Here are 37 books that BraveTart fans have personally recommended if you like
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I loved cooking and baking since I was a child, but it wasn’t until I was an adult that I rediscovered the joy of the kitchen. Even though I may enjoy tossing off a batch of eclairs on a whim or experimenting with sous vide, I can get into a cooking rut of last-minute dinners and grab-and-go meals and forget why I enjoy it in the first place! These five books never fail to remind me of the figurative (and sometimes literal) magic of making delicious food with my own hands.
No can deny that pie is magic, but in this book, pies are literal magic: anyone who eats the fruit pies at the Blackbird Café will receive messages from their long-lost loved ones, thanks to the blackbirds who arrive at midnight and sing their dreams.
I adore the touch of magical realism in this gentle novel, and I can never read it without wanting a slice of pie and a glass of blackberry sweet tea. There’s something so quintessentially summery and wholesome about this book that you can practically taste it as you turn the pages.
THE USA TODAY BESTSELLER Heather Webber's Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe is a captivating blend of magical realism, heartwarming romance, and small-town Southern charm.
Nestled in the mountain shadows of Alabama lies the little town of Wicklow. It is here that Anna Kate has returned to bury her beloved Granny Zee, owner of the Blackbird Café.
It was supposed to be a quick trip to close the café and settle her grandmother’s estate, but despite her best intentions to avoid forming ties or even getting to know her father’s side of the family, Anna Kate finds herself inexplicably drawn to…
I’m an aspiring foodie and a huge lover of books with a great food subplot (or main plot!). I’ve been known to read cookbooks for fun and probably the most thumbed book in our house is my copy of The Joy of Cooking. I’m a firm believer in reading books at the lunch table and that no book should be read without a cup of coffee and a cookie (at the minimum) near one’s elbow. Hopefully you find these books to be as drool-worthy as I did!
This fun and heartwarming rom-com by Bethany Turner features a pair of chefs on a cooking show.
An enemies-to-lovers trope where food is the third party in the relationship? Yes, please! I will binge-watch Chopped, The Great British Baking Show, and America’s Test Kitchen all day long. Bethany Turner gave me those vibes and more with this delightful dish.
Celebrity chef Maxwell Cavanagh is known for many things: his multiple Michelin stars, his top-rated Culinary Channel show To the Max, and most of all his horrible temper. Hadley Beckett, host of the Culinary Channel's other top-rated show, At Home with Hadley, is beloved for her Southern charm and for making her viewers feel like family.
When Max experiences a very public temper tantrum, he's sent packing to get his life in order. When he returns, career in shambles, his only chance to get back on TV and in the public's good graces is to work alongside Hadley.
I loved cooking and baking since I was a child, but it wasn’t until I was an adult that I rediscovered the joy of the kitchen. Even though I may enjoy tossing off a batch of eclairs on a whim or experimenting with sous vide, I can get into a cooking rut of last-minute dinners and grab-and-go meals and forget why I enjoy it in the first place! These five books never fail to remind me of the figurative (and sometimes literal) magic of making delicious food with my own hands.
This modern retelling of Sense and Sensibility charms with its tea shop setting, complicated sisterly relationships, and seamless prose.
But the real appeal to this book is the obvious love and expertise with which Lodge describes food, tea, and all their accoutrements. The delicious recipes at the end of each chapter certainly don’t hurt either.
Need some baking inspiration? Just flip through and choose from recipes like Cranberry Vanilla Scones, Pear and Earl Gray Hand Pies, and Raspberry Cream Cheese Kolaches.
“Know your own happiness. You want nothing but patience - or give it a more fascinating name, call it hope.” ― Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility
Just a few years after their father’s business scandal shatters their lives, Jane and Celia Woodward find themselves forced out of their San Francisco tea shop. The last thing Jane wants is to leave their beloved shop on Valencia Street, but when Celia insists on a move to Austin, Texas, the sisters pack up their kid sister Margot and Jane’s tea plants, determined to start over yet again.
I loved cooking and baking since I was a child, but it wasn’t until I was an adult that I rediscovered the joy of the kitchen. Even though I may enjoy tossing off a batch of eclairs on a whim or experimenting with sous vide, I can get into a cooking rut of last-minute dinners and grab-and-go meals and forget why I enjoy it in the first place! These five books never fail to remind me of the figurative (and sometimes literal) magic of making delicious food with my own hands.
This sweet romance might be short in length, but it’s long on culinary delights and the idea that food can bring people together.
The book’s main appeal is the internal journeys of the food blogger heroine and chef hero, but I can’t lie—the mere mention of things like blueberry-and-basil scones has me rushing to my baking supplies to figure out my own version…and the scene involving butternut squash lasagna with browned butter, sage, and apples has my mouth watering every time.
