Baking Quotes

“There was a mood of magic and frenzy to the room. Crystalline swirls of sugar and flour still lingered in the air like kite tails. And then there was the smell-the smell of hope, the kind of smell that brought people home.”
― Sarah Addison Allen, The Girl Who Chased the Moon

“But the kitchen will not come into its own again until it ceases to be a status symbol and becomes again a workshop. It may be pastel. It may be ginghamed as to curtains and shining with copper like a picture in a woman's magazine. But you and I will know it chiefly by its fragrances and its clutter. At the back of the stove will sit a soup kettle, gently bubbling, one into which every day are popped leftover bones and vegetables to make stock for sauces or soup for the family. Carrots and leeks will sprawl on counters, greens in a basket. There will be something sweet-smelling twirling in a bowl and something savory baking in the oven. Cabinet doors will gape ajar and colored surfaces are likely to be littered with salt and pepper and flour and herbs and cheesecloth and pot holders and long-handled forks. It won't be neat. It won't even look efficient. but when you enter it you will feel the pulse of life throbbing from every corner. The heart of the home will have begun once again to beat.”
― Phyllis McGinley

“Never promise to make pie and fail to deliver on that promise.”
― Kate Lebo, A Commonplace Book of Pie

“Mother took the pie out of the oven and it hissed fragrant apple, maple, cinnamon steam through the knife cuts in the top crust. She was making her world beautiful. She was making her world delicious. It could be done, and if anyone could do it, she could.”
― J.J. Brown, Death and the Dream

“The incarnation took all that properly belongs to our humanity and delivered it back to us, redeemed. All of our inclinations and appetites and capacities and yearnings are purified and gathered up and glorified by Christ. He did not come to thin out human life; He came to set it free. All the dancing and feasting and processing and singing and building and sculpting and baking and merrymaking that belong to us, and that were stolen away into the service of false gods, are returned to us in the gospel.”
― Thomas Howard

“Bake with love..”
― Manuela Kjeilen

“The cookie-verse is infinite”
― Dorie Greenspan, Dorie's Cookies

“I always say a little prayer when I put cakes in the oven,” remarked Eve, as she stopped to kiss Rose good-bye.
“What do you say?”
“I say, ‘Please, God, don’t let me forget I’ve put that cake in the oven.”
― Hilary McKay

“Baking and love go hand in hand, for as one bakes a tasty treat and fills the room with its sweet aroma, the true joy is to take what has been made and share it with another.”
― Heather Wolf, Kipnuk Has a Birthday

“I always say a little prayer when I put cakes in the oven,” remarked Eve, as she stopped to kiss Rose good-bye.

“What do you say?”

“I say, ‘Please, God, don’t let me forget I’ve put that cake in the oven.”
― Hilary McKay, Permanent Rose

“The difference between superlative pie and a wish for cake is crust. Understand that pie is a generous but self-centered substance. It likes attention, not affection. Do not hug your crust. Do not rub its back or five its high. Don't fuss with refrigerators every step oft he way. Keep the water and butter cold, and remember what a wise baker once said: The goal is pie.”
― Kate Lebo, A Commonplace Book of Pie

“Only those who will love longer than they expected to can truly love pecan pie, which doesn't explain its status as death rows most requested last dessert, or why chopped pecans, corn syrup, directions from the Karo bottle's cherry-red side are what mercy taste like to some. But there you have it.”
― Kate Lebo, A Commonplace Book of Pie

“Keep it simple, keep it tasty. Salt, pepper and garlic. Shallot another day, lemon grass for nextweek. Nutmeg and cinnamon every now and then.”
― Riana Ambarsari

“So we baked and sweated together. I like punching the dough. I told myself it was the moon and punched it senseless.”
― Susan Beth Pfeffer, Life As We Knew It

“Good use of time is the universal ingredient in cooking a palatable dish—doesn’t matter if you are baking, boiling, frying, brewing, or grilling.”
― Pawan Mishra, Coinman: An Untold Conspiracy

“She savors each bite: the meringue is perfect crispy brown on top, melts in the mouth; the lemon tart, custardy; the crust breaks away.”
― A.M. Homes

