Nordic Bakery Cookbook by Miisa Mink

I want Finnish cinnamon buns that resemble shiny croissants. I want savory rye tart shells filled with creamy rice and eggs. I want tosca cake with its crunchy almond topping and buttery crumbs. I want every single recipe in this Nordic Bakery Cookbook, and I would very much like them right now.

• Who wrote it: Miisa Mink

• Who published it: Ryland Peters & Small

• Recipes for right now: Potato Rye Bread, Quiche with Smoked Fish, Ginger Cake, Toffee Layer Cake, Little Butter Buns, Cardamom Doughnuts, Simple Apple Tart, Frosted German-style Gingerbread

• Other highlights: There is a really fun “familiar…but different” feel to these recipes that totally draws me in. They’re familiar in the way that all things buttery and cakey and yeast-risen are inherently familiar and beloved, but the Nordic soul of the recipes makes them feel slightly — and tantalizingly — outside my normal repertoire. There’s cardamom in the sweet recipes and rye flour in many of the savory; fish and boiled eggs find their ways into baked goods in unexpected (to me) ways; almost everything will go with a strong cup of coffee.

The Nordic Bakery — the actual brick-and-mortar bakery, that is — is located in London and I can only imagine that a visit there would result in paralysis of the tasty decision-making sort. This book reflects their menu and covers breads, savory pastries, cakes, sweet pastries and buns, and tarts and cookies. Beautifully simple pictures illustrate each recipe, which is especially helpful in a book like this when the names of dishes might not be immediately familiar.

While the recipes have been tried and tested in a bakery, they still feel very “homemade” at heart. It’s clear from the headnotes that many of the bakery’s offerings originated from Miisa Mink’s family recipes, and they still reflect this essentially simple and doable feeling — which is good news for those of us who won’t be able to make it to London any time soon!

• Who would enjoy this book? Bakers, cooks intrigued by Nordic cooking

Find the book at your local library, independent bookstore, or Amazon: Nordic Bakery Cookbook by Miisa Mink

• Visit the author’s website: Miisa Mink

Apartment Therapy Media makes every effort to test and review products fairly and transparently. The views expressed in this review are the personal views of the reviewer and this particular product review was not sponsored or paid for in any way by the manufacturer or an agent working on their behalf. However, the manufacturer did give us the product for testing and review purposes.