Editorial Review

Christmas and cookies are synonymous. Extolling that happy truth, Rose Levy Beranbaum's Read more

Reviews (44)

a rose is a rose
I confess that I find Rose's cookbooks intimidating (she is the woman who chose her husband because he understood her thesis on why sifting was not an adequate way to distribute dry ingredients), but like the Cake Bible this is a tremendous resource for a cookie baker.Don't expect all the standards here, but some new and even challenging cookies.

SIMPLY WONDERFUL!!!!
I bought this book for myself this Christmas baking season and I am soooo glad I did. What a beautiful book. I made 4 types of cookies out of it this year and each of them were fantastic! I absolutely LOVE the lemon bars. And although other reviewers have said that the Magohany Buttercrunch didn't come out for them, I had no problems with it at all. Delicious! Aside from the tasty recipes, this book is very well written and organized and contains a wealth of information about cookie baking. Here is what you can expect to find with every recipe:
The Best Cookie Book Ever
This is the only Christmas cookie book you need.This book is always pulled out at the start of the holiday season.Not only do the georgeous pictures put you in the holiday spirit but it also reminds me of the delicious memories of the wonderful cookies I have made from this book.I know that the binding may crack(7 years and still whole) but wouldn't you rather have a well-loved book that you use or a perfect binding of a book that never gets a second glance.Sequel Please. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Christmas cookery    2. Cookies    3. Cooking    4. Cooking / Wine    5. Courses & Dishes - Cookies    6. Holiday - Christmas/Hanukkah    7. Cakes, baking, icing & sugarcraft    8. Christmas books    9. Cooking / Holiday    10. Desserts   

Subjects:  1. Cookery    2. Cooking    3. Cooking / Wine    4. Courses & Dishes - Soups & Stews    5. Entertaining - General    6. General    7. Holiday - General   

Editorial Review

Open to virtually any page of the voluminous Read more

Subjects:  1. Crafts / Hobbies    2. Decorating    3. Decorating - General    4. Handicraft    5. Holiday - General    6. Holiday cookery    7. Holiday decorations    8. House & Home    9. Seasonal    10. Christmas books    11. Crafts & Hobbies / Decorating    12. Food & Drink / Cookery    13. holiday   

Reviews (6)

Not much new here
This is a nice book if you still need a collection of the basic popular Christmas stories & songs.It's put together nicely, but there wasn't much new or unique in the book, except a couple of poems.There were some nice illustrations, but the book wasn't worth it just for those.So if you are looking for something new, not just the same old Christmas stories, don't get this book.But if you want all those in one place this is a good choice.I also found it a bit hard to read for long periods since it's small, but very thick.Handling it & keeping it open to read was tiresome.

Perfect Christmas present - and order an extra for yourself
Nostalgic, fun Christmas presents come no better. The assortment of stories, music, and pictures contained in this book cover a huge scope. It is just the sort of book to snuggle with as one nurses a toddy and enjoys the scent of pine.

Christmas Treasure Trove
I love all of Lena Tabori's "Little Big Books", especially the Valentines and Halloween ones, but this Christmas one is my favorite of all. This book is a "must have" for reading to children during the Yuletide season and is a wonderful (and necessary) indulgence for oneself as well. The illustrations have been gleaned from the charming Victorian art of a bygone day and archive the simple, cozy Christmas traditions for us to recover with the turn of a page. 11 Poems, 13 carols with music, 21 stories, 14 recipes, and over 200 illustrations including 55 full color 19th century images make up this delightful volume. You will see the writing of Robert Frost, Louisa May Alcott, Kenneth Grahame, O. Henry, Ogden Nash, William Shakespeare and many others. Read stories from the Bible and also from the pen of beloved First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.Read more

Subjects:  1. Christmas    2. Christmas cookery    3. Christmas stories    4. Holiday - General    5. Holidays (non religious)    6. Holidays - Christmas    7. Inspirational    8. Inspirational - General    9. Religion    10. Christmas books    11. Customs    12. Religion / Holidays / Christmas   

Reviews (8)

Repackaged prepared foods
I was INCREDIBLY disappointed with this book purchase - especially because I paid FULL PRICE for it. I have absolutely NO USE for it. Why?
Nice variety of food gift ideas
I prepare homemade Christmas gifts every year for my coworkers.I have used this book on several occasions with very good results.I have a collection of books dedicated to homemade food gifts, and this is one of my favorites.

easy recipes with great results
I've made several of the recipes in this book to give as gifts over the holidays & I always got rave reviews. I found the recipes to be very clear, with easily found ingredients. Nothing I made was too complex or confusing. I had never made candy before but got excellent results with these recipes.I would venture to say they seem idiot-proof.I will be using this book again (third year in a row) for my holiday baking/gift-giving.
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Subjects:  1. Cookery    2. Cooking    3. Cooking / Wine    4. Gifts    5. Holiday - General    6. Seasonal    7. Cooking / General    8. Food & Drink / Cookery   

