Sugar & Spice: Flavor-Packed Dinners and Desserts to Crave, written by Remi Idowu, features an exciting and vibrant collection of both sweet and savory recipes for every occasion. A few highlights include Spicy Burnt Sausage Pasta, Cheesy Caramelised Onion Rolls, Suya Chicken, Ultimate Speculoos White Hot Chocolate, and Carrot Cake Cheesecake. I will also be sharing her recipe for a Pistachio Skillet Cookie following the review.
Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book from Interlink Publishing in exchange for my honest review. All opinions and statements are my own.
Remi Idowu
Remi Idowu is a recipe developer, content creator, and author. She launched Bakes by Remi at the age of 19 selling homemade treats to the public and @FoodbyRemi in 2021 on Instagram and TikTok to share her love of sweet and savory recipes with others.
Her work has also been featured in The Guardian Feast, Feedfeed, and major supermarket chains. This is Remi’s debut cookbook.
Sugar & Spice
Remi begins Sugar & Spice with a short introduction of the book and her family before jumping into a few notes to get started. She states this is “a cookbook I designed for people like me: home cooks who are short on time and don’t want an overly long list of ingredients, but still want to treat themselves to dinner and dessert.”
She grew up in England to immigrant parents from Ghana and Nigeria. These flavors shine across the pages from comforting and flavorful childhood favorites to inspiration from England and her travels around the world.
Chapters are divided according to the following: Classics with a Twist, Better Than Takeaway, Childhood, A Little Something Sweet, and Desserts to Impress. The contents page has a list of the included recipes with page number for easy reference.
Beginning cooks and bakers will also appreciate the detailed guides for avoiding the most common baking fails (I have definitely been guilty of a couple of these more than once), spice must-haves, step-by-step photos for browning butter, and even illustrations for cutting onions.
The photography is provided by Mowie Kay. Every recipe is paired with at least one vibrant, full-page photo of the finished dish.
Measurements are listed in US Customary and Metric. Titles are written in English or the original language. Each recipe has a headnote with background information, personal memories, yield, serving ideas, and helpful tips.
Pistachio Skillet Cookie
The Pistachio Skillet Cookie is the very last recipe in the book and definitely quite the incredible ending. This decadent cookie is packed with chopped pistachios and dark chocolate, then baked until crispy around the edges with a gooey center.
I especially love how the dessert comes together with simply a bowl, a skillet, and minimal prep.
First, the butter is browned in the skillet before allowing to cool slightly and mixing with the other ingredients to form a dough. The dough is then pressed into that same skillet and baked until golden with the center just set.
This Pistachio Skillet Cookie is perfect while still warm from the oven with a scoop or two of vanilla ice cream over the top along with a sprinkling of additional pistachio and chocolate pieces.
A Few Pistachio Skillet Cookie Tips
I assembled the Pistachio Skillet Cookie in an 8 inch (20 centimeter) cast iron skillet.
This recipe calls for salted butter. If you only have unsalted butter available, add a small pinch of salt with the flour.
After browning the butter, allow to cool slightly before whisking with the sugars. Take care to not over-mix the dough. Bring everything together just until combined.
More Sugar & Spice
I also made the Spaghetti & Lamb Harissa Meatballs, West African Fried Rice, Cookies & Cream Mug Cake, and Triple Chocolate Muffins.
I made the Spaghetti & Lamb Harissa Meatballs to use up some harissa paste I happened to have on hand. This fun twist on spaghetti and meatballs uses ground lamb as the base with a blend of harissa and mint. After forming the meatballs, they are baked, then simmered in tomato sauce before serving with spaghetti and garlic bread.
The recipe for West African Fried Rice comes from the Childhood chapter. Perfect for weeknights, easy cook rice is tossed with shrimp, hot dogs, frozen vegetables, and seasonings for a flavor-packed meal that comes together in less than an hour.
My son picked the Cookies & Cream Mug Cake from the A Little Something Sweet chapter. This quick treat is packed with cookies (plus optionally white chocolate chips) and makes a single serving mug cake in under five minutes.
The Triple Chocolate Muffins are definitely perfect for chocolate lovers. These muffins are packed with cocoa powder, milk chocolate, dark chocolate, AND white chocolate for quite the indulgent treat.
Sugar & Spice is a great pick for those looking to treat themselves with both dinner and dessert all in one book. Remi has developed the recipes with the home cook in mind at every step. There is a wonderful variety of meat-based meals alongside vegetarian and even vegan options. Some are perfect for weeknight or quick solo meals/desserts, while others are meant for larger gatherings or entertaining.
Most of the ingredients are readily available in larger American grocery stores. A few items may require further searching such as black sesame seeds, gochujang, n’duja paste, chipotle paste, Scotch bonnet chili, Kashmiri chili powder, dried fenugreek leaves, nigella seeds, palm oil, and lemon extract.
Pistachio Skillet Cookie Recipe
Excerpt from Sugar & Spice
Pistachio Skillet Cookie
Ingredients
- 225 grams (1 cup) salted butter
- 150 grams (3/4 cup) caster sugar
- 150 grams (3/4 cup) light brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 350 grams (2 3/4 cups) plain flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda baking soda
- 150 grams (5.3 ounces) pistachios roughly chopped
- 150 grams (5.3 ounces) dark chocolate roughly chopped
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180˚C (350˚F) fan.
- Start by browning the butter. Melt the butter in an ovenproof skillet (I used an 8 inch/20 centimeter cast iron skillet) over medium heat until it starts to foam.
- Continue to cook, stirring continuously, until it turns golden brown and releases a nutty aroma. Keep a close eye on it- you don't want it to burn!
- Carefully pour the butter into a large mixing bowl and let it cool slightly. Set aside the skillet.
- Add both the sugars to the cooled butter, whisking until smooth and well combined.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
- Stir in the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda until they are just combined.
- Finally, fold in the pistachios and chocolate until evenly distributed, but avoid overmixing or the warm butter will make the chocolate melt.
- Transfer the dough to the skillet, pressing it into an even layer.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until the edges are golden and the centre is just set.
- Allow to cool slightly before digging in- enjoy it warm and gooey!
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