Luisa Weiss

Weiss's memoir, My Berlin Kitchen, was published with Viking Press in 2012.[9] The book covers Weiss's childhood spent with parents who resided in separate countries, her career in the New York publishing industry, and her life since moving to Berlin. At the end of each chapter, the reader is presented with a recipe for a food previously mentioned in the text—German, Italian, and American dishes representing the places Weiss has lived.[12]

Booklist reviewer Allison Block, in a starred review of My Berlin Kitchen, called the book "a heartwarming (and often mouth-watering) memoir" with appeal to both foodies and non-foodies and chapters "brimming with colorful cooking tales and savory recipes."[13] Sue White of Library Journal recommended the book, finding it a "charming" food memoir suited to those who enjoy the works of Laurie Colwin or M.F.K. Fisher.[12] Kirkus Reviews, however, thought the "often-clunky" writing led to "queasy" descriptions of food and "violated the show-don't-tell rule of writing"; criticism was also directed at rudimentary or overly complicated recipes and those with ingredients not accessible to most Americans.[9]

Classic German Baking was first published in 2016 by Ten Speed Press.[10] The cookbook contains a hundred recipes of traditional baked goods, ranging from butter cookies, to cakes, strudels, tortes, and Christmas cookies,[14][15] written with consideration to American home kitchens and ingredients.[10] Weiss was motivated to write the book as she felt like there was a deficit of German baking cookbooks in the American market despite the country's large German immigrant population.[16] She described the recipe-gathering process as a two-year effort that involved investigating antique cookbooks, then consulting friends and family, and corroborating her research using the internet.[17]

The Washington Post and The New York Times placed Classic German Baking on their lists of 2016's best cookbooks.[18][19] Oliver Strand, writing for Vogue, called the book a "gorgeous" introduction to German baking culture,[20] while Los Angeles Times food editor Amy Scattergood credited Weiss for writing a "not only useful and instructive but charming" cookbook.[14] In the New York Journal of Books, reviewer Sharon Kebschull Barrett praised the book's "careful, concise" cooking directions and had only "mild" complaints, including a desire for more explanatory photos, an issue they felt the precision of the directions compensated for.[21]