Member Review

Sarah Kieffer has lots of warm memories of the winter holidays. She grew up in one of those close families that started celebrating before Thanksgiving and kept on long past New Year’s. They shared laughter and love, food and fellowship, photos and memories. If you are someone who got to grow up in his kind of family or if you are wanting to create that now, then Baking for the Holidays is the book you’re looking for.

Filled with lots of beautiful photographs, recipes for family breakfasts and holiday desserts, and gifts you can make and share, this cookbook brings a taste of a big family Christmas to readers. Whether you’ve experienced that kind of heartwarming holiday or not, Kieffer is prepared to get you in the mood with delicious recipes, ideas for new traditions, and a reminder of what’s really important during the holiday season.

If you’re not much of a baker, Kieffer offers lots of help, from talking about the ingredients and tools you’ll need to get started to including lots of photos to help you get your technique right. Do you want to try the Giant Cinnamon Roll? There are pictures showing how to roll it up, step by step, so you can make sure to get it right. Same with the Nutella Star Bread or the Pear-Almond Danish Braid. Other options for Morning Breads and Pastries include Powdered Sugar Doughnuts, Streusel Coffee Cake, or Coffee-Cardamom Monkey Bread.

If you’re planning out your holiday desserts, you can try the Carrot Cake with Burnt Honey Buttercream, Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake, or the Hazelnut Cheesecake. Rather have a pie? Try the Crème Brulèe Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Mint Ice Cream Pie, or the Apple, Caramel, and Hard Cider Pie. Or are you looking for gifts to share with family and friends? There are Caramel Candies, Peanut Butter Cups, Turtle Bars, Modern Fruit Cakes, or Cut-Out Cookies.

Then there is a chapter called Beyond Christmas, which is filled with recipes that help you hang on to the warm holiday feelings through the cold month of January (and beyond). Try the Lemon Pull-Apart Bread, Blood Orange Turnovers, or Blueberry Streusel Buns. Need something for a snowy weekend? There’s the Hot Chocolate Cake. Want a celebration? Try the Confetti Cake.

The entire last chapter is extra recipes that can add special touches to your baking, like candied nuts, no-churn ice creams, pastry cream, lemon curd, and marshmallows. But throughout the book are more recipes for basics you can master, and once you have those, you are only limited by your own imagination. There are recipes for sweet dough, pie dough, rough puff pastry, and even a cheater’s croissant dough.

While these 50-some treat recipes are a great reason to buy Baking for the Holidays, the thing that makes this cookbook special is the feelings that evokes. The stories of Kieffer’s Christmases, whether as a child enjoying her presents or as a young adult working retail, are the stories that so many share. Singing the same songs every year and decorating the Christmas tree and wrapping presents, all with the sweet sugar smell of treats baking bring to mind the happy holidays we like to remember.

The downside to this cookbook is that there are not a lot of recipes, and it does focus on a certain type of Christmas holiday that not everyone gets excited about. The only December holiday included is Christmas, so anyone wanting to celebrate a different holiday or a different culture will need to find a different cookbook. Kieffer doesn’t make the book overly religious, but it is heavy on making family memories and celebrating traditions and rituals.

Egalleys for Baking for the Holidays were provided by Chronicle Books through NetGalley, with many thanks.