In fact, I might need to take a break from this book rec to whip up a dupe.
I didn’t really mean to become a food photographer. But with the first photo that I took of a batch of homemade raspberry scones, I knew I found something special. And then, I didn't really mean to become a cookbook author. But photos led to recipes, which led to this crazy notion that the world needed a cookbook dedicated to doughnuts! I’ve since written five more cookbooks and have a bit of an obsession with beautifully designed and photographed baking books that can fuel my project baking and cooking fascination. The books on my list continue to inspire me, and hope they inspire you too.
I fell in love with Maurizio’s The Perfect Loaf blog which is dedicated to natural leavened baking well before the Great Pandemic Lockdown Sourdough Extravaganza happened.
His detailed instructions and beautiful photography grabbed me immediately, not to mention his recipes just work. The Perfect Loaf cookbook brings everything from the blog and is much easier to work with in the kitchen when my hands are covered in flour.
I wasn’t very confident in my sourdough skills before this book, but quickly found that I’m able to make impressive loaves, and other baked goodies like amazing sourdough waffles, for my friends and family.
JAMES BEARD AWARD WINNER • IACP AWARD WINNER • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A dynamic, authoritative sourdough baking bible for those looking to build confidence in the craft with a wide range of foolproof recipes, from pan loaves to pizza to doughnuts, by the beloved blogger and resident bread baker at Food52
“Maurizio Leo has given all bread-heads, whether newbies or experienced bakers, the ideal gift.”—Peter Reinhart, author of The Bread Baker’s Apprentice and host of Pizza Quest
ONE OF SAVEUR'S BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE YEAR
Maurizio Leo’s blog The Perfect Loaf is the go-to destination on the internet…
I didn’t really mean to become a food photographer. But with the first photo that I took of a batch of homemade raspberry scones, I knew I found something special. And then, I didn't really mean to become a cookbook author. But photos led to recipes, which led to this crazy notion that the world needed a cookbook dedicated to doughnuts! I’ve since written five more cookbooks and have a bit of an obsession with beautifully designed and photographed baking books that can fuel my project baking and cooking fascination. The books on my list continue to inspire me, and hope they inspire you too.
The recipe I’ve probably made most out of anything that I’ve baked originally came from the Macrina cookbook.
It’s the currant anise scone recipe that makes the lightest and fluffiest scones and has pretty much ruined all other scones for me. It’s a scone recipe that makes me think I should go into the bakery business (in some other town than Seattle, which already has Macrina scones).
The book is worth buying just for the look you’ll get when you make these scones for the people you care about. Of course, there are also a lot more amazing recipes in the book, such as the morning buns, a mash up of croissant meets cinnamon roll which take 3 days to make but are worth every minute. This book is a treasure.
Leslie Mackie offers a treasury of recipes from Seattle's beloved Macrina Bakery. From breads to salads, pies to sandwiches you are sure to find a recipe in this attractive collection that will become a tradition at your house. Clearly written instructions and tips on everything from equipment, ingredients, and techniques will let you see for yourself why her breads and other baked treats are favorites in restaurants and homes across the Puget Sound region.
I didn’t really mean to become a food photographer. But with the first photo that I took of a batch of homemade raspberry scones, I knew I found something special. And then, I didn't really mean to become a cookbook author. But photos led to recipes, which led to this crazy notion that the world needed a cookbook dedicated to doughnuts! I’ve since written five more cookbooks and have a bit of an obsession with beautifully designed and photographed baking books that can fuel my project baking and cooking fascination. The books on my list continue to inspire me, and hope they inspire you too.
I lived in San Francisco for a year, just a few blocks away from Tartine Manufactory. Tartine has a well-deserved cult following for its tangy rustic loaves and baked goods.
I moved last year, and so unfortunately, I can no longer just pop over when I need a fix. Luckily, the Tartine Bread book lets me get very close at home. I love this type of project baking where I really feel accomplished at the end… even if it does take a couple of days to get there.
The book also has a ton of great fancy toast recipes that I can make in the rare case that I haven’t just eaten a whole loaf simply with a slather of butter.
"...The most beautiful bread book yet published..." - The New York Times
Tartine - A bread bible for the home baker or professional bread-maker! It comes from Chad Robertson, a man many consider to be the best bread baker in the United States, and co-owner with Elizabeth Prueitt of San Francisco's Tartine Bakery. At 5 P.M., Chad Robertson's rugged, magnificent Tartine loaves are drawn from the oven. The bread at San Francisco's legendary Tartine Bakery sells out within an hour almost every day.
