Baking Book For Holiday Bakers

No matter how good a home baker you are you still need inspiration and guidance, especially for the holidays. There are some interesting new pastry books out there now that can help.  They'll turn your holiday dessert table into a table from The Great British Baking Show.

Melissa Clark, the creator of the New York Times Food section's weekly column, A Good Appetite, reviewed and rated these interesting books. Thanks to America's obsession with all shows baking  like the aforementioned  The Great British Baking Show and Nailed It. Home bakers are upping their game. There is no such thing as quick and easy. It has to be elaborate and different. Recipes do reflect the times. Ms. Clark has noticed how trends affect the recipes in all the books. She has counted at least ten call for matcha  powder which is even in pound cake and ancient grains such as teff. einkorn and rye in the book from Tartine's pastry chef.. The biggest change is the use of gluten free flours and how far those recipes have come. This is clearly evident in Elisabeth Pruett, Tartine's pastry chef and co author of  Tartine: A Classic Revisited that she wrote with Chad Robertson. Chef  Pruett is a celiac sufferer  herself, kept  it to herself as she created the restaurant's famed tarts and croissants. Now the gluten free recipes shine such as her chocolate cream pie with oat crust. It was a big hit in Ms. Clark's household with her daughter and the daughter's gluten allergic friend wanting seconds.

The other cookbooks shine too.Another restaurant pastry chef, Margarita Manke's Baking At Republique which feature mostly French pastries and one coconut tapioca soup recipe honoring her Filipino heritage. Another  pastry chef, Joanne Chang of Flour Bakery gives us Pastry Love:A Baker's Journal of Favorite Recipes.  The book has ethereal recipes such as Japanese cotton cheesecake and fun ones such as Super Bowl cupcakes and cinnamon bun popcorn. If you want to embrace Midwestern baking then look to Shauna Severn's Midwest  Made: Big Bold Baking From The Heartland whick features such family favorites as Swedish flop cake  and the light lemon angel pie. There is even a recipe for the buttery and much loved favorite Kringle. Pastry cookbook veteran and Food section contributor, Samantha Seneviratne's  The Joys Of Baking: Recipes for a Sweet Life  has classic recipes such as pain au chocolate zinged up with the addition of Earl Grey tea. For those home bakers who want just simple recipes  check out Odette Williams Simple Cake: All You Need to Keep Your Friends and Family In Cake. Her milk and honey cake, a buttery layered one is rich with dark honey and butter milk. A simple homemade whipped cream tops it and honey is drizzled on top for decoration.

These are the books that will help elevate any holiday dessert table. They go a step further than just the usual cookie recipes. It's time to step up the baking game with these sweet books.