Thank you to NetGalley and Cider Press Mill for this ARC.

This is an American cookbook and it shows. It bakes with molasses and kosher salt and the measurements are not converted. There is a conversion table at the back but I don't want to calculate all the time. It would have been a lot better to put the European measurements in each recipe next to the American ones.

The baking instructions are detailed but some recipes are a lot more involved and require more skill than others. Often we only learn in the middle of the recipe that we need piping bags or special pans, like for the Madeleines.

It is sometimes not immediately clear which picture is for which bake, and now and then the picture seems to be missing completely or is at the beginning of the entire section.

This is a problem if you've never heard of the bake in question. There is no explanation given on the name, culture or country of origin of any of the recipes and I knew only half of them. For example, I googled Pepparkakor and it's a Swedish ginger cookie - why not add that info?

That said, I like a lot of the recipes, especially for the cookies, or as we would say, the biscuits, and if I feel up to measurement conversions, I might make some of them for Christmas. Chewy ginger cookies, Pignoli and Orange Spritz come to mind here.

The cover with the classic sugar cookies is enticing and the seasoned baker will find lots to love, if they have no trouble with the measurements.