Cookbooks > Baking & Desserts

Baking & Desserts

Our collection of recommended titles is a work in progress. We’re in process of adding many more, so please check back often! And drop us a line if there’s something you’d like us to consider including. We have included links to our reviews and other coverage of the books, along with links to purchase them through our affiliates. Purchasing through Bookshop is a great way to support independent bookstores, as well as our work at Cooks Without Borders.

If you’d like to see all our cookbook reviews in one place, find them here.

Featured

BAKING WITH DORIE

Award-winning, best-selling cookbook author Dorie Greenspan is one of the best around. Her 14th book, partly inspired by her travels and filled with must-bake recipes, encourages bakers to riff and play. Read our review.

$32 at Bookshop - buy now

$30 at Amazon - buy now

THE CAKE BIBLE

With more than 200 recipes, Rose Levy Beranbaum's 2008 book really is the Bible.

$35 at Bookshop - buy now

$27 at Amazon - buy now

CHEZ PANISSE DESSERTS

In print since it was first published in 1994, Lindsey Shere’s collection of way-back-when desserts from Chez Panisse is one of our favorite desserts book of all time. Heavy on tarts, frozen desserts and soufflés, with few cakes, and no photos — instead, illustrations by Wayne Thiebaud.

$23 at Bookshop - buy now

$20 at Amazon - buy now

THE COOKIE THAT CHANGED MY LIFE . . .

. . . and More Than 100 Other Classic Cakes, Cookies, Muffins, and Pies That Will Change Yours. It’s not every day that Nancy Silverton publishes a cookbook. This one’s a keeper. Review coming soon — taste a sample.

$37 at Bookshop - buy now

$33 at Amazon - buy now

DORIE'S COOKIES

Dorie Greenspan seems to be having a blast as she presents gotta-have-it cookie after cooking. Know a fledgling baker or a serious, experience cookie genius? This is for them. Read more.

$35 at Bookshop - buy now

$23 at Amazon - buy now

EVOLUTIONS IN BREAD

Subtitled “Artisan Pan Breads and Dutch Oven Loaves at Home,” Ken Forkish’s primer was one of our Best New Cookbooks of 2022.

$33 at Bookshop - buy now

$30 at Amazon - buy now

GÂTEAU: THE SURPRISING SIMPLICITY OF FRENCH CAKES

Aleksandra Crapanzano’s charming compendium speaks to people who love cakes but don’t want to fuss over them. Review coming soon - for now, try a recipe.

$28 at Bookshop - buy now

$19 at Amazon - buy now

MIDDLE EASTERN SWEETS: DESSERTS, PASTRIES, CREAMS & TREATS

This beautiful Phaidon volume by Salma Hage is a must-have for anyone who loves the fragrant desserts, cookies and other treats of the Levantine and other Middle-Eastern cultures. Story and/or review coming soon.

$32 at Bookshop - buy now

$27 at Amazon - buy now

MOTHER GRAINS

This essential book from renowned L.A. baker Roxana Jullapat (co-owner of Friends & Family) eloquently explicates the grain revolution. Organized around 8 “mother grains” (barley, buckwheat, corn, oats, rice, rye, sorghum and wheat), it’s filled with fabulous recipes that will change the way you think about baking. Read our review.

$37 at Bookshop - buy now

$30 at Amazon - buy now

THE PERFECT SCOOP

The Paris-based former Chez Panisse pastry chef is the undisputed king of ice cream. His recipes are great for following to a T, but they're also imminently riffable. Read our review.

$23 at Bookshop - buy now

$22 at Amazon - buy now

READY FOR DESSERT

David Lebovitz has great taste, so when he says these are his best recipes, you'd better believe they're fabulous.

$23 at Bookshop - buy now

$22 at Amazon - buy now

SWEET: DESSERTS FROM LONDON'S OTTOLENGHI

Cookies, cakes, tarts, confections and yes, lots of meringue-y things, fill the delectable pages of the 2017 book by Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh. Try a sample recipe.

$32 at Bookshop - buy now

$17 at Amazon - buy now