The 22 Best Baking Cookbooks You Can Own Right Now
Our favorite baking cookbooks run the gamut from tomes about genius desserts from pastry chefs to beautiful step by step photos for making incredible pies. Your baking bookshelf requires the classic cookbook authors like Dorie Greenspan and Rose Levy Beranbaum, as well as new takes on dessert from Violet Bakery and Dominique Ansel. Whether you’re working on a layer cake for a birthday or baked goods to snack on every day, these books full of bread and dessert recipes will point you in whichever direction you need to go. So grab your baking essentials, your best pie dish and get your apron on, it’s time to whip up something delicious.
Baking at République
Learn how to elevate your baking from Margarita Manzke, baker and co-owner of Los Angeles’s République. Over 100 recipes and even more great photographs will inspire any baker looking to take their techniques to the next level. S’mores bomboloni, anyone?
Baking at République: Masterful Techniques and Recipes, $20 (originally $30) at amazon.com
Pastry Love
From lemon sugar cookies to malted chocolate cake, we can’t wait to get our hands on the recipes in James Beard award-winner Joanne Chang’s cookbook. Bake special treats and learn new techniques in this brand new title.
Pastry Love: A Baker's Journal of Favorite Recipes, $17 (pre-order price before $40 full price) at amazon.com
Modern Baking
Australia’s lead cookbook author Donna Hay offers this dessert bible of 250 treats, including both delights like chocolate ice cream pie and better-for-you options with wholesome ingredients like raw lamingtons with blackberry jam.
Modern Baking, $28 (originally $40) at amazon.com
Simple Cake
Cakes are a cornerstone of baking, but they don’t have to be complex. Brooklyn apron and bakeware designer Odette Williams shares her favorite cake recipes, with 10 base options and 15 toppings for every baker’s taste.
Simple Cake: All You Need to Keep Your Friends and Family in Cake, $21 at amazon.com
Flour Water Salt Yeast
Portland’s Ken Forkish makes some of the best pizzas and bread in the country, and both beginners and serious bakers can do the same at home with his book.
Flour Water Salt Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza, $18 (originally $35) at amazon.com
Rose's Baking Basics
The most instructive book by the godmother of desserts, Rose Levy Beranbaum. Choose between cakes, cookies, pies and tarts, breads or the toppings and fillings to go along with everything. These are the recipes you’ll learn and use forever, like chocolate sheet cake, peach cobbler, and apple walnut muffins.
Rose's Baking Basics: 100 Essential Recipes, with More Than 600 Step-by-Step Photos, $13 (originally $35) at amazon.com
Little Flower Baking
Christina Moore is one of California’s best bakers, and this cookbook is one of the best. Every recipe has a photo, and every treat is as good as the next.
Little Flower Baking, $33 at amazon.com
Sister Pie
No baking book roundup is complete without some proper pies, and Sister Pie is just that. The Detroit bakery has earned acclaim from far and wide, and Lisa Ludwinski’s recipes like rhubarb rosemary streusel pie and toasted marshmallow-butterscotch pie will impress your guests (if you can agree to share it with them).
Sister Pie: The Recipes and Stories of a Big-Hearted Bakery in Detroit, $16 (originally $25) at amazon.com
The Sullivan Street Bakery Cookbook
Ruth Reichl once called Jim Lahey’s Sullivan Street Bakery “a church of bread.” This cookbook demonstrates that and all the glorious elements of rustic bread baking.
The Sullivan Street Bakery Cookbook, $21 (originally $35) at amazon.com
Huckleberry
Ina Garten sings her praises for Zoe Nathan’s recipes from Huckleberry Bakery & Café: “Every once in a while, a cookbook comes along that simply knocks me out.” This cookbook has the full spread from sweet to savory, even with gluten-free and vegan options.
Huckleberry: Stories, Secrets, and Recipes From Our Kitchen, $25 (originally $35) at amazon.com
Crumb: A Baking Book
The Great British Bakeoff contestant Ruby Tandoh offers a book for the casual baker, with sweet and savory cookies, pastries, crackers and plenty more.
Crumb: A Baking Book, $20 at amazon.com
The Cookie Book
The dessert that thrills both adults and kids of course has its own cookbook, and why shouldn’t it? The book has an entire chapter dedicated to chocolate chip cookie recipes as well as new treats like red velvet madeleines and peppermint bark shortbread bites. Sign us up for that cookie swap.
The Cookie Book: Decadent Bites for Every Occasion, $12 (originally $22) at amazon.com
Sweet
Sweet is a New York Times bestseller for a reason. Yotam Ottolenghi’s pastry chef past is in full display in these confections such as rosemary olive oil orange cake and cinnamon pavlova with praline cream.
Sweet: Desserts from London's Ottolenghi, $25 (originally $35) at amazon.com
Dominique Ansel: The Secret Recipes
A coffee table book as well as a masterclass in pastry recipes. Dominique Ansel’s creations continue to evolve, but these recipes are here to stay.
Dominique Ansel: The Secret Recipes, $25 (originally $37) at amazon.com
Making Chocolate
Chocolate fiends will love a book dedicated to their greatest joy. San Francisco chocolate maker, Dandelion Chocolate has the first ever complete guide to making chocolate from scratch.
Making Chocolate: From Bean to Bar to S'more: A Cookbook, $23 (originally $40) at amazon.com
Dappled
We’ve sung our praises for Nicole Rucker’s first cookbook, but all you need to know is that this book will help you make the best fruit pies ever.
Dappled: Baking Recipes for Fruit Lovers, $17 (originally $32) at amazon.com
Poilâne
The famous Parisian bakery with high praise from Martha Stewart and Ina Garten will soon have its own book of recipes. Apollonia Poilâne is a third-generation baker and owner who took over her late parents’ business as the age of 18, and the book includes all of her tips from helping the bakery thrive today.
Poilâne: The Secrets of the World-Famous Bread Bakery, $30 (pre-order) at amazon.com
Baking Chez Moi
Author of the award-winning Around My French Table and Baking: From My Home to Yours, Dorie Greenspan offers recipes for simple French desserts at home. These recipes are delectable and delightful for any time of year.
Baking Chez Moi: Recipes from My Paris Home to Your Home Anywhere, $25 (originally $40) at amazon.com
Violet Bakery Cookbook
With a foreword by Alice Waters, the Violet Bakery Cookbook puts Claire Ptak’s delightful dessert repertoire on full display. Based on less refined sugars and seasonal ingredients, these baked goods work for everything from breakfast to tea time snacks and celebratory gatherings.
The Violet Bakery Cookbook, $20 (originally $30) at amazon.com
Mary Berry's Baking Bible
A core requirement for any baking fanatic, Mary Berry’s book covers all the bases. Use her traditional recipes for tarts, brownies, sponge cakes, cupcakes and everything in between. Now you don’t have to imagine how those desserts on the Great British Bakeoff taste.
Mary Berry's Baking Bible: Over 250 Classic Recipes, $20 (originally $50) at amazon.com
Sweeter off the Vine
Bake by the season with this truly loveable collection of recipes that will treat your sweeth tooth and make desserts worthy of no filter and no leftovers.
Sweeter off the Vine: Fruit Desserts for Every Season, $16 (originally $24) at amazon.com
Maida Heatter's Book of Great Desserts
No baking book collection should be without the great Maida Heatter's classic. The undisputed "Queen of Cake" published this book in 1974, but the recipes and lessons in taking time to enjoy dessert speak volumes.
Maida Heatter's Book of Great Desserts, $46 at amazon.com
