Tom Douglas Talks About His Latest Cookbook

With more than a dozen restaurants in Seattle, Tom Douglas is a one-man empire in the Pacific Northwest. On one block of downtown Seattle alone, he has several different concepts, including the flagship, Dahlia Lounge, as well as Serious Pie (a killer pizza joint) and the diminutive dahlia bakery. The bakery was born to serve Douglas’ signature dessert – the Triple Coconut Cream Pie – an item he claims helped save his business more than 20 years ago. But the space has evolved quite a bit, now serving incomparable English muffin breakfast sandwiches, maple glazed eclairs and the late Nora Ephron’s favorite peanut butter cookie sandwiches, to name just a few. All of the bakery’s favorites are now compiled in The dahlia bakery Cookbook. I caught up with Douglas on my trip to Seattle last week, and talked about all of the above, as well as two things every aspiring baker should have.