I didn’t really mean to become a food photographer. But with the first photo that I took of a batch of homemade raspberry scones, I knew I found something special. And then, I didn't really mean to become a cookbook author. But photos led to recipes, which led to this crazy notion that the world needed a cookbook dedicated to doughnuts! I’ve since written five more cookbooks and have a bit of an obsession with beautifully designed and photographed baking books that can fuel my project baking and cooking fascination. The books on my list continue to inspire me, and hope they inspire you too.
One of my favorite things is being able to take a basic or classic recipe and tweak it here and there to create something entirely new. That’s the spirit behind Pure Dessert.
Olive oil and sherry pound cake? Yes please. Cocoa nib and buckwheat butter cookies? I am all over that. I love that this book focuses on a flavor theme, and then plays around with different ways to bring that to life. The recipes are deliciously crafted, but also just a great inspiration for creating my own.
Delicate handmade cheeses, wholesome grains, organic yogurts, and great chocolates create pure and simple desserts that provide soul satisfaction through the pleasure of real flavours. Taste how sesame seeds and sesame oil completely redefine cake and the lovely, nutty flavour buckwheat flour brings to indulgent buttery cookies and strawberry shortcake. Medrich transforms ice cream by using honey, pound cake with the addition of olive oil and sherry, and meringue by adding chestnut flour and walnuts. Recipes like Cardamom-Roasted Figs and Chilled Oranges in Rum-Caramel Syrup prove that authentic, fresh flavours taste best and make for desserts that are easy and…
Whenever I’m asked about when I knew I wanted to be a pastry chef/baker, I always answer, “birth!” My maternal grandmother lived with us and she loved to bake; I was playing with dough as soon as I was old enough to stand on a chair next to the kitchen table. After college I faced a crisis: graduate school or culinary school – I chose the latter and I’ve never looked back. Adding teaching and writing to my love of baking led me to travel, taste, research, and learn new techniques and recipes to share. It’s a passion from which I’ll never retire.
In Good and Sweet, Brian Levy takes a radical approach to preparing delicious desserts – he uses no refined sugar but finds the necessary sweetness of his desserts from fruits (dried, juiced, or fresh), grains, dairy products, and nuts.
Before I tried any of the recipes, I have to admit that I was somewhat skeptical, but one taste of any of the recipes I tried made me realize that there are other ways to sweeten besides refined sugar. My favorites include Blueberry Biscuit Cobbler, Cherry Coconut Clafoutis, Figgy Cheesecake, Rosemary Lemon Shortbread, and Spiced Pumpkin Pie.
Levy also incorporates whole grain flour when appropriate as high-quality flour provides a sweetness of its own.
ONE OF THE BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE YEAR: Los Angeles Times, Serious Eats
Groundbreaking recipes for real desserts—sweetened entirely by fruit and other natural, unexpectedly sweet ingredients—from a pastry cook who’s worked at acclaimed restaurants in New York and France.
Brian Levy spent years making pastries the traditional way, with loads of refined sugar and white flour, at distinguished restaurants, inns, and private homes in the United States and Europe. But he discovered another world of desserts—one that few bakers have explored—where there’s no need for cane sugar or coconut sugar, for maple syrup or honey, or for anything like…
Rick Rodgers is an award-winning culinary teacher and cookbook writer who has made a specialty of books on baked goods. His book Kaffehaus explores the delicious sweets of the Austro-Hungarian coffee culture. With two of America’s most iconic bakeries, he is the co-author of The Model Bakery Cookbook and Sarabeth's Bakery, as well as Coffee And Cake, Tea And Cookies, and Williams-Sonoma Comfort Food.
Disclosure: The owner of this San Francisco restaurant was strongly influenced by the less familiar Austro-Hungarian recipes in my book KAFFEEHAUS. But, while my book focuses on the classic versions, Michelle takes them to new heights with seasonal produce and her fresh taste on flavors and techniques. It is worth the price of the book to get her infamous Russian honey cake recipe, the towering masterpiece that graces the cover. This book is an instant classic that every serious baker will want to own.
Transporting readers straight to the grand cafes of Europe, Baking at the 20th Century Cafe brings renewed attention to the legendary sweet and savory baking recipes of Central and Eastern Europe. Polzine, one of San Francisco's best pastry chefs, pays homage to the foundational desserts of so many cultures, while lightening and modernizing the recipes through her California lens. Her fruit desserts, nut-based desserts, and chocolate treats--many of them gluten-free--are smart, interesting, and foolproof, and deliver big flavor. Polzine's coveted honey cake recipe is included, too, along with recipes for plum kuchen, walnut hamantaschen, Sacher torte, linzer torte, poppy-filled rugelach,…
