Gatherings: Recipes for Feasts Great and Small

Shedden, a home cook and former contestant on the highly addictive The Great British Baking Show, views gatherings of friends as an easy, relaxed way of hosting, where everyone including the cook can enjoy themselves. She provides easy and accessible recipes and offers recommendations on how to set the table and what to stock in the pantry. Breakfast offerings include tasty variations on morning favorites such as granola, oats, and waffles, but it’s Shedden’s baked goods that truly shine, including hazelnut croissants and drop scones with banana and whipped maple butter. She offers an appealing take on soda bread using onions and balsamic vinegar. Other standouts are a delightful gooseberry cake, a gorgeous kanelbullar (a filled, Danish-like twisted roll topped with almonds), and a luscious strawberry and hibiscus Victoria sponge. Her wardrobe cake, made with Guinness, dark chocolate, and cream cheese, is simply masterly. Her savory dishes are less distinctive but still worthwhile, including tomato and horseradish beef, asparagus risotto, and duck salad with poached eggs. She also includes an array of drinks and nibbles along with a variety of menus. Ice cream and puddings, crumbles, tarts, and compotes round out her notable dessert offerings. A solid first book from a gifted baker, this collection celebrates the joy of good company with good food. (Apr.)