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Butter Celebrates!: A Cookbook of Delicious Recipes for Special Occasions
Celebrate your favorite occasions with recipes from a little neighborhood bakery.
What's a celebration without baked goods? Rosie Daykin provides over 100 recipes for sweets that home bakers will return to year after year until they become family traditions. Whether you're welcoming a new baby, a new neighbor, or the New Year; sharing Thanksgiving, Hannukah, or Christmas with friends and family; or simply enjoying summer, Rosie has the perfect recipe for every occasion.
Butter Celebrates! is a feast for the eyes, with a wealth of gorgeous photographs illustrating the simple-to-follow recipes and tips for making any occasion extra special. With her warm, welcoming style and funny anecdotes Rosie takes the fear out of making French Macarons and introduces us to the excitement that only a Reveal Cake can offer, all while paying homage to the classics (Vanilla Butter Cream, anyone?). Even the most inexperienced bakers will enjoy following Rosie's directions to create that special something for that special someone.
Butter began as a tiny bakery in Vancouver, with an emphasis on nostalgia and the classics. With the publication of Rosie's first book, Butter Baked Goods: Nostalgic Recipes from a Little Neighborhood Bakery, its fame rapidly spread across North America. Butter Celebrates! is a peek into Rosie's world filled with family, friends, laughter, witty toasts, good music, general chaos and, of course, delicious baked goods.
What's a celebration without baked goods? Rosie Daykin provides over 100 recipes for sweets that home bakers will return to year after year until they become family traditions. Whether you're welcoming a new baby, a new neighbor, or the New Year; sharing Thanksgiving, Hannukah, or Christmas with friends and family; or simply enjoying summer, Rosie has the perfect recipe for every occasion.
Butter Celebrates! is a feast for the eyes, with a wealth of gorgeous photographs illustrating the simple-to-follow recipes and tips for making any occasion extra special. With her warm, welcoming style and funny anecdotes Rosie takes the fear out of making French Macarons and introduces us to the excitement that only a Reveal Cake can offer, all while paying homage to the classics (Vanilla Butter Cream, anyone?). Even the most inexperienced bakers will enjoy following Rosie's directions to create that special something for that special someone.
Butter began as a tiny bakery in Vancouver, with an emphasis on nostalgia and the classics. With the publication of Rosie's first book, Butter Baked Goods: Nostalgic Recipes from a Little Neighborhood Bakery, its fame rapidly spread across North America. Butter Celebrates! is a peek into Rosie's world filled with family, friends, laughter, witty toasts, good music, general chaos and, of course, delicious baked goods.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published October 13, 2015
8 people are currently reading
113 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
July 5, 2022
This is a beautiful cookbook. This thumbnail doesn't do it justice. It is a gorgeous dust jacket around a lovely linen like book with delicate floral inner panels, built in ribbon book mark, and lovely full page photography of every recipe. It's the kind of beautiful cookbook that makes your cookbook collection look better by association.
Butter is a bakery in Vancover, Canada owned by Rosie Daykin. This cookbook, I think 1 of 3 attributed to Daykin though the bakery, features various baked goods centered around various holidays, including a section celebrating pets. The recipes are generally easy to follow with easy to find ingredients. Considering the size of the cookbook, there aren't as many recipes included as expected. Between the full page color photography, full page section breaks, recipe comments and descriptions from the author, there is a lot of "extra" information which helps with the looks but distracts from the limited recipes contained in it.
My favorite recipe I made is the Lemon Drops. It is a fairly standard sugar cookie recipe with a lemon twist in the batter and glaze. Every other recipe I made was good, especially the bake. Making every recipe as written, I found the mixing/baking/temp/timer instructions gave excellent to near perfect results. The techniques are well written. Unfortunately, we found most of the baked goods just good, not great. Despite the great outcomes, the flavor for all the other recipes was nice but not bold or distinct enough to make a big impression or a strong desire to make again. Considering the author owns a bakery, that makes sense - baked goods that are good but mildly flavored enough to appeal to the masses. Take the Cinnamon Cookies from the Valentine's Day section, for example. They were good made as written. Yet, the second time I made them, I bumped up the cinnamon a little and then added a cinnamon powdered sugar glaze at the end. Much better and bolder. The Apple Custard Tart looked gorgeous when done, but lacked something? I will make it again but plan to add additional vanilla and maybe more spices to make the flavor a little more complex. The Pear Ginger Coffee Cake was good, but I think I'd make it using apples or the suggested blueberries next time as it's hard to find pears at perfect ripeness to hold up to the ginger and crumble. Usually, when I find this many recipes I would make changes to if making again, I would rate the cookbook lower. This is a rare exception because the techniques and resulting "crumb" gave such solid results, I'm willing to work on the flavors for our personal use even while adhering to the recipe instructions.
My only real criticism of this cookbook is in the need for clarity in some of the cookie scoops or other baking sizes. For example, in all of the drop cookie recipes, including my favorite Lemon Drops, the instructions say use a "medium ice cream scoop." There isn't technically a medium ice cream scoop, although there are various sizes. There is a medium cookie scoop, generalized standard. Yet, when I used it for the cookies, I got more than double the number it says I should get. Daykin may use her medium ice cream scoop of 3 sizes from her own kitchen drawer when making the cookies, but that doesn't translate into precise, standardized baking size. This size issue was also prevalent in trying to choose fruit sizes. Instead of weights or cups, Daykin would estimate with firm descriptions like "an apple of good size but not too big." I still had great results, but I acknowledge these issues could be a big deal to novice bakers.
