An absolute must for keen bakers at Christmas time as this beautiful recipe ool is jam-packed with over 100 recipes of the the most wonderful cakes, bakes, buns, pastries, custards and pies that you could imagine. There are varied treats to suit every palate. It reminds me of being in my grandmother's kitchen with all the sweet and sumptuous offerings. Each recipe boasts a photo of the bake, the ingredients and step by step instructions. It is so easy to follow. It would make a gorgeous gift or can be enjoyed personally on an annual basis. #thechristmasbakingcookbook
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Well it is now November and we all cooking and baking for Christmas so thank you NetGalley this was downloaded intime to get ahead with Christmas baking. Love the fact this is well illustrated and it has a good selection of festive bakes to choose from Chocolate crinkle cookies, fab youle log ( who doesnt make a yule log at this time) spent a few days ech year at the Dresden Christmas markets so was please to see lebkuchen which i have never made - will be this christmas. Something for everyone and all levels of baking skills would make a great Christmas gift. So recommended
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This book is an impressive collection of 100 Christmas baking recipes to choose from when preparing sweet treats for Christmas. Many recipes are classics like the gingerbread cakes, the snowman cookies, stollen, panettone and much more. Others have a modern twist, such as the matcha Christmas trees. There is something for every taste, from simple cookies to mouthwatering desserts. The recipes are well explained and complete. For the European bakers, there is a little bit more work for quantities conversion from US to our unit of measures. But it is worth the effort. This book is like a recipe collection, a baker's notebook. Personally I like to know more about the authors and the story behind the recipes, especially as the collection is very international and has a lot of interesting Christmas cultures involved. This was something I missed a little and I hope a future edition of this book will bring a little more of that. With its beautiful pictures, the book brings the recipes to life and we can almost smell the delicious spicy aroma of Christmas baking. It is a beautiful book full of inspiration in the run up to Christmas and I am sure no reader will open this book without making plans to try the recipes...And, to borrow from its lovely cover ... 'tis the season.
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Thank you Netgalley for this ARC This is a great wee recipe book! Me and my flatmate made the snowman cookies and found the recipe easy to follow (and the cookies tasted great!) We did haave to convert a few things as it uses american measurements which was mildly annoying and got quite confused and had to google what few good ingredients were like molasses and apple pie spice. In the end we just picked a recipe that didnt have any of those for ease. I think this is a very cute Christmas recipe book but I would like it a lot better if it was more fit for european audiences.
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Thank you to NetGalley and Cider Press Mill for this ARC. This is an American cookbook and it shows. It bakes with molasses and kosher salt and the measurements are not converted. There is a conversion table at the back but I don't want to calculate all the time. It would have been a lot better to put the European measurements in each recipe next to the American ones. The baking instructions are detailed but some recipes are a lot more involved and require more skill than others. Often we only learn in the middle of the recipe that we need piping bags or special pans, like for the Madeleines. It is sometimes not immediately clear which picture is for which bake, and now and then the picture seems to be missing completely or is at the beginning of the entire section. This is a problem if you've never heard of the bake in question. There is no explanation given on the name, culture or country of origin of any of the recipes and I knew only half of them. For example, I googled Pepparkakor and it's a Swedish ginger cookie - why not add that info? That said, I like a lot of the recipes, especially for the cookies, or as we would say, the biscuits, and if I feel up to measurement conversions, I might make some of them for Christmas. Chewy ginger cookies, Pignoli and Orange Spritz come to mind here. The cover with the classic sugar cookies is enticing and the seasoned baker will find lots to love, if they have no trouble with the measurements.
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Just what I needed to get the holiday baking started! I knew as soon as I opened the Negalley PDF to review this book, I had to have it. A few days later it arrived at my door and I have been baking since. LOL. This book covers all of your holiday baking, everything from cookies to cakes, scones, muffins, sticky buns, bread, and more. I found the recipes easy to follow and loved the images of the finished product. Start with the Orange Cardamom cake, yummy!
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Love the book! It is an 8 x 6 1/2 hardbound cookbook filled with pictures for every recipe. It is much smaller than the usual encyclopedic books from the editors of Cider Mill Press. There are many familiar recipes for Christmas baking and the Appendix includes how to make royal icing, brown butter, ganache, mousseline, hazelnut paste, etc. This will be a classic in the kitchen.
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The media could not be loaded. I have not baked anything from this book but can not wait to. There is a picture for almost every recipe which is a must for me. Honestly this book with beautiful out all year at my house as there is a little bit of everything. I already make my own sourdough but there is even a recipe for sourdough starter. I only have minor disappointments about this book. One is the size...for 25 dollars I was expecting a bigger book but it is lovely regardless. And my only other complaint is that there is no information about the baked goods, like where it is from...half of the recipes I can not pronounce and would love to know where they come from. Other than that I am very happy with my purchase. Buy the book!!!
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I purchased 2 copies of this book. I love that the majority of the recipes have a photograph, and they are beautiful. But. Some of the recipes do not reflect the photos, In a number of cases, the photos show a variation, or more sophisticated version of the recipe. For example, the apple pie recipe photo on page 215 shows a smaller size pie with individual star shaped crust. The recipe simply calls for a 9” crust and does not reference the variation. Another issue is words missing in the instructions or listing an ingredient and then not using it in the recipe: where does the orange zest go in the Financiers recipe on page page 132? My daughter also noted similar problems throughout the book. And she regrets the lack of introductory or historical text about each recipe. Some of the recipes assume the baker to have a certain level of experience. Typically, recipes calling for a pie crust to be blind baked would give instructions on how to do so. Not in this book. A blind baked crust is listed as an ingredient. I’ve always been a fan of Cider Milll Press, but this publication is disappointing. I wanted to love it, but I’m giving it 4 stars only because I can work around most of the issues.
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Ok i have been going crazy looking for a recipe for a danish fried cookie for decades and finally found it in this book! took me straight back to my Great grandmother's kitchen, frying up what seemed like ancient secrets with love just for me and my mother's visit... automatically 5 stars!!!
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