Crazy About Cupcakes


Krystina Castella - 2006
    And whether they’re chocolaty, spicy, crunchy, fruity, or creamy, these exquisitely decorated treats look as astounding as they taste—perfect little temptations designed to make adults nostalgic and children happy. All the basics are lovingly explained so anyone can whip up a beautiful batch, and there are varieties for every day (from healthy cupcakes to ice cream indulgences); parties big and small; holidays ranging from Christmas to the Fourth of July; just for kids; and fund-raisers and bake sales. Plus, to make things easy, an entire chart- and template-filled chapter focuses on flavor combinations and design elements.

Doughnuts: Simple and Delicious Recipes to Make at Home


Lara Ferroni - 2010
    The best news of all is that they're actually easy to make at home. And really, is there anything more scrumptious than a fresh doughnut? In Doughnuts, prepare to be tempted by more than fifty recipes, including Chai, Huckleberry Cheesecake, and Red Velvet. Of course, the cookbook is also full of traditional recipes for favorites like Old-Fashioned Sour Cream and Chocolate Raised doughnuts, as well as vegan and gluten-free recipes. The mouthwatering photography and tasty recipes will leave readers and home cooks drooling and dreaming about doughnuts.

The Book on Pie: Everything You Need to Know to Bake Perfect Pies


Erin Jeanne McDowell - 2020
    Erin Jeanne McDowell, New York Times contributing baker extraordinaire and top food stylist, wrote the book on pie, a comprehensive handbook that distills all you'll ever need to know for making perfect pies. The Book on Pie starts with the basics, including ways to mix pie dough for extra flaky crusts, storage and freezing, recipe size conversions, and expert tips for decorating and styling, before diving into the recipes for all the different kinds of pies: fruit, custard, cream, chiffon, cold set, savory, and mini. Find everything from classics like Apple Pie and Pumpkin Pie, to more inspired recipes like Birthday-Cake Pie and Caramel Pork Pie with Chile and Scallions. Erin also suggests recommended pie doughs and toppings with each recipe for infinitely customizable pies: Mix and match Pumpkin Spice Pie Dough and Dark Chocolate Drippy Glaze with the Pumpkin Pie, or sub in the Chive Compound-Butter Crust for the Croque Madame Pielets . . . the possibilities are endless. With helpful tips, photographic guides, and inspirations—pie-deas—it's almost like having Erin in the kitchen baking pies with you.

On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen


Harold McGee - 1984
    Hailed by Time magazine as "a minor masterpiece" when it first appeared in 1984, On Food and Cooking is the bible to which food lovers and professional chefs worldwide turn for an understanding of where our foods come from, what exactly they're made of, and how cooking transforms them into something new and delicious. Now, for its twentieth anniversary, Harold McGee has prepared a new, fully revised and updated edition of On Food and Cooking. He has rewritten the text almost completely, expanded it by two-thirds, and commissioned more than 100 new illustrations. As compulsively readable and engaging as ever, the new On Food and Cooking provides countless eye-opening insights into food, its preparation, and its enjoyment.On Food and Cooking pioneered the translation of technical food science into cook-friendly kitchen science and helped give birth to the inventive culinary movement known as "molecular gastronomy." Though other books have now been written about kitchen science, On Food and Cooking remains unmatched in the accuracy, clarity, and thoroughness of its explanations, and the intriguing way in which it blends science with the historical evolution of foods and cooking techniques.Among the major themes addressed throughout this new edition are:Traditional and modern methods of food production and their influences on food qualityThe great diversity of methods by which people in different places and times have prepared the same ingredientsTips for selecting the best ingredients and preparing them successfullyThe particular substances that give foods their flavors and that give us pleasureOur evolving knowledge of the health benefits and risks of foodsOn Food and Cooking is an invaluable and monumental compendium of basic information about ingredients, cooking methods, and the pleasures of eating. It will delight and fascinate anyone who has ever cooked, savored, or wondered about food.

