Gluten-Free Baking for the Holidays Cookbook Review and Giveaway
Gluten-Free Baking for the Holidays by Jeanne Sauvage
What says Christmas and the holidays more than Pressed Butter Cookies, aka Spritz Cookies? Not much in my opinion. Think Christmas trees, bells, and the like. Jeanne Sauvage (Art of Gluten-Free Baking) made those cookies for a recent support group meeting of mine.
Today is Jeanne Sauvage’s birthday so it seems a fitting time to share her first cookbook, Gluten Free Baking for the Holidays: 60 Recipes for Traditional Festive Treats. I met Jeanne a few years ago when I attended the International Food Bloggers Conference in Seattle, where Jeanne lives with her family. She was a true delight and I started following her blog which was formerly called Four Chickens, but that had already been rechristened Art of Gluten-Free Baking by that time (although Jeanne’s Twitter handle remains @FourChickens).
Jeanne’s cookbook starts out with her personal story. It ranges from standing on a chair as a toddler to help her mother bake to finding out she was gluten intolerant shortly after her daughter was born to feeling helpless at living gluten free initially to mastering gluten-free baking and sharing her knowledge with others via her recipes for beloved traditional baked goods.
Jeanne traveled cross country for an event with the writer of her cookbook’s foreword, Nancy Baggett. While Nancy is not a gluten-free cookbook author, she is a very well-known and well-respected cookbook author herself (she recently published Simply Sensational Cookies). Nancy shared her own attempts and failures at baking gluten-free treats. So her appreciation of Jeanne for her “remarkable success in cracking the gluten-free code” and her statement that she “baked her gluten-free dinner rolls and her spiced Speculaas cookies and served them in place of my usual wheat-based versions. It was terrific that everybody at my table could once again enjoy the usual holidays treats together without having to offer any explanation or apologies, I might add.” is quite an endorsement!
While Jeanne was on the east coast she honored my support group with an appearance and presentation, and, last but not least, her homemade pressed butter cookies, also known as Spritz cookies. Yes, she traveled cross country—and by plane, train, and car, no less—with her cookie press and customized gluten-free flour mix with her. (Note that her flour mix recipe is both on her blog and in her book.) I only had to supply the butter and a few short minutes later, she was offering all of us some amazing spritz cookies. She also melted dark chocolate (again, brought with her) and turned some of her cookies into sandwich cookies. Do you remember Pepperidge Farm Milanos? Jeanne’s sandwich cookies were very similar to those and just perfect in their taste, texture, and “indulgence.” Not surprisingly, all of Jeanne’s cookies were gone in mere minutes. I don’t know a better recommendation than that!
Pressed Butter Cookies “Spritz” Cookies Made from Jeanne Sauvage
However, that said, I will still give you two more recommendations. Jeanne’s book was recently rated one of the Top 25 Cookbooks for this year by The Daily Meal. And that was up against all other cookbooks, not just the gluten-free ones! And just today, Laura Russell, author of The Gluten-Free Asian Kitchen (another cookbook you’ll want in your kitchen!), posted the following comment on Facebook:
“Last night we made the Thumbprint cookies from Art of Gluten-Free Baking‘s “Gluten-Free Baking for the Holidays”. They’re tender, buttery and even better than I remember. Home run!”
So clearly, this is a great cookbook! Note that it is a gluten-free cookbook and does not focus on recipes that are what I call “more free” (e.g., dairy free, sugar free). However, Jeanne does share a table for Butter and Dairy Substitutions before her recipes. Finally, not only does Jeanne give you her “tried and true” recipes, but she also explains gluten-free baking concepts such as how certain ingredients work with others to empower you to be able to create your own gluten-free recipes or other variations of her recipes. (Here’s an example of that type of instruction over at Jeanne’s blog when she discusses baking powders needed for gluten-free baking.)
UPDATE: This giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to gfe reader Carolyn (see below) and thanks to all who entered.
Remember to subscribe to gfe or check back daily to take part in all the giveaways for Home for the Holidays!
Carolyn’s comment (chosen randomly): “The shortbread cookies for sure!”
One gfe reader will win a signed copy of Gluten-Free Baking for the Holidays: 60 Recipes for Traditional Festive Treats.
To enter the giveaway, simply leave a comment on which recipe you’d like to try. (Notes: If additional comments are provided by a reader, the reader will not be included as an entrant for the giveaway. You do not need to leave your email address in your comment. I can see that in my blog’s admin panel.) Here are your choices:Cookies
Gingerbread Cake With Persimmon
Chocolate-Sunflower Butter Pie
Featherlight Buttermilk Biscuits
The giveaway ends Wednesday, December 19, at midnight EST.
