how you can use this Master Recipe to make endless variations. So not only do you learn how to make a Pear and Walnut Tart, but also how to adapt it with pecans, almonds, blueberries or nectarines. From simple shortcrust to perfect puff pastry and delicious breads, cakes and biscuits, Nick demystifies baking and shows you the easiest way to produce mouthwatering results every time. Gorgeously illustrated throughout and including a short introduction on ingredients and equipment, Bake! is all you need to become an accomplished, confident baker.

Lemon Ginger Bars
These are about as gingery as you can get, so consider yourself forewarned if you're not a ginger lover. Actually these bar cookies make a lot of converts to the pleasures of ginger, because they have a strong ginger flavor but, since they're made with dried ground ginger and crystallized ginger, they have little of the burning spiciness that fresh ginger can impart. Lemon zest in the bars and lemon juice in the glaze add a note of contrast.
Makes 24 bars
GINGER BARS
21/2 cups all-purpose flour (spoon into a dry-measure cup and level off)
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons baking powder
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger
2 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
LEMON GLAZE
2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted after measuring
3 tablespoons lemon juice, strained before measuring
One 9 x 13 x 2-inch pan lined with buttered foil
1 Set a rack in the middle level of the oven and preheat to 375˚F.
2 Mix the flour, sugar, ground ginger, and baking powder in a medium bowl.
3 Melt the butter over medium heat and immediately add to the dry ingredients; use a large rubber spatula to stir to a smooth, shiny dough. Add the egg, crystallized ginger, honey, and lemon zest and beat vigorously to make a smooth dough.
4 Scrape the dough into the prepared pan and use the palm of your hand to press it evenly over the bottom of the pan.
5 Bake the bars until well risen, firm, and lightly golden, 20 to 25 minutes.
6 While the bars are baking, use a small rubber spatula to beat the confectioners' sugar and lemon juice together. If it's too thick to spread, thin by adding 1/2 teaspoon water at a time until it's right.
7 As soon as the bars are baked, place a cutting board on the pan and use oven mitts to invert the hot bars to the board. Remove the pan and foil and replace with another board. Turn right side up and remove the top board. Immediately brush the lemon glaze on the bars so that it sets as the bars cool.
8 Use a ruler to mark, then cut 2-inch squares.
Serving: Arrange the bars on a platter; the icing is dry, so they can be stacked.
Storage: Keep the bars in a tin or plastic container with a tight-fitting lid between sheets of wax paper.