Bon Appetit Desserts: The Cookbook for All Things Sweet and Wonderful


Barbara Fairchild - 2010
    From quick homestyle cookies to unforgettable special-occasion finales such as spiced chocolate torte wrapped in chocolate ribbons, Bon Appetit showcases meticulously tested recipes that turn out perfectly--every time. Now, culled from Bon Appetit's extensive archives and including never-before-published recipes, Bon Appetit Desserts promises to be the comprehensive guide to all things sweet and wonderful.   Authored by Bon Appetit editor-in-chief Barbara Fairchild, Bon Appetit Desserts features more than 600 recipes--from layer cakes to coffee cakes, tortes and cupcakes to pies, tarts, candies, puddings, souffles, ice cream, cookies, holiday desserts, and much, much more. Certain to inspire both experienced home cooks and those just starting out in the kitchen, each recipe is designed to ensure the dessert preparation process is as enjoyable as the finished result.Bon Appetit Desserts is destined to be the definitive, comprehensive, invaluable dessert resource.  "This is a gorgeous book that makes me want to make everything--no, taste everything--inside! This is a must-have for every baker, cook, and sweet freak in your life." --Elizabeth Falkner, chef and owner of Citizen Cake and Orson  "At last, a collection of Bon Appetit's most treasured dessert recipes, thoroughly tested as always, beautifully illustrated, and, of course, wonderfully delicious. You'll reach for this book each time sweets are on your menu, but you'll come back to it just as often for its myriad tips; great chapters on ingredients, equipment, and techniques; and the many detailed and easy-to-grasp how-tos.  It's truly a one-stop book for all of us who love baking." --Dorie Greenspan, author of Baking: From My Home to Yours and Around My French Table  "Bon Appetit Desserts is filled with exactly the kind of sweets I like to make: inviting, unpretentious, and easy to love, but also innovative enough to turn a few heads. And the best part is, Bon Appetit Desserts is not only about recipes. With chapters on ingredients, equipment, and techniques, plus a slew of tips from the Bon Appetit test kitchens, it's also a mini-education. Oh, in case you aren't sold yet, I have ten words for you: Banana Layer Cake with Caramel Cream and Sea Salt-Roasted Pecans." --Molly Wizenberg, author of A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table

Cake Magic!: Mix & Match Your Way to 100 Amazing Combinations


Caroline Wright - 2016
    Or how about a nutty cake like the Elvis: Peanut Butter Cake + Bacon Syrup + Nutella Frosting, topped with candied bacon. Fit for the king, indeed!This innovative and remarkably easy way to bake luscious, flavorful cakes is a formula for cake bliss. Cake Magic! is a full-color visual cookbook—photos in the front, recipes in the back—and the first step in every baker’s cake adventure. It includes valuable baking tips, vegan and gluten-free variations, plus how to tweak the recipes to make sheet cakes, Bundt cakes, and cupcakes, too.

Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking


Michael Ruhlman - 2009
    Why spend time sorting through the millions of cookie recipes available in books, magazines, and on the Internet? Isn’t it easier just to remember 1-2-3? That’s the ratio of ingredients that always make a basic, delicious cookie dough: 1 part sugar, 2 parts fat, and 3 parts flour. From there, add anything you want—chocolate, lemon and orange zest, nuts, poppy seeds, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, almond extract, or peanut butter, to name a few favorite additions. Replace white sugar with brown for a darker, chewier cookie. Add baking powder and/or eggs for a lighter, airier texture. Ratios are the starting point from which a thousand variations begin. Ratios are the simple proportions of one ingredient to another. Biscuit dough is 3:1:2—or 3 parts flour, 1 part fat, and 2 parts liquid. This ratio is the beginning of many variations, and because the biscuit takes sweet and savory flavors with equal grace, you can top it with whipped cream and strawberries or sausage gravy. Vinaigrette is 3:1, or 3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar, and is one of the most useful sauces imaginable, giving everything from grilled meats and fish to steamed vegetables or lettuces intense flavor. Cooking with ratios will unchain you from recipes and set you free. With thirty-three ratios and suggestions for enticing variations, Ratio is the truth of cooking: basic preparations that teach us how the fundamental ingredients of the kitchen—water, flour, butter and oils, milk and cream, and eggs—work. Change the ratio and bread dough becomes pasta dough, cakes become muffins become popovers become crepes. As the culinary world fills up with overly complicated recipes and never-ending ingredient lists, Michael Ruhlman blasts through the surplus of information and delivers this innovative, straightforward book that cuts to the core of cooking. Ratio provides one of the greatest kitchen lessons there is—and it makes the cooking easier and more satisfying than ever.

Good and Cheap: Eat Well on $4/Day


Leanne Brown - 2011
    government’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program informally known as food stamps? The answer is surprisingly well: Broiled Tilapia with Lime, Spicy Pulled Pork, Green Chile and Cheddar Quesadillas, Vegetable Jambalaya, Beet and Chickpea Salad—even desserts like Coconut Chocolate Cookies and Peach Coffee Cake. In addition to creating nutritious recipes that maximize every ingredient and use economical cooking methods, Ms. Brown gives tips on shopping; on creating pantry basics; on mastering certain staples—pizza dough, flour tortillas—and saucy extras that make everything taste better, like spice oil and tzatziki; and how to make fundamentally smart, healthful food choices.Download a free PDF copy at http://www.leannebrown.ca/cookbooks

Baking with Mary Berry: Cakes, Cookies, Pies and Pastries from the British Queen of Baking


Mary Berry - 2015
    The recipes follow Mary's prescription for dishes that are no fuss, practical, and foolproof--from breakfast goods to cookies, cakes, pastries, and pies, to special occasion desserts such as cheesecake and soufflés, to British favorites that will inspire.Whether you're tempted by Mary's Heavenly Chocolate Cake and Best-Ever Brownies, intrigued by her Mincemeat and Almond Tart or Magic Lemon Pudding, or inspired by her Rich Fruit Christmas Cake and Ultimate Chocolate Roulade, the straightforward yet special recipes in Baking with Mary Berry will prove, as one reviewer has said of her recipes, "if you can read, you can cook."Author Bio:Mary Berry is one of the UK's best-loved and most respected cooking writers and bakers, with more than 80 books to her name and over 6 million copies sold. She is a judge on the primetime ABC series The Great Holiday Baking Show and the PBS series The Great British Baking Show, based on the hit BBC TV program (The Great British Bake Off). Her focus on family food and on recipes that are no fuss, practical, and foolproof have won her a legion of fans worldwide. She lives in England and has five grandchildren--with whom she regularly bakes.

