The best Dessert Baking books: Reddit reviews

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

That is one of the best series I have ever watched. I really wish there were more. The writing, design and cinematography was so flawless. I even ended up buying the book Feeding Hannibal that showed how the show's chef prepared such beautiful displays of cuisine. For Hannibal fans, it is well worth checking out.

https://www.amazon.com/Feeding-Hannibal-Connoisseurs-Janice-Poon/dp/1783297662

Omg here we go again!

The serious eats brown butter brownie recipe is what made me buy the Brave Tart book

Which by the way is awesome and is right up there with the Food Lab and FWSY on the list of cooking books I say everybody should have.

Having said that here we are again with another brownie recipe! I cannot wait to try this.

You might want to pick up a copy of Chocolates & Confections. It's an industry text. Covers most everything you'd need on professional candy and chocolate making, including confectionery fondant (what you're describing).

Check out the Bravetart cookbook if you want to dig into cakes! She also has a lot of great recipes on Serious Eats. I've learned so much about why we do what we do when baking.

Just counted and I currently have 31 books. I've cooked out of every one of them, even my Feeding Hannibal book, but in general I regularly use only about 10 of them.

My three Thug Kitchen, now Bad Manners I believe, books and Serena Wolf's The Dude Diet do a lot of my heavy lifting though.

These are from the BraveTart cookbook. There’s a similar recipe on the website but it’s not precisely the same. They were delicious!

I keep this book in my kitchen, it has a recipe for oreos. I can vouch for the cookie part, I havent made their version of the filling:
https://www.amazon.com/BraveTart-American-Desserts-Stella-Parks/dp/0393239861

You might want to get a copy of Chocolates and Confections: Formula, Theory, and Technique for the Artisan Confectioner - I have the older edition (2007) and it has a section on Fondants and Fudges which includes ~~a dozen~~ several recipes and a great deal of theory. It is full of information. I've made their marshmallow recipe many times for my kids.

Love the cookbook.

https://www.amazon.com/Feeding-Hannibal-Connoisseurs-Janice-Poon/dp/1783297662?pldnSite=1

so far I've made the blood pudding, the bloodorange salad, the 'snails', the sweetbreads, and the heart-tartar. Everything turned out amazing

> In her first cookbook, Bon Appétit and YouTube star of the show Gourmet Makes offers wisdom, problem-solving strategies, and more than 100 meticulously tested, creative, and inspiring recipes. > > Claire Saffitz is a baking hero for a new generation. In Dessert Person, fans will find Claire's signature spin on sweet and savory recipes like Babkallah (a babka-Challah mashup), Apple and Concord Grape Crumble Pie, Strawberry-Cornmeal Layer Cake, Crispy Mushroom Galette, and Malted Forever Brownies. She outlines the problems and solutions for each recipe--like what to do if your pie dough for Sour Cherry Pie cracks (patch it with dough or a quiche flour paste!)--as well as practical do's and don'ts, skill level, prep and bake time, and foundational know-how. With Claire at your side, everyone can be a dessert person. >

Amazon has it for preorder at $30.12 (List price is $35.00)

But here is the Penguin Publishing page for it if you'd like to support another business.

Chocolate ice cream with a strawberry swirl! I made the milk chocolate ice cream recipe from Jeni’s book and mixed in a homemade strawberry sauce swirl!

It's called

The Homemade Vegan Pantry: The Art of Making Your Own Staples https://www.amazon.com/dp/1607746778/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_CJfmAbF0ZM5FM

(I hope amazon links are okay)

It's neat cause it has recipes for vegan cheeses, breads, sauces, yogurt and all sorts of "meats" even homemade tofu.

Pear Reisling Sorbet from the Jeni’s Ice Cream book. It’s divine!

Not canning but would definitely preserve the harvest. Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home https://www.amazon.com/dp/1579654363/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_HKGHNNPGM0VQWFPDFGZ7

I wanted to see the book on Amazon, but it didn’t look like anyone else posted the link. Here it is, if anyone else is interested.

It's available for pre-order on Amazon!

https://www.amazon.com/Dessert-Person-Recipes-Guidance-Confidence/dp/1984826964/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=dessert+person&qid=1587059270&sr=8-1

Recipe from Claire Saffitz's Dessert Person

I expected this recipe to be good and it definitely delivered! The rice and baked custard ends up having a cheesecake-like texture, gently flavored with vanilla and cardamom, and then accented with the mild acidity of fresh mango and mango caramel (the sugar is caramelized first, then fresh mango is cooked in the caramel till it breaks down, then butter and cream are added to smooth it out and everything is blended together).

Just bought a copy for $15 on Amazon. Not bad at all

https://www.amazon.com/Dessert-Person-Recipes-Guidance-Confidence/dp/1984826964/ref=pd_lpo_14_t_0/132-5824275-1919707?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1984826964&pd_rd_r=b5fdbbe2-0ae9-42b3-b9a9-0f80c8da97ab&pd_rd_w=7LndR&pd_rd_wg=VM8T1&pf_rd_p=7b36d496-f366-4631-94d3-61b87b52511b&pf_rd_r=0QGDP37KM1DTWAS7BFDQ&psc=1&refRID=0QGDP37KM1DTWAS7BFDQ

May your family and friends be merrily stoned! Cheers to you. Check out the edible book. It's awesome

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/1452170444/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_LxBTFbDGKBTER

And this

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/3038000434/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_9yBTFb40Q3TJ6

Use really good cocoa, too -- I like Cacao Barry ($20 for a kg on amazon). It also makes fantastic brownies. (People think I am some kind of baking genius but really, it's that they're used to Hershey's cocoa...)

