5 New Baking Books to Gift This Season: A Chat With Margaret Roach
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.

If you are looking for a gift for the baker in your life, good news: you have lots of options this year. You also face a difficult decision: which one to buy??
I recently spoke with my friend Margaret Roach, the master gardener behind A Way to Garden, about five new baking books, all of which are fabulous, all of which provide both volume and metric measurements, all of which promise to fill your kitchen with deliciousness this winter and beyond.
You can listen to our conversation over on A Way to Garden, where you also can enter a five-book giveaway 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉 Margaret and I are each giving away a copy of the five books we discuss in our chat. Find the giveaway details below.
PS: Margaret Roach’s Garden is Magical
PPS: Margaret’s book, A Way to Garden, is a must for the gardener in your life.
Sarah Kieffer’s 100 Cookies
In 100 Cookies, Sarah Kieffer writes: “In my childhood kitchen, cookies were a foundation, a stepping-stone to baking, a rite of passage.”
I love this sentiment, and as we potentially head into another quarantine, this book would be such a great one to have on hand, especially for budding bakers. There are metric measurements for each recipe, and as Margaret noted in our conversation, paring this book (or any of the others) with a digital scale would make a great gift.
My 9- and 10-year-olds have been weighing out all of the ingredients, and then we’ve been assembling the cookies together. We are loving the brown butter chocolate chip cookies and the brown sugar cookies, but I have no doubt every recipe in this book is a winner.
Sarah is an incredibly reliable recipe writer, and I love her precise instructions, in particular that she gives weights for the actual portioned cookie dough balls — so helpful!
If you are a fan of Sarah’s pan-banging cookies, there are 12 variations of that cookie in the book as well as an extensive troubleshooting section about that cookie alone.
Yossy Arefi’s Snacking Cakes
Yossy Arefi describes a snacking cake as “a single layer cake, probably square, covered with a simple icing — or nothing at all — and it must be truly easy to make. It’s a cake that makes an ideal breakfast to-go, wrapped in a paper napkin, and a perfect little sweet to have alongside coffee in the afternoon.”
I am loving Snacking Cakes for a number of reasons, but namely:
- The recipes are simple: truly, none requires much more than a bowl, a whisk, and a reasonably well-stocked pantry.
- As promised, some of the recipes come together before your oven reaches temperature.
- Because none of the cakes requires creaming butter and sugar (but instead calls for oil or melted butter), most of them come together in a single bowl.
I have made the powdered donut cake several times, and my children devour it every time. I love the lemon-olive oil cake, and I’m dying to make the cocoa yogurt cake, which I heard Yossy say in an interview is maybe her favorite recipe in the book.
Erin Jeanne McDowell’s The Book on Pie
In The Book on Pie, Erin Jeanne McDowell writes: “Pie has a miraculous ability to be simultaneously comforting and special occasion worthy, both homey and fancy. “
So true.
The Book on Pie not only celebrates pie but also demystifies the pie-baking process. Throughout the book, you very much get the sense that Erin is trying to remove the fear from pie baking, an intimidating process for many home cooks.
I love that you can feel Erin’s love of teaching in every page of this book. In the introduction, Erin says she “wanted to create a true handbook filled with all the things [she’s] learned.”
She succeeded.
I am finding her explanation of parbaking and blind baking — probably my least favorite thing to do in the kitchen — very helpful. She inspired me in fact to parbake the crusts for my Thanksgiving pies this year. (More on this soon!)
The pies in this book vary from classics such as apple, lemon-meringue, chess, and chocolate-pecan but there are so many fun and inspiring ideas, too: cherry clafoutis pie, cheesecake pie, Tres leches slab pie, to name a few. There are savory pies, too.
Claire Saffitz’s Dessert Person
In Dessert Person, Claire Saffitz writes: “Rolling out a pie crust or cutting biscuits is my version of doing yoga. Dessert is in my DNA.”
I love this. If you have made any of the dessert recipes in Bon Appetit in recent years, you’ve likely made one of Claire’s. This rhubarb custard cake is one of my favorites, so I loved reading in the introduction that fruit desserts are her preference.
This book is filled with fruit desserts, and unlike the three previously mentioned books, this one is more of a general dessert cookbook. There are recipes for cakes, pies, cookies, bars, and more. There are savory baking recipes as well.
