• Eat Your Books

  See Lisa Is Cooking's take on Lexi's favorite chocolate chip cookies and Gingerbread cookies from this book.

• ellabee on March 24, 2016

  An outstanding reference: all the well-tested recipes from MS' first decade of books in one place, with no "lifestyle" or Martha photos (beyond the cover, and even that's more subdued than the norm). Caution re building shopping list from recipes without checking the book, as it was indexed in the earliest era of EYB indexing: The standard for 'store-cupboard ingredients' was different, so garlic, onion, milk, butter, flour, etc are very rarely listed.

• FeastsandFestivals on June 22, 2012

  A go-to book when I can't find what I'm looking for somewhere else. I find the portions much too big and usually drastically resize the recipes downwards

• Breadcrumbs on June 04, 2011

  Martha played a key role in fuelling my passion for cooking and this book replaced my well-worn copy of the Good Housekeeping Cookbook as my go-to reference book. I know some folks say they've had issues w Martha's recipes, saying they are hit and miss however that hasn't been my experience. Over the years I've come to count on Martha for some of what we'd consider to be our house recipes. Martha's Giblet Gravy for instance, is a must-have standard w our Christmas turkey and there are so many hits in this book that make regular appearances on our dinner table. Love this book.

Notes about Recipes in this book

• Mushrooms stuffed with spinach and prosciutto

  • meggan on December 22, 2023

    I think I should have lightly crisped the prosciutto first as it gets lost in the stuffing. Also this makes way too much filling so I am going to repurpose for a small lasagna.

• Banana bread

  • northstarcook on August 15, 2021

    My favorite banana bread recipe to date; turns out lovely every time. Consistent, easy to pull together, and delicious - a definite keeper. I use 3 bananas, skip the spices, and increase the salt a little bit - that gives the perfect balance to our tastes. Oven timing is spot on.

  • JuneHawk on October 14, 2024

    Delicious. Used buttermilk instead of sour cream because that is what I had. It's actually sweet. Probably the best banana bread recipe I've tried.

  • traci_0v6ikg on February 21, 2026

    Fabulous recipe, we use poppy seeds in lieu of nuts for those with allergies. Still provides a nice texture.

• Corn bread

  • Abaermay on April 17, 2026

    Use medium scoop for mini muffins

• Cranberry-orange muffins

  • HazukaPie on December 13, 2017

    So the recipe says this makes 60, 1 1/2 inch muffins... More like 12 standard muffins.

• Roast leg of lamb with garlic-guava glaze

  • missyvanee on April 28, 2024

    p. 172

• Venison Bourguignon

  • cthdawn on February 07, 2010

    don't need 2 flour venison; very good and rich

• Green enchiladas

  • lauries1000 on June 29, 2014

    P 207

• Crab cakes

  • teresa_l027du on February 12, 2026

    Martha basically taught me how to cook. I watched her shows way before food network was popular. I’ve made these several times, very light, not overly breaded. I omit the peppers because I think they over power the crab flavor, and they are still delicious.

• Chicory sautéed in olive oil and garlic

  • anya_sf on February 03, 2022

    I didn't really need a recipe for this (same method I've used for spinach or chard), but since I'd never cooked chicory before, only used it in salads, it was nice to have a reference. Expecting the greens to cook down a lot, which they did, I used 2 heads, but didn't need more oil or garlic. The recipe didn't say to chop the leaves at all, so I cooked them whole, but next time I will chop them since they were fairly chewy and not that easy to cut with a dinner knife. I enjoyed this preparation.

• Butternut squash purée I

  • JuneHawk on July 09, 2024

    This is great. It does come out pretty thin so I'd cut back on the cream a bit.

• Laura's maple-nut Hubbard squash purée

  • Couture911 on September 20, 2010

    I love this. I make it every year for Thanksgiving.

• Black-eyed pea salad

  • angrygreycat on July 21, 2018

    Made 2 changes to the recipe, used cooked black eyed peas rather than canned and added some honey to cut the mustard in the dressing. This was delicious just decide how much you like mustard/how strong your mustard is when deciding how much to put in. The recipe calls from 1 to 2 tablespoons.

• Cucumber salad

  • PennyG on November 07, 2010

    This was okay. I'm going to use the extra vinaigrette on salads this week. I think I'll try the recipe for Cucumber Salad with Creme Fraiche Dressing from this same book next time.

• Warm salad of winter vegetables

  • GarysRichLife on January 19, 2026

    This is an excellent option for a veg mix

• Cold buckwheat noodles

  • Christinalego on June 30, 2020

    Pretty dull

• Polenta with mascarpone and pesto

  • lauries1000 on January 06, 2014

    P 375

• Persimmon pudding

  • anya_sf on February 20, 2019

    I made 1/2 recipe in a 1 quart pudding mold. The steaming time seemed quite long, but it did take nearly the whole time to cook through. The pudding shrank upon cooling and became fairly dense, but still soft and very moist. The flavor was good with a pleasant amount of spice and sweetness. The sour lemon sauce complemented it well.

• Lemon-coconut buttermilk pie

  • Kmcatee87 on April 20, 2026

    The pie was too sweet and didn't set up right.

• Sugar cookies II

  • ashallen on September 13, 2019

    I like my sugar/butter cookies to be very buttery. These cookies were OK but seemed a bit bland and almost cracker-like compared to other recipes I've made, probably because they have a higher proportion of flour to butter than other recipes I've enjoyed. I tried shaping them 2 different ways - rolling the dough into logs and slicing off rounds and rolling out the dough on the counter to cut cookie shapes. The dough log slices were thicker than the rolled cookies and produced soft, slightly puffy cookies. The rolled cookies were dry, crisp, and...cracker-like.

• Gingersnap cookies

  • teresa_l027du on February 12, 2026

    One of my go to Christmas box cookies. I add extra ginger to the recipe because I love the spiciness and I pull from the oven a minute early beck like them chewy.

• Sour lemon sauce

  • anya_sf on February 20, 2019

    I made 1/2 recipe to accompany 1/2 recipe of persimmon pudding. Recipe states that it cannot be made ahead nor reheated (due to the cornstarch, I would guess), but the sauce is very quick and easy to make at the last minute. I used Meyer lemons, but the sauce was still nicely tart and went well with the pudding.

• Lemon curd

  • cathy_s2i8dr on February 16, 2026

    Super easy, Martha never fails

• Mary's knees

  • anya_sf on August 12, 2025

    Very citrusy, not too strong. Maybe my orange wasn't sweet enough, but my drink was bracingly tart - would have liked it a bit sweeter.