“I got the groceries and lugged them all the way to Akinli’s dorm, running slightly behind because I couldn’t get into the building on my own. The university required ID cards to get into the dorms after six, and since I wasn’t an actual student, I had to wait for someone else to come along and scan his so I could piggyback in.
“You need some help?” the boy asked, his eyes lingering on my mouth.
I shook my head no.
“Aww, come on. That’s way too heavy for you.”
He came closer, and again I cursed our natural appeal. I wasn’t in danger exactly, and I knew that, but it didn’t make these encounters any less uncomfortable. I shook my head again.
“No, really, which floor are you on? I can—”
“Hey, Kahlen!” I looked up to see Akinli walking down the hall. His button-up was open over the gray shirt beneath it, but I was thrilled to see that he’d at least put one on. “I was starting to worry. Hey, Sam.”
“Hey.” The boy gave Akinli a look and headed toward the stairwell, his displeasure at Akinli’s arrival clear. In the meantime, I felt my mood lift significantly. I was now officially on my first date.”
― Kiera Cass, The Siren

“When you celebrate, there is sure to be cake."
Florence Ditlow, in "The Bakery Girls.”
― Florence Ditlow, The Bakery Girls

“Cookies were much better eaten then sold, and they were best homemade.”
― Jesse Haubert, We Found a Horse and Other Stories

“That's how it is for us servants. No one pays you much heed; mostly you're invisible as furniture. Yet you overhear a conversation here, and add a little gossip there. A writing desk lies open and you cannot help but read a paper. Then you find something, something you should not have found...”
― Martine Bailey, An Appetite for Violets

“Jeanne’s sisters thought nothing of themselves.... Helen stayed up late in Brookline, baking. Lemon squares, and brownies, pecan bars, apple cake, sandy almond cookies. Alone in her kitchen, she wrapped these offerings in waxed paper and froze them in tight-lipped containers....

Helen was the baker of the family. What she felt could not be purchased. She grieved from scratch.”
― Allegra Goodman, Apple Cake

“When art calls, you have to follow it. It doesn’t happen often, so take the opportunity when it strikes. In all reality, what I do is art. I do create fabulous pieces of decorative baked goods.”
― A.M. Willard, Frosted Sweets

“My first encounter with a baguette, torn still warm from its paper sheathing, shattered and sighed on contact. The sound stopped me in my tracks, the way a crackling branch gives deer pause; that’s what good crust does. Once I began to chew, the flavor unfolded, deep with yeast and salt, the warm humidity of the tender crumb almost breathing against my lips.”
― Sasha Martin, Life from Scratch: A Memoir of Food, Family, and Forgiveness

“Flour and butter, cream and sugar, words and images -- all the ingredients for a rich, tasty story.”
― Rona Simmons, The Quiet Room

“If you love peanut butter pie, you are either Dolly Parton or someone who loves her.”
― Kate Lebo, A Commonplace Book of Pie

“Bad bananas are like push-up bras--a promise of tenderness can deliver tasteless mush, and we're not supposed to complain.”
― Kate Lebo, A Commonplace Book of Pie

“When I got to Zomick's Kosher Bakery I realized I didn't know very much about food at all. I'd never had a real cake. I'd had those cakes from cake mixes or the ones that have a lot of baking powder in them. A really good Zomick's challah doesn't have anything like that in it - it's all egg power.”
― Zomick's Bakery

“Polly had a gift for baking pies, and she poured her heart and soul into every one she made.”
― Sarah Weeks, Pie

“In the kitchen, her family nibbled Helen’s lemon squares. Melanie urged brownies on the nurses. “Take these,” she told Lorraine. “We can’t eat them all, but Helen won’t stop baking.”

“Sweetheart,” Lorraine said, “everybody mourns in her own way.”

Helen mourned her sister deeply. She arrived each day with shopping bags. Her cake was tender with sliced apples, but her almond cookies crumbled at the touch. Her pecan bars were awful, sticky-sweet and hard enough to break your teeth. They remained untouched in the dining room, because Helen never threw good food away.”
― Allegra Goodman, Apple Cake

“Bad bread wrecks my outlook on life.”
― Jeffrey Steingarten, The Man Who Ate Everything