And on the seventh day of the 12 Days of Cookbooks I give you Carole Bloom’sBite-Size Desserts: Creating Mini Sweet Treats, from Cupcakes and Cobblers to Custards and Cookies.

Carole Bloom is yet another brilliant pastry chef and cookbook author who I am lucky enough to “know” through her books. I own several of them including The Essential Baker: The Comprehensive Guide to Baking with Chocolate, Fruit, Nuts, Spices, and Other Ingredients (which is another one that I highly recommend).

Bloom’s books help you to create baked goods of the very highest standard. Her latest helps you to create mini baked goods of the very highest standard.

Honestly. Every little thing in this books is so adorable. So cute. So adorable!!!

I’ve tried many of the recipes, all with great success, but my most favourite so far has to be the Nectarine and Walnut Galettes on p. 97 (I used plums instead of nectarines). The pastry for these galettes completely blew me away. It has ground walnuts in it. It is, without question, one of my top five favourite new things that I made this year.

As I mentioned, I’ve tried numerous recipes from the book but another favourite is the recipe for Toasted Pecan Shortbread Bites. The picture isn’t great but trust me these cookies are so cute and so good.

This would make a great gift for a seasoned baker. The recipes do tend to be a bit involved and usually involve several stages so it might not be the best book for a beginner baker.

I’m off to bake something mini …

Ciao!