The plate left out on Christmas Eve is the one baking project a child will actually volunteer for. This book gives them 52 ways to fill it, written at a reading level they can follow without an adult narrating every line.

It is broader than its title suggests. Alongside the cookies there are bars, no bake energy bites, five minute mug cakes, breakfast bakes for Christmas morning, homemade whipped cream and a run of holiday desserts that carry the season past December 25. Ingredient lists are short and the instructions are numbered, which is what keeps a nine year old in the kitchen instead of wandering off midway.

Pia Imperial writes for young bakers specifically, so the recipes are forgiving. A mug cake that works in a microwave in 90 seconds is not a compromise, it is the on ramp that makes a child believe they can cook.

Slim, paperback, and cheap enough to be a stocking stuffer rather than a centerpiece gift. Buy it in November, and it earns its shelf space every winter after.