One thing that struck me: Claire believes there’s no such thing as a foolproof recipe, which more and more I am learning to be true — from ovens and pans to humidity and altitude, the many variables affecting how a recipe will turn out in someone else’s kitchen simply cannot be controlled.
Because of this Claire gives lots of indications — visual cues — throughout the recipes to help you along. For instance, she’ll never just say: “bake a cake until a tester comes out clean.” She’ll tell you how it will look, how it will feel, and how it will smell. How nice?
I have yet to bake anything, but these three recipes are calling my name:
- Blood Orange and Olive Oil Upside-Down Cake
- Goat Cheese Cake with Honey and Figs
- Minty Lime Bars
Melissa Weller’s A Good Bake
In A Good Bake, Melissa Weller writes about an aha moment she had upon thinking about the cookbooks she learned from early on in her career: “If those recipes had just given a little hint about this or that, a little more detail here or there, my baked goods would have turned out looking like those in the pictures that inspired me to want to make them to begin with. I knew then that I wanted to write a cookbook.”
A Good Bake is a compilation of 15 years of training, working, and note-taking — it’s the book Melissa Weller wishes she had when she was starting out.
Melissa trained at the French Culinary Institute in New York City and worked at Babbo, Jim Lahey’s restaurants, Thomas Keller’s restaurants, and Roberta’s. But before she was a baker, she was a chemical engineer.
If you are someone who appreciates a scientific approach to baking, you will love this book. In the introduction, Melissa writes: “Asking questions — lots of them — is integral to being an engineer: a chemical engineer or an engineer of dough.” Melissa attributes her love of science and baking as well as her curiosity for shaping her career in pastry and bread.
Like Dessert Person, A Good Bake is an overall dessert cookbook, with recipes for breads, pastries, pies, tarts, cakes, quick breads, cookies, bars, and more.
If you want to learn how to make laminated pastry, from croissants to kouign amann, this is a great resource. If you want to learn how to make flaky buttermilk biscuits or tender, buttery pie dough, Melissa will show you how. If you want to learn how to build a sourdough starter from scratch, there’s a tutorial for that, too.
I have yet to bake anything, but these three recipes are calling my name:
- Black Sesame Kouign Amann
- Cinnamon Swirl Sour Cream Bundt Cake
- Flourless Chocolate Olive Oil Cake
To Enter the Giveaway
A Way to Garden and I are each giving away five cookbooks. To enter, answer this question in the comment box at the bottom of the page (then copy and paste it into the comment box over at Margaret’s website):
Tell us what your favorite new cookbook is and what recipe you are loving from it.
We’ll each select 5 winners on December 13th and notify you then. UPDATE: The Giveaway is closed. The winners — Thao, Jenn S., Xenia, Urszula, and Samota — have been emailed.
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
511 Comments on “5 New Baking Books to Gift This Season: A Chat With Margaret Roach”
I really enjoyed the podcast on cook books.
My latest favourite soup recipe is Roasted Squash Soup from Yum & Yummer. Delicious
I’m so excited to have discovered your blog. I’m loving Ottolenghi’s Flavour. The most recent fav: Chaat Masala Potatoes with Yogurt and Tamarind
Favorite new Cookbook: New World Sourdough Brian Ford. I’ve baked the oatmeal bread ad the whole wheat Brioche buns both are great.
My favorite new cookbook is Bread Toast and Crumbs because I made someone very happy by gifting it to them this year!! Enjoyed listening to you and Margaret on the Way to Garden podcast. Always learn something whenever I listen to each of you!
Thank you, Anne 🙂 🙂 🙂
I really enjoyed reading the post on all of the cookbooks and gardening. I do both.
My favorite cookbook right now is Molly on the Range. Thank you so much for your amazing recipes. I am saving up for your cookbook.
I am loving Ina Garten‘s newest cookbook, modern comfort food. Don’t we need comfort food right now! I’ve made well over a dozen recipes in her new book, some some of my favorites are chicken pot pie soup, baked rigatoni with lamb Ragu and smashed eggs on toast!
We are LOVING “Indian-ish” by Priya Krishna. We’ve been cooking our way through her family recipes and are learning so much abotu Indian cuisine along the way.
