The 5 Best Cookbooks for Holiday Baking

This December, break out the apron because we’ve rounded up the five best cookbooks for holiday baking!

If feasting on holiday food is one of your favorite hobbies this time of year, you’re in good company. Here at Spa Week, baking and indulging (moderately) in sweet treats is one of the biggest highlights of the holiday season. That’s why, as soon as December knocked on our door, we rushed online to round up a whole bunch of ridiculously delicious holiday recipes. But then it occurred to us—why spend hours scouring the Internet when one time-old source can satisfy all our culinary cravings? And no, we’re not talking about Seamless.

This holiday season, we’re turning back the hands of time in favor of a more traditional medium: the cookbook. That’s right, friends, we’re going retro. It’s time to bust out the apron (or buy one), blow dust off the spatula, free up some counter space and channel your inner 1955. Why, you ask? Because we’ve spent our morning curating the best list of holiday cookbooks that are guaranteed to make you want to start baking—STAT.

Here we go!

Holiday Cheer: Recipes and Decorating Ideas for Your Best Christmas Ever ($14.49, amazon.com)

If the title alone doesn’t make you feel warm and fuzzy, the beautiful photos of frosted sugar cookies and other cozy Christmas treats certainly will. Packed with over 100 delectable holiday recipes and dazzling decorations from the editors of Good Housekeeping, Country Living and Redbook, we trust this Christmas-themed compilation implicitly.

Paris Pastry Club ($29.95, anthropologie.com)

Leave it to the French to make a cookbook as chic on the outside as it is sweet on the inside. Featuring recipes by French pastry chef Fanny Zanotti, this coffee-table cookbook is complete with everything from petite madeleines to classic crepes.

Scandilicious Baking ($27.31, amazon.com)

In addition to socialized healthcare and four-week vacations, Scandinavians also know how to bake. In Scandilicious Baking, Signe Johansen shares the sweet treats—including Danish Strawberry and Mazarin Cream Tart—that she grew up with. There is, of course, a chapter dedicated to Christmas fare, which you don’t want to miss.

Sugar Rush: Master Tips, Techniques, and Recipes for Sweet Baking ($23.40, amazon.com)

Jean-Georges award-winning pastry chef Johnny Iuzzini translates his genius into laymen’s terms in this savory cookbook. Equipped with step-by-step photographs, Iuzzini makes mastering light-as-air meringues and French macarons look easy.

The Gourmet Cookie Book ($12.99, amazon.com)

If Cookie Monster is your spirit animal, this cookbook is all you need. This brilliant baking companion features the best cookie recipes that appeared in Gourmet each year from 1941 – 2009. Talk about satisfying your sweet tooth for a lifetime!

Elle Fure is the Editorial Director of Spa Week Daily.