2024 Holiday Gift Guide
Plus what to bake this weekend and recipes for the holidays!
What To Bake This Weekend
It’s all about holiday baking! Here are a few favorites:
My favorite of the season might be this Bûche de Noël. It’s a yule log cake that is festive, fun, and delicious. Plus, you can customize the flavor to your liking.
This Christmas Croquembouche is another stunner that features a tower of cream puffs held together with caramel.
Don’t forget to join the Zoë’s Baking Academy Holiday Sugar Cookie Challenge!
If you’ve recently made one of my recipes, please leave a rating/review to let me know how it went! I love hearing how you’ve made my recipes work for you.
Here’s a quick roundup of recent media with some holiday cookie recipes from Zoë Bakes Cookies. I hope you’ll check them out!
Food Friends Podcast where we discuss the one kitchen tool that every home baker should own (can you guess it!?), tips for assembling and shipping, or traveling with cookies, and lessons for ensuring perfect cookies every time.
12 Days of Cookies on Twin Cities Live where I make chocolate biscotti, holiday sugar cookies, and macaroons! Links to recipes below.
Food & Wine featured my Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe!
Food52 featured my Bourbon Biscoff Brownies!
Magnolia Journal featured my Granny’s Espresso Shortbread!
Holiday Gift Guide
Here are some gift ideas for anyone on your list who loves to bake! There are little gadgets that make baking even more fun for the new baker and some workhorse equipment for those who bake all the time and want to up their game.
A subscription to my “Extras” newsletter also makes a great gift!
Please note some of the links below are affiliate links (marked with *) for my Amazon Shop and I may make a small commission if you decide to purchase. Thank you for supporting my work!
For the Cookie Enthusiast
As many of you know, cookies started my voyage into baking. For anyone in your life who may just be getting interested in baking or who has a life-long love affair with cookies as I do, Zoë Bakes Cookies makes a wonderful gift. If you purchase it from my shop I can sign and personalize it for you! Pair it with any of the below for a perfect cookie-baking kit.
Cookie cutters, portion scoops, silpat, and a baking sheet
high-quality chocolate and sprinkles
Find anything and everything for cookie baking in my Amazon storefront at the button below!
For the Cookbook Lover
It’s been a particularly prolific cookbook season. This season, I received dozens of new cookbooks between September and December. Here are the most recent books I’m excited to dive into and there are even more here! (all but my book listed below are affiliate links).
With Love and Babka by Elana Pearlman
The Ultimate Minnesota Cookie Book by Rick Nelson and Lee Dean
Why I Cook by Tom Colicchio
Zoë Bakes Cookies by me!
The Curated Board by Bebe Black Carminito
Sift by Nicola Lamb
Richard Hart Bread by Richard Hart
Bake Club by Christina Tosi
Turkuaz Kitchen (Extras subscribers will find the Pumpkin Scones recipe here!) by Betül Tunç
Justine Cooks (Extras subscribers will find the Pear Sticky Toffee Pudding recipe here!) by Justine Doiron
Very Good Bread by Melissa Weller
Big Book of Bread from King Arthur Baking Co
Delicious Tonight by Nagi Maehashi
For the Cake Lover
You know my love affair with cake—I wrote an entire book about it! For the other cake lovers in your life, here are the products I recommend. Extras subscribers, you have access to the Deep Dive for my cake decorating episode here.
Zoë Bakes Cakes, of course! I will sign and personalize it for you if you order from my ZoëBakes Shop!
A beautiful Bundt pan. A lovely cake made in a pretty Bundt pan can’t be beat! See a few of my favorites here.
Basic Cake Kit: Zoë Bakes Cakes, a set of 8-inch cake pans*, decorating spatulas*, pastry bag*, and set of tips*.
Cake Kit Extras: add a stand mixer* and/or a cake turner* to the basic cake kit.
Cake Decorating Kit: cake turner*, pastry bag*, set of tips*, food coloring set*, decorating pearls*.
I have 85 other cake ideas (what can I say, I LOVE cake!) in my Amazon ideas list below.
For the Bread Baker
Baking homemade bread is so satisfying. Whether your gift recipient prefers sourdough or my quick and easy best-selling Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day* series, there are some fabulous tools to help them make the best bread ever. Here are some ideas:
Bread Baking Basics Kit - A signed copy of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day book with a 6-quart lidded bucket* and Danish dough whisk*.
Bread Baking Extras - Add a baking stone or steel*, peel*, lame*, or bread knife* to the basics kit!
Gluten-Free Bread in Five Minutes a Day. Part of my super fast bread baking series for those who can’t eat wheat! I have signed copies available!
Extras subscribers! Here is your Deep Dive on bread.
For the Baker Who Has it All
If someone you know bakes a lot and loves the very best ingredients, consider a vanilla extract kit! Share my homemade vanilla extract recipe along with a bundle of vanilla beans* and a few bottles. Any bottles will do—I use my husband’s Bulleit Whiskey bottles or you can purchase glass bottles like these*. Voila! Something for the baker who already has everything.
Such a great gift guide and I love that you generously featured so many of your fellow authors!