My favorite new cookbook? Can I only choose just one? Ok. I am loving “The Bundt Collection” by Brian Hart Hoffman. I am baking one cake a week. There are 131 recipes in this book! My project will take me awhile but it will be delicious. Favorite recipe so far: The White Russian Bundt Cake made with Kahlua.. Oh, so good.
I’ll have to try those brown sugar cookies!
I’ve been loving Adeena Sussman’s cookbook Sababa. I just made the ginger persimmon cake but used canned pumpkin and it was delicious. Really want to try the melted cabbage next.
Favorite new cookbook right now is Falastine by Sami Tamimi and Tara Wigley and the recipe that I’ve been baking is the one for Sweet Tahini rolls.
I have 2 favorite new cookbooks: Dinner in French by Melissa Clark and Simply Living Well (book for all sorts of things but lots of food recipes!) by Julia Watkins. The pissaladiere from Dinner in French was so delicious! I made the scrap apple cider vinegar from SLW, but am going to try her sage honey next.
My favorite new-to-me cookbook is Bakewise by Shirley Corriher. Shirley gives all the whys of baking and, like any good teacher, empowers the baker to take charge of their baking.
I have all 5 of the giveaway books on my want list. 🙂
I’ve been making pumpkin pancakes (with orange zest) from Lukas Volger’s Start Simple cookbook. Not exactly a baking cookbook, but still lots of easy and delicious recipes.
Would love to add one of these cookbooks to my collection.
Love Lukas’s books! I’ll have to try those pancakes.
Waiting for a copy of Ina Garten’s newest book for Christmas so I can warm up with her truffle mac and cheese !
I enjoy the Bravetart cookbook and the snickerstruesel recipe
Ohh sounds wonderful! Thanks for sharing!
I spent a damp, chilly Saturday with two friends in the kitchen cooking from Mourad:New Moroccan. The book weaves a beautiful story with delicious recipes. We made the basteeya and it was like warm Moroccan sunshine for the soul! I plan to spend the cold dark months ahead cooking my way through this fabulous book.
I’m enjoying your website. When I’m not going for cakes and cookies I try to eat healthy and found a most delicious way to use the kale from my garden in Soupelina’s Soup Cleanse book making Kale-ifornia Dreamin’ Soup. Her recipes, too, all have fun names.
I have enjoyed leafing through Molly on the Range and I’m looking forward to trying her pita and hummus recipes. Side note: my mother-in-law made your pull apart dinner rolls for Thanksgiving and they were oh so delicious, so thank you for that.
So nice to hear this, Greer! Love Molly on the Range, too 🙂
My favourite new cookbook to cook from isn’t “new”, but it is new to me. Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh’s ‘Sweet’ cookbook is simply magical. It boasts variety, delicateness and thought. My favourite thing to cook from there is the peanut butter smore cookies. Classic combo, reinvented!
Love the snack cakes
My favorite new cookbook is Flavour by Yotam Ottolenghi. I love how creative the recipes and they are built on layers: color, taste, texture, raw vs cooked. My go to recipe is the Oyster Mushroom Tacos with homemade tortillas.
The Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen is not new but some of its recipes are new to me. I enjoyed your show and the collaboration between the two of you. Be well and thank you!
Heavenly Cakes by Rose Levy Beranbaum is a great cookbook. Right now my favorite recipe is her Spice Cake with Peanut Butter frosting. Simple, homey and divine!
Sarah’s book 100 Cookies is a favorite already, especially with my grandsons!
Thanks for a great giveaway.
I don’t know how new it is, but In My Kitchen, Deborah Madison. The recipe is for yeasted buckwheat waffles. Beautiful and delicious.
I have Dessert Person and am dying to make the malted brownies, but keep forgetting to pick up malted milk powder!
Been working my way through Flavor Flours by Alice Medrich, just made the buckwheat pumpkin bread, yum !
Believe it or not, my new favorite cookbook is Alexandra Stanford’s Bread Toast Crumbs. I am mostly vegetarian so I love the Chickpea and Beet burger recipe and I’m trying all the bread recipes. So easy and delicious!
Thank you, Sela 💕💕💕💕💕
Eat More Plants by Desiree Nielsen and the Chipotle Tofu Mole – yum!!
My favorite newish cookbook is Sababa by Adeena Sussman. The granola with tahini is different and delicious!