Here's a book we can't wait to delve into once the nights get longer! Linda Raedisch's The Secret History of Christmas Baking: Recipes & Stories from Tomb Offerings to Gingerbread Boys seems right up our alley: We are endlessly fascinated by the origins of traditions, and here, Raedisch dispels some long-standing culinary myths and delves into the darker chapters of the West's centuries-long romance with sugar and spices. In addition to more than forty recipes for modern bakers, you'll find illustrated instructions for dressing up your cakes and cookie plates with paper stars, angels, and witches. From Linzer tartlets to Christstollen, you can turn your kitchen into an Old World Christmas market stall. You'll also learn lots of things you probably never knew... for instance: Did you know that the ancient Egyptians had their own version of gingerbread or that marzipan was once considered a pharmaceutical?

Interspersed with tales of sailors, saints, tomb raiders, and artisans, The Secret History of Christmas Baking proves that even the humblest holiday treat has a global backstory.

If Mrs. Beaton, Hildegard, and The Two Fat Ladies got together with a medieval monk and had a love child, it would be The Secret History of Christmas Baking. Linda Raedisch has made me rethink my aversion to fruitcake. Oh, and the book's peppered with crafts for when you can't face down one more cookie. I am insanely jealous that I did not write this book. — Natalie Zaman, award-winning author of Magical Destinations of the Northeast and Color and Conjure

The Secret History of Christmas Baking is many things: a compendium of (sometimes strange) culinary delights, a personal remembrance of family traditions, and a whirlwind tour of the sometimes sinister, occasionally tragic, and always colorful backstories of ingredients, recipes, methods, and madnesses that flavor our most beloved holiday treats. Linda Raedisch tempers a historian's eye with wry humor and reverence. This book is a must-read for any baker, marzipan enthusiast, or kitchen witch. — Caren Gussoff Sumption, contributing writer for Krampusnacht: Twelve Nights of Krampus