Reviews (11)

Best Recipes from Marilu
I have all of Marilu's books, and if you're looking for great recipes, this is the one for you.It has dishes that are more gourmet/restaurant quality.Grilled Tuna with Washabi Whip was on the menu this week, as was Tofu Olive Wraps (sun-dried tomatoes, olive spread, watercress, fresh rosemary, carmalized onions).Everytime I cook from this book, my hubby can't stop raving.
A FABULOUS guide to celebrating special days!
Marilu Henner has a winner here!This book is packed with ideas to help us plan special parties and celebrations throughout the year.New Year's, Super Bowl Sunday, Valentine's, - even an Academy Awards Party!Name a special day - Marilu covers it. She explains the tradition of each holiday.She offers delicious and healthy menu suggestions and recipes.She also helps to plan the invitations, set the atmosphere, create activities, and propose the toast!And she makes it all so much fun with great personal stories along the way.This is a great book for anyone planning a special celebraton day - Marilu shows us how to do it all!

delicious, healthy recipes
I wanted to add a good review for this book because people have written negative things about it. The recipes are so good! I made several for different parties and everyone loved them. There's lots of other info, but if you're not interested, don't read it! Yes, it's true that the index is not thorough enough for a book that's organized differently like this one is, but that's the only drawback to this healthy cookbook. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Cookery    2. Cooking / Wine    3. Diets - General    4. Entertaining    5. Health & Fitness    6. Health & Healing - General    7. Health/Fitness    8. Holiday - General    9. Holiday cookery    10. Health & Fitness / Diets   

Reviews (8)

embarrassingly tacky
I found not a single usable idea in this book.The ideas are decidedly unimaginative and the results quite ugly.A friend bought this for me at a bargain shop without looking inside--thank goodness she spent only $2 for it.Even that was a waste.

101 ideas, 10 good ones.
This book contains a few good ideas, but none that I would use. Best used for decorating your house for a pre-schooler's Halloween party.More CUTE than scary.Contains nice color photos and easy directions.

simplisticand uninspiring
This book was a total disappointment . I expectedcreative adult halloween ideas--things I would want to keep year after year.There were only2 projects I foundinteresting-the halloween tree trims & the silver swirl pumpkin(the cover pumpkin) However,If you are looking for very simple ideas geared towards little children---this book may be what your looking for.Read more

Subjects:  1. Crafts & Hobbies    2. Crafts / Hobbies    3. Halloween cookery    4. Halloween decorations    5. Handicraft    6. Hobbies/Crafts    7. Holiday - General    8. Seasonal    9. Crafts & Hobbies / Decorating    10. Sociology, Social Studies    11. holiday   

Reviews (2)

great retro crafts!
i bought the book for the crafts from vintage linens--beautiful. the food doesn't look bad either.

Can I give it 0 stars??Save your money
Not one "original" idea that I havent seen in every magazine or craft book for years.Most of the items were scrapbooking related, which was little things like tags and noting worth duplicating.
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Subjects:  1. Cooking    2. Crafts / Hobbies    3. Decorating    4. Entertaining - General    5. Holiday - General    6. Seasonal   

Reviews (1)

IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISMUKKAH!!!!
THE BEST, MOST HILARIOUS--AND USEFUL--BOOK EVER FOR MIXED FAITH FOLKS WHO CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS AND HANNUKAH WITH DOUBLE-THE-FUN FANFARE! FOR EVERYONE WHO KNOWS THE JOYS AND OYS OF THE HOLIDAY SEASON, THIS BOOK VALIDATES, ENRICHES, ENTERTAINS, AND IS SO FUNNY EVERY STEP OF THE WAY, "YULE PLOTZ!" ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Christianity and other religions    2. Christmas    3. Cookery    4. Cooking    5. Entertaining - General    6. Hanukkah    7. Holiday - General    8. Holidays - Christmas    9. Holidays - Jewish    10. Inspirational    11. Judaism    12. Topic - Religion    13. Christmas books    14. Holiday; Christmas; Channukah    15. Religion / Holidays / Christmas   

Reviews (9)

Dont you just LOVE Susan? I do!
This little book is a great addition to your Susan Branch collection.I enjoy the little recipes and as always her beautiful watercolor drawings!Beautiful!

A wonderful Christmas gift book !
This book has it all and is delightful. I bought this as a gift for my sister-in- law and am I ever glad I also got one for myself. Itis beautifully illustrated and is filled with recipes, decorating ideas and special thoughts. Its one of those books that you get out each year at Christmas time and you read itagain and again.

