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 love Dorrie Greenspan’s “The Way I Cook”. The lower East side brunch tarte is amazing! ♥️
LOVE all these new Cookbooks!
Have been eyeing a few of these cookbooks….thanks for the information and recipe you have shared. My favorite new cookbook is not one of these but a cake cookbook by Odette Williams, “Simple Cake”. My favorite recipe is the Tangy Olive Oil Cake. Highly recommend this book and the recipe ideas….so much more than it looks on the surface.
I love “Rise to the Occasion by Hedda Gigi’s Dowd, Cherie Brahmi and Celine Chick from the restaurant Rise no. 1 in Dallas Texas. I love the spinach soufflés and the confidence the cookbook gives you in making these exquisite creations.
The Baker’s Biscuits from “The Good Book of Southern Baking” by Kelly Fields.
My favorite new book is Bread Toast and Crumbs! Been making bread at least once a week. And am even confident enough to have given bread as a gift to our new neighbors!!
Thank you Ali. (And your mom)
So nice to hear this, Dee 🙂 🙂 🙂
Loving Leah Eskin’s “Slices of Life: A Food Writer Cooks Through Many a Conundrum,” because of the way she weaves personal stories through the presentation of her delicious recipes.
I am loving Six Seasons by Joshua McFadden and my favourite recipe is Leeks with Anchovy and Soft-Boiled Eggs! Yum!
My new favorite cookbook is Cathy Erway’s “Sheet Pan Chicken”. Upon receiving this book, I’ve made 2 recipes (The Best War Chicken Salad and Chicken Schnitzel with Crispy Cabbage, Potatoes, and Lemon-Caper Aioli) both of which were easy and flavorful. Erway’s instructions are straight forward and the photographs are mouth watering. I highly recommend this little gem of a book!
I am currently loving the various grain bowl recipes (especially the simple but so flavorful dressings, drizzles and sauces that accompany each one) from Grain Bowls, by Anna Hampton. I’d love to win these five glorious baking books!
I’ve checked out 100 Cookies from the library so many times! It’s such an amazing book!!
My favorite new cookbook is Bitter – and I absolutely adore the grapefruit tart recipe from that book. Not a project for those short on time, but the results are incredible.
My latest purchased cookbook is Snacking Cakes! If I win, I’ll certainly pass the new copy onto my Snacking friend!
I love snacking cakes. I bake a lot for my friends. Food is just love and I drop of snack cakes to people…just ’cause! I made the chocolate cake from the book…OMG!! And the best thing about a snacking cake is that it just gets better every day!
OF COURSE…Bread, Toast, Crumbs is my go to. I’ve learned so about about the simplicity of food from watching Alexandra and she’s also taken eliminated the intimidation factor of bread making, making that process fun and delicious!
I’m a total Ina Garten fan girl, and swooned over every recipe in her new book “Barefoot Contessa: Modern Comfort Food”. We can all use a little comfort this year, right? Her recipe for beef stew using a bottle of red wine and some cognac is out of this world.
These cookies look amazing too!
Strawberry Shortcake Tea Cake Stacks from Grandbaby Cakes by Jocelyn Adams. Her book is so lush and so cheerful.
All of these cookbooks look AMAZING!!! Thanks for the giveaways!
Iv’ve been loving modern comfort food by Ina!
My favorite recipe from a recent book was the tomato pie from Vivian Howard’s “Deep Run Roots”. I love making it in the summer when the garden tomatoes are perfect!
I am currently loving the toum (aka the garlic sauce part of the crispy potatoes with garlic sauce) recipe from Whats Gaby Cooking’s third cookbook, Eat What You Want. So simple yet punchy with its raw garlic and it can be added to everything you’re already eating for an extra kick of flavor!
I love the clementine cake from Benjamina’s New Way to Cake!! Surprising and delicious.
I’ve long been a fan of Deborah Madison and just bought her cookbook In My Kitchen. The chard and saffron flan in almond crust is my favorite recipe.
Haven’t bought the Book on Pie yet but used Erin’s crust recipe with your bourbon pecan pie recipe ….phenomenal! Such a tender flaky crust – can’t wait to try more!
Dessert Person was the book that sucked me back in to my life for baking, and baking substitutions! I don’t eat eggs for religious purposes so it’s a whole challenge (albeit fun!) and would love to have the other books. Dessert Person would go to a dear friend in my life who I have not been able to bake with nearly as much as I would like to this year.
Dessert Person was the book that sucked me back in to my life for baking, and baking substitutions! I don’t eat eggs for religious purposes so it’s a whole challenge (albeit fun!) and would love to have the other books. Dessert Person would go to a dear friend in my life who I have not been able to bake with nearly as much as I would like to this year. I have LOVED the spelt croissants and pistachio pinwheels! (forgot to add which recipe!)
I love the Honeysuckle Cookbook by Dzunf Lewis, the breaded orange cauliflower is amazing!
We have been loving New World Sourdough by Bryan Ford and have made his English muffins about a million times. I also have Snacking Cakes on my Christmas list!
It’s been a little while since I’ve purchased a new cookbook, but my favorite of recent years has to be Julia Turshen’s Small Victories. So many delicious recipes, but I’ve made the Caesar salad dressing more times than I can count.
I love Antoni in the Kitchen! His chili recipe from it is the bomb.
My new favourite cookbook is Anthony Rose’s “The Last Schmaltz” and the Fat Pasha recipe for their Whole Roasted Cauliflower!!
My favorite “The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen,” Hazlenut Maple Sorbet fav dish
My newest fave is from Alison Roman’s Nothing Fancy. It’s her Roasted Chicken with carmelized lemons and dates. So good!!