“The Good Book of Southern Baking: A Revival of Biscuits, Cakes, and Cornbread” by Kelly Fields with Kate Heddings (Lorena Jones Books/Ten Speed Press, $35)
Anyone who’s tasted one of the Instagram-famous chocolate chip cookies at the popular New Orleans restaurant and bakery, Willa Jean — as I’ve had the good fortune to do — would not be surprised to learn that its James Beard award-winning chef-owner, Kelly Fields, comes from a family of accomplished bakers.
But the restaurant’s namesake isn’t one of them.
Her father’s mother “was a terrible cook, but she was sassy and stubborn and sarcastic, and she was my biggest cheerleader and life coach,” she tells us in the introduction to “The Good Book of Southern Baking: A Revival of Biscuits, Cakes, and Cornbread” (Lorena Jones Books/Ten Speed Press, $35).
The South Carolina native credits her mom and maternal grandmother for teaching her to roll biscuits and pie crusts. But it was Grandma Willa Jean who encouraged her to turn her culinary passions into a career, providing moral and financial support every step of the way.
Fields honed her pastry techniques in prominent kitchens around New Orleans and San Francisco, and tasted her way around the world, earning accolades for the “crazy complex” themed dessert plates she was creating before realizing that “my best self emerged once I stopped being so serious.”
That epiphany guided her in designing the menu for Willa Jean on the premise of “having fun and keeping things simple,” drawing heavily from memories of her Southern upbringing. Among its star attractions were the chocolate chip cookies she’d spent years fine-tuning, made with three kinds of chocolate and playfully presented alongside a glass of vanilla bean-flecked milk and an egg beater of cookie dough.
That recipe, like the others in her cookbook, comes with a trove of tips sure to make you a better baker. I can vouch that soaking cornmeal and corn flour in buttermilk overnight for Willa Jean Cornbread produces “a killer moist and supremely corny-tasting loaf,” and almond flour and extra zest take classic Lemon Bars over the top. Buttermilk Panna Cotta demonstrates how five humble ingredients can magically morph into silken luxury on a spoon.
With wit, encouragement, and plainspoken instruction, it’s clear Fields' destiny was to be more than a baker. Like her Grandma Willa Jean, she is a mentor.
Susan Puckett is a cookbook author and former food editor of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Follow her at susanpuckett.com.
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