Thank you NetGalley, Chronicle Books and Sarah Kieffer for this ARC of 100 Afternoon Sweets. I love baking and eating desserts so this cookbook made me extremely happy. With 100 recipes and the beautiful photographs to match, my only problem is where to start. I will be spending a lot of time in the kitchen and there will be a lot of happy people receiving the deliciousness.

I own a couple of Sarah Kieffer’s other baking books, and so I was thrilled to be able to see and review this Advance Reader Copy (ARC) of 100 Afternoon Sweets by Sarah Kieffer, provided by NetGalley. An updated review, which will include further thoughts and photos from my experiences baking from the book, will be provided closer to the publication date. For now, these are my initial thoughts based solely on the ARC.
As expected, Sarah provides us with many creative, delicious sounding (and looking) indulgent sweets to bake at home and share with family and friends. These sweets – an exciting combination of snacking cakes, brownies, blondies and bars, pies (that are sometimes also in the form of bars), no-bake treats, treats designed for a crowd, and somewhat more time-consuming bakes (dubbed “weekend projects”) – are all laid out in an easy-to-follow format. I am especially happy that Sarah and her publisher chose to return to this previously-used format (as in 2020’s 100 Cookies), as I found the right-justified layout of last year’s 100 Morning Treats to be a departure that I personally found more challenging to work with.

There are photographs for just about every dessert which is a wonderful feature, and the photos are gorgeous. Browsing through this book, I found myself wanting to make many of these recipes (too many to list!). While it is important to note there are a few repeats here from her bog and previous books I don’t think that’s too big of a deal, as Sarah seems to have altered or adapted them in some way: e.g. existing muffin and loaf recipes become Blueberry Muffin Cake and Banana Bread Bars; her brownies get an upgrade with Brownies 2.0; her sugar cookies, rum raisin cookies, and toasted sesame cookies (all from 100 Cookies) are adapted here into Sugar Cookie Bars, Raisin Rum Bars, and Toasted Sesame Blondies; her delicious Coffee Blondies and Pumpkin Bars are tweaked to create recipes for a crowd. And her no-churn ice cream is back in the form of new flavors made into ice cream cakes and bars, which I am definitely not mad about! Fans of Yossy Arefi's recipe for Powdered Donut Cake - a favorite of Sarah's - will likely recognize the inspiration here with Sarah's clever reimagination in the form of Jam-Filled Doughnut Cake.

A couple of concerns I noticed, which may very well be due to the unfinished/unedited nature of the ARC but that I will mention here, just in case: 1) While the book is titled 100 Afternoon Sweets, there are in fact recipes for only 84 complete bakes. Numbers 85-100 are various frostings, doughs, and a base chocolate wafer cookie recipe. While these recipes look wonderful and are great to have (cheater croissant dough and rough puff pastry...yes please!), they are in fact components of the other 84 recipes, and not necessarily an afternoon treat on their own. Because of this, I feel they should either be included with their related recipe OR included in their own category. For example, In 100 Cookies, similar recipes are listed under “Extras,” and while there is already an “Extras” section in this book (also components of the first 84 recipes), I feel these could also be incorporated. As is, I do not feel the title is fully accurate and purchasers may feel misled; 2) In the section “For A Crowd”, although the headnotes for two of the recipes indicates a half sheet pan is used, none of the recipe instructions in this section indicate pan dimensions; directions simply say to grease or transfer to “a sheet pan”, but a particular size is not indicated. Again, since the book I am currently reviewing is an unfinished, unedited ARC I will assume this (hopefully!) will be corrected prior to publication; 3) I noticed a photo of Sarah’s Creamy Jammy Coffee Cakes on the Dedication page at the beginning of the book, however that recipe is from her blog and another book, not included here.

All in all, with creative recipes, gorgeous photos, and an easy-to-use layout, this new book from Sarah Kieffer looks like a winner, and I’m guessing will be very successful!

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to review this advance copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

The author has worked in cafeterias and restaurants and she has experience in making multitudes of different cakes and pies and no bake desserts.
The recipes are easy to follow and Sarah gives tips on which ingredients are best to use and how you can test for freshness.
You will enjoy the blueberry muffin cake, jam - filled donut cake and the nutty chocolate peanut butter pie!

I have loved all of Sarah’s cookbooks and knew I would enjoy this one also! This cookbook features an elegant yet simple layout like her other cookbooks with beautiful pictures. I highly recommend adding this one to your shelf!

Thank you NetGalley and Chronicle Books for this ARC!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me review this book. Thus was a fun read filled with delectable and easy recipes along with photos of each dessert. I’ll definitely be trying several of these.

100 Afternoon Sweets
Author: Sarah Kieffer
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Another great addition to Sarah Kieffer's baking series! Once again all the recipes sound delightful and I cannot wait to make a bunch of them. I also like that she features one-bowl recipes and easy bakes for a crowd!

Thanks to NetGalley, Chronicle Books, and Sarah Kieffer for an advanced copy of the book. All thoughts in this review are my own.

Wonderful wonderful recipes! There are so many I am gonna try. I love the explanation for each recipe above them. Seems easy to follow!

