Amazing Sweets, Cookbook Reviews
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A Basket of Bakers’ Delights

It’s my favorite time of the year — time to bake and eat lots of glorious sweets! For bakers and the bakers on your shopping list I offer a few cookbook titles for the holiday season. Included are some oldies but goodies and loads of delicious treats.

The Great British Book of Baking by Linda Collister (Michael Joseph, 2010)
A British import, The Great British Book of Baking delights the Anglophile in me. Yet, you don’t have to love scones or soda bread to appreciate this beautiful book. Featuring 120 classic as well as modern recipes and histories and anecdotes for each, it takes readers on a journey through the best of British baking. Please note that ingredient measurements are in metric.

Maida Heatter’s Cakes by Maida Heatter (Andrews McMeel, 2011)
First published in 1982, Maida Heatter’s Cakes offers 175 reliable, delectable recipes for cakes of countless stripes. Plain, chocolate, layer, fruit, nut, cheese, gingerbread, vegetable . . . you name the cake, this James Beard Award-winning “Queen of Desserts” has it covered. Similar to Heatter’s other timeless dessert books, this cookbook features clear, precise instructions, ensuring that even a novice baker can succeed in making such elaborate creations as Star-Spangled Banner and Black-and-White Layer Cakes.

Piece of Cake by David Muniz and David Lesniak (Rizzoli, 2012)
Written by Americans Muniz and Lesniak, who own and operate London’s first American bakeshop, Outsider Tart, Piece of Cake celebrates quintessential American sweets. Whoopie pies, brownies and cheesecakes all get their due. Likewise, one of my favorites, the humble coffee cake, gets a dash of excitement in such recipes as nutmeg and strawberry rhubarb coffee cakes. Subtitled “Home Baking Made Simple,” this cookbook shows how easy it is to create winning, homemade sweets.

The Great Scandinavian Baking Book by Beatrice Ojakangas (University of Minnesota, 1999)
Whether you’re intrigued by Scandinavia or simply interested in expanding your baking repertoire, you’ll adore The Great Scandinavian Baking Book. Showcasing the baked goods of Sweden, Denmark and Norway as well as Iceland and Finland, the cookbook enables both skilled and first time bakers to make a host of exotic yet wholesome goodies. With concise instructions and detailed illustrations you’ll be braiding your own fragrant cardamom rings and rolling creamy butterhorns in no time.

The Sweeter Side of Amy’s Bread by Amy Scherber and Toy Kim Dupree (Wiley, 2008)
Just typing the title makes me hungry. A longtime fan of Amy’s Bread, I had to own this cookbook. With it in my collection I can whip up unbeatable devil’s food cupcakes, gooey coconut dream bars and cinnamon raisin twists at any place or time. Even if you’ve never tried one of Amy’s heavenly butterscotch cashew bars or ethereal red velvet cake, you’ll end up craving this colorful book. Brimming with over 70 exquisite recipes, The Sweeter Side of Amy’s Bread is a dessert lover’s dream cookbook.

Filed under: Amazing Sweets, Cookbook Reviews

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Based on the U.S. East Coast, I am a trained journalist, writer and photographer specializing in food, travel, STEM and education. My articles appear in such publications as the Chicago Tribune, LA Times, Standardization News, VegNews and See All This. I have written two nonfiction books, contributed to two other books and provided the photography for one. A world traveler, I have journeyed through 51 countries and six continents, collecting story ideas as I've roamed.

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