Full disclosure: The cookbooks provided for my review and this giveaway were provided free of charge by Jeanne Sauvage and her publisher. However, the opinions expressed here are strictly my own.
This post is linked to Allergy-Free Wednesdays and Gluten-Free Wednesdays.
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Comments
91 Responses to “Gluten-Free Baking for the Holidays Cookbook Review and Giveaway”
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I want to try the thumbprint cookies!!
I’m still looking for a great dinner roll recipe so I would try that first.
I have been struggling with making a good sandwich bread so that would be the first recipe I would try.
I would love to try a recipe for Stollen. It’s one Christmas baked good I really miss.
The shortbread cookies for sure!
I would love to try the Lebkuchen and Pffernusse cookies. I always loved these when I could eat gluten and miss them!
Back in the day I always gravitated to the Mexican Wedding cookies because they looked so festive. Those would be the first recipe I would make but the spritz cookies scream Christmas. Thanks for the chance to win Shirley!
I would try the Mexican wedding cookies, the Cranberry cake, the rolls and the cheese straws. I’ve made each of those every Christmas for my entire life (first as a kid with my Mom and Grandmother, and then as an adult in my own kitchen)…..until I went gluten free. They’re a Christmas tradition, and I miss it.
Oh! This cookbook looks delightful. I want to make the pumpkin donuts. I grew up in New England, where you can’t go more than a block or two without running into a donut shop. Since I was diagnosed as Celiac they’ve been one of the things I miss the most.
Oh do I miss Mexican Wedding Cookies…they would be first and then the rest would follow.
Word like to try the spritz cookies.
we have always loved Spritzer cookies!
I would love to try the cinnamon roll recipe.
Christmas wouldn’t be the same without Cutout Cookies.
Mexican Tea Cakes, Spritz, Pizzelle…oh my. And of course, a wonderful pie crust recipe to boot! Thank you for the opportunity!
Lemon Bars sound awesome. I miss them.
Rugelah and Mexican wedding cookies. Miss both of them.
I would LOVE to try GF rosette and shortbread recipes. Those are the two things I always particularly looked forward to making with my Mom every year and have missed for the last several years because of food sensitivities. Even if I don’t win this book I’ll have to go find it for those recipes! Thanks Shirley!
For me, it’s the Stollen recipe. I had a “CURSES TO AUTOIMMUNE DISORDERS AND GLUTEN INTOLERANCE” moment this week when I gazed upon my favorite brand of holiday Stollen, and I felt sad and mad and pondered whether I’d ever taste it again. Thanks for hosting such an awesome contest, BTW!
I’d have to try the pound cake! My mom makes the absolute best pound cake (a recipe passed down from my grandma), and I really miss it!
I would try the chocolate chip cookie recipe were I to win.
I miss fortune cookies so much! I’d love to try and make ‘em!
Yummm!! I want to try them all but most of all.. I would love to learn to make great Cinnamon Rolls!!
I would love to try and make the Mexican Wedding cookies. I would love to win. Good Luck to all!!
Mexican Wedding Cookies – Love to try!
I am celebrating my first Christmas Gluten-Free. I have been working hard at it since Sept and am still in a major learning curve. Just to find the products is a challenge as I live in a very small town with about 2 feet of space at one store deadicated to Gluten-free products. Not alot of selection to say the least. Having a good cookbook sure would be helpful. I would try the soft bread for starters. I can get to a store that offers GF bread which is delishious but its 75 miles away so 150 round trip. I buy it and freeze some so I have it but not all the time.
Chocolate mandarin cake please!
Hi, I want to try the Speculaas
I would like to try the Chocolate-Sunflower Butter Pie. Yum sounds good.
Spritz with a hint of almond flavor are my favorite Christmas cookie. I would love to try a GF recipe!
Candy cane cookies look delicious!
I’d love to try many of your cookies and other treats. I would try first the shortbread cookies because I really love them. I lived in Scotland for 9 mos. and worked there so had lots before I needed to go gluten free. My husband also has celiac. It would be wonderful to have your book. Thank you for offering it.
I would like to try the Spritzer Cookies
I love Jeanne and her recipes!! I would love to try the fortune cookie recipe.
I’d like to try the spritz cookies!! I’ve never had them even before having to give up gluten.
King Cake sounds interesting! Are there a lot of added starches in these recipes? Thanks for the giveaway!
They all look yummy, would love to try the buttermilk biscuit recipe for biscuits and gravy which I have missed.
Would love some help with preparing gluten free, sugar free foods for my diabetic husband. All of this is new for me. I am cooking by trial and error!! I love to cook but all that I “know” he can no longer eat!!! Ugh!!
Mexican Wedding Cookies! Oh. Emm. Gee.
I would be making the Mexican Wedding Cookies for sure! Thanks for such a great cookbook.
