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.

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Here’s a quick roundup of recent media with some holiday cookie recipes from Zoë Bakes Cookies. I hope you’ll check them out!

This cover of Better Homes & Gardens features my Chocolate Brownie Mint Sandwiches!

• 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!

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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!

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.