Pick up Lebovitz's book The Perfect Scoop -- it has a whole section on stuff you can add to ice creams.

Bakewise is awesome, the author is a chemist and really delves into the science behind ingredients, techniques, etc.

From amazon: "It's not surprising that James Beard Award-winner Corriher (CookWise) once worked as a chemist. Her no-nonsense approach to cakes, muffins, breads and cookies shows her deep knowledge and understanding that baking is, above all things, a science. This hefty collection of more than 200 recipes offers amateur and expert bakers alike clear, numbered steps and a plethora of information on ingredients, equipment and method. Invaluable troubleshooting sections solve pesky problems on everything from pale and crumbly cookies to fallen soufflés."

I prefer Beyond to Impossible for the 'ground beef', but the italian-style sausage is pretty good for both. I find Beyond ('ground beef' and sausages, cut out of the casing) make very good meatballs and have a really nice texture. Also, if you're making burgers out of either, I've noticed they don't shrink like actual ground beef does, so I'll do 3-oz. patties instead of 4-oz.

I like the gardein ultimate for 'fried chicken'. I like a litelife hotdog here and there.

I also make my own fake meat. The un-rib recipe in The Homemade Vegan Pantry is worth the cost of the book alone. While not quite fake meat, the chickpea cutlet recipe in the Veganomicon is also worth buying the entire book in my eyes (I also lovelovelove the banana nut waffles).

My advice, if you're going to get serious about bread making, is to invest in a $20 kitchen scale and follow a recipe that measures in grams. Because flour compacts, you can't really be precise with volume measurements. It's also quicker and easier than finding, using, and cleaning lots of utensils.

Also, the cool thing about bread is that eggs and milk don't play an essential role. You can just omit the eggs and sub the milk for water or soymilk in any recipe and the bread will turn out fine. It might have a different taste and texture, but it'll still be good bread. If anything, it's a bit harder to make bread with eggs and milk because they weigh the bread down.

The first no-kneed recipe I made was from The Homemade Vegan Pantry, and it worked out just fine.

From this cookbook: https://www.amazon.com/Edibles-Small-Modern-Cannabis-Kitchen/dp/1452170444?ref_=d6k_applink_bb_dls&dplnkId=4ad87897-88ba-488e-a31e-38d506900a67

I used scallions instead of green garlic and all cannabutter instead of part. (:

I will totally be making these again. Next time filling them with something.

That makes sense from a safety perspective, but per the recipe I'm using (from Greweling's Chocolate's and Confections textbook) starting at a higher brix results in a tough final product.

Apparently what occurs during the candying process is that the sugar syrup pulls moisture from the high moisture levels to the low levels in the syrup. At the same time though, a small amount of the sugar syrup solution also gets absorbed into the cells. Starting at the higher brix leads to a more viscous syrup and less syrup being absorbed into the fruit.

If you're looking at the confections side of things, as an obsessive hobbyist I've really enjoined Peter Greweling's Chocolates and Confections.

It's aimed at professional confectioners, and does a very good job of explaining the theory behind working with chocolate and crystalline and non-crystalline confections.

It's a bit expensive, but depending on where you are your local library or university may have a copy or be able to find one for you. Many libraries can borrow books from other libraries for you if they don't have the book you want on their shelves.

If you enjoy baking to the maximalists I would highly recommend Bravetart from Stella Parks. It is a great cookbook that walks through a bunch of classic American deserts fully from scratch, like Oreos and animal crackers. It has an ice cream section, which is where I found the cookie dough mix in.

When I say fully from scratch, I looked at her key lime pie, and the first thing you have to do is make graham crackers, then make sweetened condensed milk, to then make the pie.

I say that but I have loved all the recipes I’ve tried from it.

Peter greweling makes some great chocolate books. I think maybe have a small section on sculptures Chocolates and Confections: Formula, Theory, and Technique for the Artisan Confectioner https://www.amazon.com/dp/0470424419/ref=cm_sw_r_awdo_V798Y3RZ51JDVZK7RZ98

Saw blood oranges at my local supermarket for the first time this season, so I had to pick some up and make this yummy dessert! Recipe comes from Claire Saffitz’s book: Dessert Person (recipe also available online here). First time doing an upside-down cake, now I know to cut the slices thinner and build that layer better, but it’s all a learning process!!

Theres a whole book you can buy about the recipes on that show! Bam. Heres the book. its amazing btw. How to cook and eat people minus the people part.

Shirley Corrihur's "Bakewise" covers the how's and why's of baking:

BakeWise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Baking with Over 200 Magnificent Recipes https://www.amazon.com/dp/1416560785/

Michael Ruhlman's "Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking," covers some important baking ratios. (The Kindle Ed is on sale right now.)

Kenji Lopez-Alt covers the science of cooking. He has several good videos on YouTube where he makes pizza and artisan bread.

Stella Parks is a terrific baker who covers the science of baking. Her award winning book may be interesting to you:

BraveTart: Iconic American Desserts https://www.amazon.com/dp/0393239861/