Great gift.
Purchased this as a Christmas gift for my nephew's wife. She loved it! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Christmas cookery    2. Christmas decorations    3. Cooking    4. Cooking / Wine    5. Entertaining    6. Holiday - Christmas/Hanukkah    7. Holiday - General    8. Cooking / Holiday   

Editorial Review

"Why must a pumpkin's face be carved on its side when there is a natural nose begging to be the center of an incredibly expressive face?" ask pumpkin artists Joost Elffers and Saxton Freymann at the beginning of their delightful mix of photography, folklore, and recipes, Read more

Reviews (6)

Great Faces
Who would have thought that you could get so many different faces from a pumpkin. The faces are true art and are quite easily done yourself if you wish to create your own. Great book for creative people with a sense of humor.
If you can hold a pumpkin and can handle a pocket knife the variations on the theme presented in the craft portion of this book will delight your children (up to 40+ years) and definitely your grandchildren. Giving titlesof recipes in their orignal language but instructions in English is adelightful deviation from the conventional cookbook approach.

Spend your hard-earned bucks on a different pumpkin book.
Once you've seen the cover of this book, you've seen it all. All of the pumpkins throughout this book are simply variations of the same theme. If you're after recipes, you'll probably like the book okay, but if you'reafter carving inspiration, look elsewhere. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Cookery (Pumpkin)    2. Cooking / Wine    3. General    4. Holiday - General    5. Humor    6. Pumpkin    7. Seasonal    8. Specific Ingredients - Vegetables    9. Vegetable carving    10. Food & Drink / Cookery    11. Humour   

Subjects:  1. Cooking    2. Crafts / Hobbies    3. Entertaining - General    4. General    5. Holiday - General    6. Seasonal   

Editorial Review

Cocoa Cobweb Cupcakes, Black Cat Cookies, and Stained-Glass Spooks are just a few of the spirited tastes you'll encounter in Donata Maggipinto's delightful Read more

Reviews (3)

Great Pictures, Good Recipes, Fun Ideas
I have had this book for sometime now, and I always break it out for for my halloween parties. The pumpkin curry soup recipe is sooo yummy, and the pictures and crafts are inpiring! If you are in the 20-35 year old set, I would reccomend this book!

great photos, inspiring ideas
It was so hot here in AZ this fall, I needed a jumpstart to get into the Halloween spirit. This was just the book. Great photos and seasonal recipes made me run out to buy sweet potatoes for making the baked chips! Ienvisioned keeping them on hand for lunches and snacks, but they were gonein a day. The black cats were cute, too, but we all suffered with blacktongues after the fact. Plenty of other cute ideas for little ones. Beautiful pictures, some good ideas but not much substance
I enjoyed the wonderfully festive pictures and I was able to glean some ideas from her book as a starting point for my own Hallowe'en projects. However, I'm not so sure there is enough substance nor wholly originalideas to make it a worthwhile purchase. It is a fun book to thumb throughbut most of the "magic" is to be found in the photographs.Itried some of the recipies: the cocoa cobweb cupcakes were not"chocolatey" enough and the pumpkin soup was okay but notspectacular. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Cooking    2. Cooking / Wine    3. Halloween    4. Halloween cookery    5. Halloween decorations    6. Holiday - General    7. Holiday decorations    8. Methods - General    9. Cooking / Holiday    10. Customs    11. Decorative arts & crafts    12. General cookery   

Features

• Illustrated

Reviews (2)

so disappointing
i agree with the last post before mine... this book was terrible..a book about recipes...costumes....decorations and so on REQUIRES pictures..... awful book.....simply awful

Do not buy this book
I ordered this book along with The Big Book of Halloween Fun (Paperback), both authored by Susie Johns.Both were tremendous disappointments.This book lacks in imagination and more important for Halloween ideas . . . PHOTOS!As filler the author slips in childish Halloween jokes and offers very little in the way of Halloween decorating.I would not buy this book again.
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Subjects:  1. Cooking    2. Crafts & Hobbies    3. Crafts / Hobbies    4. Decorating    5. Hobbies/Crafts    6. Holiday - General    7. Seasonal    8. Cooking/Holiday - General    9. Crafts & Hobbies / Seasonal    10. Crafts & Hobbies/Decorating    11. Customs & folklore    12. Halloween    13. Halloween cookery    14. Halloween costumes    15. Halloween decorations    16. Holiday/Halloween    17. House & Home/Decorating - General    18. Parties   

Editorial Review

Based on the popular PBS TV series, Read more

Reviews (15)

Great, But Pages Don't Hold Up
I love this cookbook.Maybe it is a ripoff of their magazines and other books, I don't know.However, the pages are weak and rip out easily.Treat it gently.