The Secret Lives of Baked Goods: Sweet Stories & Recipes for America's Favorite Desserts


Jessie Oleson Moore - 2013
    Moore has put her sweet-sleuthing skills to work uncovering the fascinating histories and tastiest recipes for America's favorite sweets, including whoopee pies, chocolate chip cookies, Baked Alaska, and New York cheesecake. From romantic musings on how desserts got their names to sugar-fueled scandals, these classic recipes and photographs are guaranteed to offer food for thought and leave you with plenty of room for dessert.

The Yellow Farmhouse Cookbook


Christopher Kimball - 1998
    Offers an introduction to old-fashioned, country-style cooking with a collection of 300 all-American recipes, focusing on cooking with inexpensive ingredients such as grains, vegetables, pasta, poultry & low-fat cuts of meat that are synonymous with good nutrition.

Every Grain of Rice: Simple Chinese Home Cooking


Fuchsia Dunlop - 2013
    Following her two seminal volumes on Sichuan and Hunan cooking, Every Grain of Rice is inspired by the vibrant everyday cooking of southern China, in which vegetables play the starring role, with small portions of meat and fish.Try your hand at stir-fried potato slivers with chili pepper, vegetarian "Gong Bao Chicken," sour-and-hot mushroom soup, or, if you’re ever in need of a quick fix, Fuchsia’s emergency late-night noodles. Many of the recipes require few ingredients and are ridiculously easy to make. Fuchsia also includes a comprehensive introduction to the key seasonings and techniques of the Chinese kitchen. With stunning photography and clear instructions, this is an essential cookbook for everyone, beginner and connoisseur alike, eager to introduce Chinese dishes into their daily cooking repertoire.

Circle of Friends - 25 Pie, Crisp & Cobbler Recipes


Gooseberry Patch - 2013
    This collection features 25 down-home desserts like Apple Blush Pie, Cherry Brownie Cobbler and Pumpkin Custard Crunch...all guaranteed to be scrumptious and easy as pie to make!

Sunny's Kitchen: Easy Food For Real Life


Sunny Anderson - 2013
      Sunny draws on her family roots in the Carolinas, her travels across the globe in a military family, and her years catering while a radio DJ. Her recipes are as bold and spicy as her palette and she welcomes you into her kitchen with an array of comfort foods. Sunny gives you the whole world in just a few bites: her southern Slow ‘n’ Low Ribs, a bit of Germany in her currywurst-inspired Pork Burgers with Spicy Ketchup, Asian influences in Spicy Noodle Bowls, and a classic Shrimp and Andouille Boil from New Orleans. Drawing on store-bought shortcuts and always relying on affordable, easy-to-find ingredients, Sunny shows you how to make every meal a homecoming.

My Kitchen Year: 136 Recipes That Saved My Life


Ruth Reichl - 2015
    No one was more stunned by this unexpected turn of events than its beloved editor in chief, Ruth Reichl, who suddenly faced an uncertain professional future. As she struggled to process what had seemed unthinkable, Reichl turned to the one place that had always provided sanctuary. “I did what I always do when I’m confused, lonely, or frightened,” she writes. “I disappeared into the kitchen.”My Kitchen Year follows the change of seasons—and Reichl’s emotions—as she slowly heals through the simple pleasures of cooking. While working 24/7, Reichl would “throw quick meals together” for her family and friends. Now she has the time to rediscover what cooking meant to her. Imagine kale, leaves dark and inviting, sautéed with chiles and garlic; summer peaches baked into a simple cobbler; fresh oysters chilling in a box of snow; plump chickens and earthy mushrooms, fricasseed with cream. Over the course of this challenging year, each dish Reichl prepares becomes a kind of stepping stone to finding joy again in ordinary things. The 136 recipes collected here represent a life’s passion for food: a blistering ma po tofu that shakes Reichl out of the blues; a decadent grilled cheese sandwich that accompanies a rare sighting in the woods around her home; a rhubarb sundae that signals the arrival of spring. Here, too, is Reichl’s enlivening dialogue with her Twitter followers, who become her culinary supporters and lively confidants. Part cookbook, part memoir, part paean to the household gods, My Kitchen Year may be Ruth Reichl’s most stirring book yet—one that reveals a refreshingly vulnerable side of the world's most famous food editor as she shares treasured recipes to be returned to again and again and again.