annieb123
Written on Aug 1, 2020
Christmas Delights is a collection of recipes and ideas for the Christmas season. Due out 1st Sept 2020 from Barbour Publishing, it's 224 pages and will be available in flexibound format.
The layout is simple and the recipes are arranged thematically: beverages, breakfast & brunch, Christmas dinner (main dishes and sides), Christmas Eve parties, cookies and candy, festive breads, and party dishes to feed crowds.
Ingredient measurements are supplied in American measurements only. There's no included conversion chart for metric measures.Descriptions are contained in the header for each recipe. The nutritional information is not included. Extra tips or recipe alternatives are listed in sidebars with the recipes. The recipes themselves are fairly straightforward and are made with easily sourced ingredients. Many are very simple, none of them are overly complex. I was surprised that most of the recipes are not cookies or sweets. The bulk of my holiday baking is cookies and fudge and similar things for sharing and gift-giving and there weren't many here to choose from however, it's worth noting that the review eARC of the book provided represented about 50% of the final page content, so there's likely to be more of all the recipe categories in the press edition of the book.
These are tasty, easy to prepare, homestyle cooking for sharing with family and friends.
Each of the chapter headers includes a simple devotional paragraph or short prayerful saying. The writing is not strident or preachy. They're comforting and joyful and wouldn't be taken amiss by non-Christian readers.
The photography is not abundant; most of the recipes are not illustrated, but the photographs which are included are clear and well done. I wish there had been more photographs and serving suggestions, but I do understand that extra photography increases the price of book projects very quickly.
As a bonus, many of the recipes include gift giving packaging ideas for sharing.
Four stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.