Combination cookbook & textbook!
I've always wondered why sometimes you use baking powder and sometimes you use baking soda, and sometimes both.Now I know!This book explains cooking theory in little side articles that are easy to find (and easy to ignore if you don't care about them).It has lots of recommendations, for things like cooking equipment (I bought a new grater & love it) as well as ingredients.And there are a couple of recipes that have become classics at my house.Try the chocolate cream pie; it's to DIE for! The ingredient that they investigated in that one was baking chocolates.You'll be surprised which one ended up being used!One of my favorite cookbooks; it stays on the counter rather than getting filed away.

Shop carefully
These books are great!I love my Cooks' Illustrated Books and use them all the time.My one and only complaint is that they have now published the Best Recipe series and now the Test Kitchen books and they don't have enough recipes to fill them each one with enough unique recipes to distinguish one book from another.Read more

Subjects:  1. Cookery    2. Cooking    3. Cooking / Wine    4. Entertaining - General    5. Holiday - General    6. Regional & Ethnic - American - General   

Reviews (2)

Simply the Best!!!!!
I have purchased almost every book from Familyfun and they are the best books I have ever purchased,period!I don`t have any kids of my own as of yet,but when that time comes,I will have a surefire arsenal of help to reach for when in need.I can defenitely recommend all books from Familyfun,every family should have them in their stack of books at home!!

A must for starting Holiday traditions!
This is such a nice book - colorful pictures compliment each craft.There is something here for everyone to make their Holidays truly special.Highly recommend! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Cooking    2. Courses & Dishes - General    3. Crafts / Hobbies    4. Handicraft    5. Holiday - General    6. Holiday cookery    7. Holiday cooking    8. Holiday decorations    9. Parties    10. Seasonal   

Reviews (16)

Fantastic, Fresh & Fun Recipes!!
Ms. Chase has a fresh, innovative style in her writing and recipes. I enjoyed reading this book as well as trying out some of the yummy, creative dishes. As I was researching Ina Garten's website, I discovered that Ina herself finds this cookbook to be indispensible in her own food preparation and also in sparking her culinary creativity. If Ina says it's good, it's gotta be good!!!

Great Cook Book
What a great cook book full of good ideas for entertaining.The recipes are unique and easy to follow.This is a go-to book for potlucks and parties.

Happy again
I lost almost all of my cook book collection to hurricane Katrina. This is the book that I replaced first! I was so happy to find it here at Amazon since I have been looking for it for awhile. The recipes are those that I use over and over and they never fail to please.....Ms. Chase has a wonderful way with food that is both comforting and elegant. You will enjoy this book! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Cookery    2. Cooking    3. Cooking / Wine    4. Entertaining    5. Holiday - General    6. Reference    7. Regional & Ethnic - American - New England    8. COOKING / Regional & Ethnic / American / New England    9. Cooking / Holiday    10. General cookery   

Reviews (1)

The Book of Thanksgiving
This book is terrific. It has recipes for everything from turkey (including those turkey leftovers and vegetarian alternatives to turkey!) to sidedishes. The trivia/facts about the holiday are fascinating, and make great conversation starters. The games are aperfect way to keep kids busy. This book makes a perfect hostess gift or a cookbook for yourself. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. American - General    2. Cooking    3. Entertaining - General    4. Holiday - General    5. Holidays (non religious)    6. Literature - Classics / Criticism    7. Seasonal    8. Thanksgiving Day    9. Thanksgiving cookery   

Editorial Review

"With a little culinary ingenuity and moxie, the dream of preparing a magnificent vegetarian Thanksgiving feast is not just feasible, but easily achievable," assert the editors of Read more

Reviews (1)

Focus On Autumn
This cookbook tackles perhaps the most difficult challenge vegetarians face.While there is a wide range of produce that comes into its own in the Autumn, and the Thanksgiving table usually holds an array of plant-based foodstuffs, there is nevertheless no other gathering in U.S. culture that brings expectations of a certain dish.And flesh-based it is.Without the turkey, how do vegetarians host Thanksgiving?Vegetarian Times addresses the problem in this cookbook.There is an attempt to provide several impressive-looking dishes that can take the central place of the poultry.A number of roulades, tangines, and deep dish recipes make the effort.Read more

Subjects:  1. Cooking    2. Cooking / Wine    3. Holiday - General    4. Seasonal    5. Thanksgiving    6. Thanksgiving cookery    7. Vegetarian - General    8. Vegetarian cookery    9. Vegetarian cooking    10. Outlet   

Subjects:  1. Christmas cookery    2. Cookery    3. Cooking    4. Cooking / Wine    5. Entertaining - General    6. General    7. Holiday - General    8. Holiday cookery    9. Cooking / General