Chocolate-Cherry Biscotti
I love shortbread at Christmas.
Cutout cookies. I miss making, decorating and eating my grandmothers Christmas cookies the most in going GF!
I would love to try the gingerbread cake with persimmons!
St. Lucia Buns- My swedish grandmother made the BEST swedish coffee cake, breads and rolls. I miss those most of all being GF. Also- I have pictures of me dressed in my St. Lucia robe and wreath of battery operated candles-serving breakfast to my parents in bed-when I was just a kid. Memories…..
this book looks great. i would LOVE to try the shortbread cookies. man am i a sucker for shortbread
I have been living in Mexico for the last 5 years. Almost eery week at the local farmers market there is a vendor with homemade baked goods. I always look at the Mexican Wedding cookies & drool over them. I look forward to being able to eat them again. Thanks for ALL of the recipes!
I would like to try the pfefferneusse cookies!!
They all sound wonderful but you had me at Pepperide Farm! That was one of my favorites so I would love to try making the Spritz and turning them into the Milano’s.
Spritz is my pick!
I’d love to try the Chocolate-Cherry Biscotti!
I want to make Shortbread! Yummy!
i want to try Rugelach
Oh me oh my, these all sound dee-licious! Just choose one…yikes!!! would love to make the lemon bars, those were a favorite of mine since childhood & haven’t made them since going gf – I miss them.
oh and the Cinnamon rolls, pumpkin doughnuts and a good pie crust… Couldn’t just choose one
I love cookies!!!
I would love to try the fortune cookies. I miss them since going gf!
I would love the Spritz cookies. We made those all the time before going GF and would love the recipe!
I want to try the cut out cookies.
I would love to try the Dinner Rolls. Have tried a few GF roll recipes, but they are not any good. Still searching for a good GF Dinner Roll.
What an excellent review! I have quite a few recipes I’d like to try, but I’d start with the maple pecan pie. It has been years since I’ve enjoyed a slice of pecan pie.
I have made some of these as one of her testers. I was very happy with my results. I am excited for her steamed plum pudding.
I’ve always loved shortbread. Could eat my weight in Lorna Doones. Would love to try the shortbread recipe first thing.
Orange-scented olive oil cake!
I’d try the King Cake, a tradition since childhood but now with our son’s CD diagnosis, all of our holiday treats are up in the air, not sure what we will have this year until I get it all figured out. Looks like an awesome book!
Pizzelles! My boyfriend loves them and I would love to be able to make them gluten free so we both could have them.
I’d like to try the cannoli.
I would like to try the featherlight buttermilk biscuits. I haven’t found any recipe for biscuits that are light and fluffy. So miss the light biscuits. Also would like to try the stollen, something I have never made before.
Cannoli would be my first choice…I really would love to try them all!
The kids and I would like to try a Chocolate Peanut Butter pie. We had a slice the Christmas before we went GF, we loved it
I love(d) and dearly miss Pfefferneuesse.
The thumbprint s sound amazing, but I need a good GF pound cake too!
Rugelach! I love Rugelach!
Would luv recipe for cannolis!
Cinnamon rolls
I would want to try the Spritz cookies. I have a cookie press that I still need to try out.
The “German goodies”, Stollen, Lebkuchen, Spekulatius!! Miss Stollen like crazy!
I would like to try the pound cake!! Haven’t had it since going gluten free!
I would have to say the pie crust. Until we went gluten free I used to make the most incredible pastry and pies. I started making pastry when I was just a tot and by my teens, I was quite expert. I even helped pay for my university fees by making and selling pies. When the family was growing with four children, my baking day started with five pies. That was during my super-woman act when I worked full time and went to school part-time as well;-) I am now in my advancing years and don’t need pie or even miss it that much but my husband really would appreciate it and I would love to surprise him with a really good pie for Christmas. Happy holidays to all and wishing you peace in your body, mind, home and life.
Hard to pick JUST ONE!! But Mexican wedding cakes would have to be first.
Bunuelos. I hope these are as good as the ones my aunt made 40 years ago in Cuba. I am sure these will be as exquisite as all the other recipes!
Shortbread cookies! I miss those so much!!
I would love to try the springerle, one of my favorite Christmas cookies.
I would love to try the Spritz cookies, Mom used to make them every year when I was growing up
can’t wait to try Spritz Cookies. I just got a new spritzer and I am so excited to use it!!!
Shortbread Cookies so I can make them for my granddaughter..thank you.
Cannoli!
Rugelach. Heard of it. Never tried it. ;D
shortbread and spritz cookies so my family will be happy
Krumkake
gingerbread!
Woo Hoo! I can’t believe I won. I am so looking forward to baking something great! Thanks Shirley for the giveaway and thanks again for selecting me!