Solid cookbook but far from perfect. I'll definitely make several recipes again, although most with modifications. It's just too pretty to get rid of it.
Butter is a bakery in Vancover, Canada owned by Rosie Daykin. This cookbook, I think 1 of 3 attributed to Daykin though the bakery, features various baked goods centered around various holidays, including a section celebrating pets. The recipes are generally easy to follow with easy to find ingredients. Considering the size of the cookbook, there aren't as many recipes included as expected. Between the full page color photography, full page section breaks, recipe comments and descriptions from the author, there is a lot of "extra" information which helps with the looks but distracts from the limited recipes contained in it.
My favorite recipe I made is the Lemon Drops. It is a fairly standard sugar cookie recipe with a lemon twist in the batter and glaze. Every other recipe I made was good, especially the bake. Making every recipe as written, I found the mixing/baking/temp/timer instructions gave excellent to near perfect results. The techniques are well written. Unfortunately, we found most of the baked goods just good, not great. Despite the great outcomes, the flavor for all the other recipes was nice but not bold or distinct enough to make a big impression or a strong desire to make again. Considering the author owns a bakery, that makes sense - baked goods that are good but mildly flavored enough to appeal to the masses. Take the Cinnamon Cookies from the Valentine's Day section, for example. They were good made as written. Yet, the second time I made them, I bumped up the cinnamon a little and then added a cinnamon powdered sugar glaze at the end. Much better and bolder. The Apple Custard Tart looked gorgeous when done, but lacked something? I will make it again but plan to add additional vanilla and maybe more spices to make the flavor a little more complex. The Pear Ginger Coffee Cake was good, but I think I'd make it using apples or the suggested blueberries next time as it's hard to find pears at perfect ripeness to hold up to the ginger and crumble. Usually, when I find this many recipes I would make changes to if making again, I would rate the cookbook lower. This is a rare exception because the techniques and resulting "crumb" gave such solid results, I'm willing to work on the flavors for our personal use even while adhering to the recipe instructions.
My only real criticism of this cookbook is in the need for clarity in some of the cookie scoops or other baking sizes. For example, in all of the drop cookie recipes, including my favorite Lemon Drops, the instructions say use a "medium ice cream scoop." There isn't technically a medium ice cream scoop, although there are various sizes. There is a medium cookie scoop, generalized standard. Yet, when I used it for the cookies, I got more than double the number it says I should get. Daykin may use her medium ice cream scoop of 3 sizes from her own kitchen drawer when making the cookies, but that doesn't translate into precise, standardized baking size. This size issue was also prevalent in trying to choose fruit sizes. Instead of weights or cups, Daykin would estimate with firm descriptions like "an apple of good size but not too big." I still had great results, but I acknowledge these issues could be a big deal to novice bakers.
Solid cookbook but far from perfect. I'll definitely make several recipes again, although most with modifications. It's just too pretty to get rid of it.
February 15, 2017
Wow! Beautifully edited & tantalizingly tempting, this work is for those of us who have insatiable sweet teeth! Check it out today - great ideas for celebrating St. Patrick's Day!
October 31, 2022
Beautiful, lavish, and heavy cookbook. (I did not read the Kindle version, despite whatever I happened to select.) I love baking with butter and there are some new ideas and some refinements of favorites. Great resource.
February 4, 2016
Amazing!
May 7, 2019
Even if you don't make anything from this cookbook it's nice to just flip through and look at all the gorgeous desserts. Rosie Daykin opened Butter bakery in 2007 and she finds that when people order desserts from Butter she feels like she is part of whatever they are celebrating, hence the title of this cookbook Butter Celebrates!. The cookbook is organized by holiday since it is about celebrating, but many of the recipes could be used anytime. I also liked that in the introduction she gives tips on entertaining, important tools for baking, and other tips to make your home baking better. Overall, a good cookbook and there are definitely a few recipes I want to try out.
February 23, 2017
Very pretty cookbook. Bright, happy photos and chatty chapter, recipe introductions. Nothing made me want to rush into the kitchen and start baking but I'm a sucker for ribbon book markers and used it to save the recipe for the darling little Coconut Marshmallow Bunnies.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 5, 2018
mmmmm... This is on my wish list! Everything I've tried so far from this book is incredibly delicious - even when made gluten free!
November 5, 2018
Beautiful book but annoying author commentary.
March 12, 2021
Beautiful, but some of these recipes have mistakes like ingredients listed that are never in the steps. It’s super frustrating to have to wing it.
August 4, 2021
Switch to stretchy pants before reading--it's that good!
March 22, 2022
A cookbook oriented to specific holidays baking and based on a successful bakery/eatery. I found several unique and previously, for me, unknown recipes. Worth reading.
March 6, 2017
SO many scrumptious recipes. The photography is beautiful, and the direction easy to follow.
December 18, 2016
This book is filled with delicious holiday-themed recipes. I can't wait to make the Irish whiskey brownies! The recipes are very easy to follow, and the instructions and photos make things very clear. If you enjoy baking, you really should check this out.
February 11, 2017
This is a truly beautiful cookbook.
March 27, 2017
Pros:
-Lots of cute ideas
Cons:
-Holiday specific (not really a con, just can't use most of these recipes other times in the year)
Def great to get ideas around the holidays!
-Lots of cute ideas
Cons:
-Holiday specific (not really a con, just can't use most of these recipes other times in the year)
Def great to get ideas around the holidays!
April 21, 2017
Lots of yummy recipes.I like that she includes dog recipes.
April 29, 2017
Absolutely adorable cookbook! I made the carrot cupcakes for Easter and we loved them. Wish I could go to her bakery some day.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews