The Best Baking Cookbooks 2021
I made a YouTube video showing off these books, so if you are more interested in watching/listening click here! Cooking and baking is such a great way to show someone you appreciate them. It is a wonderful way to connect people or even communicate! There are endless possibilities when it comes to the world of food and I think that's why I love to do it so much. Cookbooks are a gateway drug to becoming obsessed with making food and desserts of all kinds. That is where these amazing cookbooks come in. They are perfect for a beginner or a more advanced cook because they offer the staples, new twists on classics, and the science behind the techniques. Buy them for yourself or a friend. Be warned, you won't be able to stop cooking/baking once you dive into these. You also won't be able to stop thinking about how to make your own version of something when you go out.
1. The Food Lab by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt
This is more focused on cooking, but hear me out! This gets into the nitty gritty of the science of food, different cooking techniques, and tools/ingredients to have in your kitchen at all times. Kenji even tells you how to organize your fridge so everything is at the correct temperature. This book is over 900 pages, so to say it is thorough might be an understatement. The pictures in this book are phenomenal and walk you through many of the different strategies he shows. If someone you know loves science and food...this one is for them.
2. King Arthur - Baker's Companion (updated edition)
This is a great beginners book because it offers all of the staples, how to make them, blogs/videos online to follow along for complicated recipes and some new takes on classics they make in the lab. Each chapter is a different dessert food group and at the beginning of each chapter there is a breakdown of how the main ingredients play a part in that recipe. I love this because if you are confident enough you can adjust these recipes so it is more of what you are looking for. This is a great beginners book for anyone who loves baking.
3. How to Bake Everything by Mark Bittman
Another great book for beginning bakers, this also works well for advanced bakers! Mark does an amazing job of offering basic recipes, but on top of that he offers ideas for alternatives. He has 12 other add-ins/alternatives for COCONUT MACAROONS! Who would have thought you could come up with that many different recipes using coconut macaroons as a base recipe. This is where Mark's book comes out ahead of the King Arthur book, he has illustrations showing how to do complex steps AND his directions are very thorough. If you are trying to decide between King Arthur and How to Bake Everything, I would recommend How to Bake Everything. It is a well rounded book!
4. Momofuku Milk Bar by Christina Tosi
If you haven't heard of Christina Tosi in the dessert world...you are missing out. She is known for her Cornflake marshmallow chocolate chip cookies, crazy layer cakes, and crack pie (now known as Milk Bar Pie). This would be great for a more advanced baker and likes to make crazy desserts. These recipes are a bit more demanding, time consuming and definitely require patience! Some of these recipes also include hard to find ingredients. Where the other books I am recommending are recipes using staples people already keep in the kitchen. I will also throw in that the directions in this book are there, but they aren't holding your hand for every single step. I don't want you to think I don't like this cookbook, I love it! I like to think of it as an extra or add-on for your cookbook collection. So if you are just looking for one book to begin your collection, I would go with 1-3 first before buying this one.