Sarah Kieffer does an excellent job with presentation and organization within her cookbooks and this latest title is no exception. The vast majority of recipes each include beautiful photos of the dishes which are sure to inspire anyone paging through. There's a good amount of text for the readers who enjoy a little background, but it never veers into overwhelming blocks of texts. Each recipe is a bite-sized treat visually. Kieffer also includes weights for many of the ingredients, which is a helpful addition. There's a good range of recipes as well, with a good mix of classic, familiar recipes and recipes that get a little more fun with the ingredient combinations.

As always, I try to cook at least one recipe from a cookbook to get a feel for how the recipes turn out. In this case, I gave the Coffee Blondies a try. While the coffee-lover in me would have preferred a stronger coffee taste, they are still absolutely delicious and I can see myself giving these another whirl in the future. The instructions were easy to follow and the blondies came together very quickly.

All in all, this is a great book if you're looking for something that's just as tasty to look at as eat.

Another great book by Sarah Kieffer! There are so many amazing recipes in this installment. I am really looking forward to making Confetti Cake, Chocolate Irish Cream Mousse Pie, Apple Cider Pie and Pretzel Shortbread Fingers! Sarah has easy to follow recipes, great recommendations for ingredients and kitchen tools and is also able to intersperse tidbits about how she came up with some of these recipes which I find so interesting. I have loved Sarah’s previous baking cookbooks and will definitely be picking up this one when it’s released.

Thanks to NetGalley and Chronicle Books for my copy of this ARC which will be published on 10/1/24.

This cookbook has 100 recipes for sweet treats. From snacking cakes to cupcakes and cookies, this covers everything possible for snacking.

How silly of me reviewing this ARC when now I want a print copy to bake with! Gorgeous photos and clear descriptions. I particularly have my eye on Cranberry Caramel Upside-Down Cake, Toasted Sesame Blondies, Lemon Cake Squares, Pecan Espresso Bars, Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie, Passion Fruit S'mores Pie, Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars, Coffee Blondies, Cherry Pie Bars, Caramel Rhubarb Shortbread Bars. The section on buttercreams will definitely up my cake game. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Delicious ideas for quick snacks, lunchbox treats , or a surprise for the office staff. The recipes are made with easy to find ingredients. The instructions are simple to follow. A cookbook that offers delicious ideas is one that I like in my bookcase.

This is a wonderful cookbook filled with accessible but interesting dessert recipes. Delightful recipes and wonderful pictures. The bar recipes alone are amazing and everything looks so good.

This cookbook is great! So many different kinds of treats to choose from that I had a hard time deciding where to start (a good problem). I've made a handful of the recipes so far and they've all turned out fantastic.

Another fantastic cookbook from Sarah Kieffer! Her recipes are easy to follow and the results are delicious. The different types of recipes are well organized into different categories and the accompanying photos are beautiful.

This was a delicious cookbook for us. Seems like every sweet we could imagine and more were in this book. With mouth-watering photographs that make you want to taste everything and creative recipes you will want to try every single recipe. The book also has helpful information like how-to to make dough and add flavors. There were so many treats for different occasions, just snacking around and kids home from school. I love the detailed recipes with a description, detailed ingredients and step-by-step understandable directions that even a beginner like me could follow with ease. I found things I also wanted to make but didn’t know how to make like meringue,ganache and brown butter. I of course found some new favorite recipes like Pecan Espresso Bars and Chocolate Irish Cream Mousse Pie. This was an ebook ARC but I can’t wait for October to add this book to my collection and to gift one to my mom. Your family will love this cookbook. Enjoy together and savor the treats.

I have two of Sarah Kieffer's cookbooks already so I knew this one would be great. I was not wrong. the recipes are fun and approachable, and the baked goods all look and sound fantastic. Many of the recipes need ingredients that I already had in my kitchen so I was able to bake a couple of recipes from the ARC and they didn't disappoint. I'm not a huge fan of the intro to each recipe, they all sound the same because most just state that Sarah used to bake these items when she worked at a coffeeshop etc, etc. I remember this from her other cookbooks too--maybe just a sentence or two is needed in her next books...I will always pick up one of Sarah Kieffer's cookbooks though. Thoroughly enjoyed!

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book and give an honest review.

I am a big fan of Sarah Kieffer and her cookbooks. I have read and or own most of them. The recipes are always reliable and tasty. They are not overly complicated with too many ingredients. The photos included with each recipe make me want to take out the butter, sugar, chocolate, eggs and get to work baking!

Sarah is a Minnesota gal and I can always rely on her recipes for a midwestern appeal. This book is definitely a good one. If you enjoy baking, this book belongs on your shelf in your cookbook collection. It will probably be one you grab most often when you are hungry for a sweet treat!

I've baked many recipes from Sarah Kieffer's "100 Cookies" cookbook so I was so excited to see her newest cookbook release! Like her other books, this one is filled with mouth watering photographs and recipes. I'm especially excited about the "One Bowl Bakes" and the "No Bake" section- good recipes, using simple baking techniques can be hard to find and these sections combined have 27 recipes!! I also appreciate that every recipe has a picture and they truly all look so delicious! Sometimes I buy a cookbook and only a recipe or two look good; in "100 Afternoon Sweets" they ALL look amazing and I can't wait to start baking.

I was so excited to see Sarah was making another book! As always, the recipes look delicious and the photography is beautiful!