10 Best Baking Cookbooks of 2024

There are chocolate chip cookies, and then there are stop-you-in-your-tracks chocolate chip cookies, like the one gracing the cover of baking whiz Zoë François’ latest book. The genius of Zoë’s Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies is that it’s meant to change according to your mood, like adjusting for your dough-to-chocolate preference or adding bacon for a savory variation. If you want to go deeper, turn to the dedicated section called Chocolate Chip Cookie Lab where François divulges the tricks and tips from her baking experiments over the years. There’s truly a cookie or bar for everyone in your family, including nut-free Carrot Cake Whoopie Pie Cookies, dairy-free Zucchini Cake-Brownies, vegan Morning Cookies sweetened with mashed bananas and even peanut butter-oat Dog Biscuits.

Whether you’re a self-care-baker, weeknight treats maker or baking novice, you’re guaranteed to find a recipe to match your mood in Food Network Magazine’s new baking book. Notable features include a spiral-bound construction that helps the book lay flat and makes it practical to cook from, a visual recipe index to help you choose your next bake and loads of hard-won tips from the Food Network Kitchen chefs sprinkled throughout. The 75 recipes include twists on the classics, like a crave-worthy Cinnamon Bun Apple Pie and Piña Colada Cheesecake Bars as well as delectable treats destined for instant classic status, including Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies, Peanut Butter Mochi Cookies and Chocolate Egg Cream Cupcakes.

Recipe developer, food photographer and social media star Betül Tunç has managed a rare feat: to bring the same approachable finesse and gorgeous imagery to her debut cookbook’s pages as she does to her soothing, feast-for-the-eyes cooking videos. We especially love the recipes from the section Doughs From Türkiye that celebrate her Turkish heritage, including impossibly flaky and buttery Feta Hand Pies; and Simit, twisted sesame rings that are both a ubiquitous Turkish street food and iconic cultural symbol. Tunç has a deft touch with sweet-leaning bakes too, including recipes from the Enriched Dough section, like Chocolate Babka and Crème Brulée French Toast with Vanilla Sauce, as well as Raspberry Key Lime Bars and Vegan Lemon Blueberry Scones, filed under Quick Breads and Short Doughs.

It should come as no surprise that Paola Velez’s debut cookbook is a delight when the acclaimed pastry chef, Instagram darling and activist herself radiates joy. Her colorful desserts translate her multicultural heritage through beloved Dominican snacks and New York bodega treasures of her Bronx-bred youth, like Hostess cupcakes, ice pops and Malta soda. There are over 100 recipes, including riffs on classic American sweets like Maria Cookie Icebox Cake, layered with subtly sweet Maria cookies and adorned with edible flowers, alongside Caribbean desserts such as Pineapple Empanadillas and Golden Rum Cake. And for the first time, Velez shares the recipe for her signature Thick’ems, supersize cookies whose crunchy, gooey texture made Velez internet famous. Even so, we can’t wait to bake a batch of The Lemon Cookies, fluffy sugar-cookie-meets-lemonade cookies that garnered Velez the family nickname The Cookie Lady.

Cookbook author, restaurant critic and food writer Allyson Reedy is back with another hit, all centered around the must-bake, bucket-list breads inspired by some of the most iconic recipes of our time. Ready to try your hand at sourdough? Page to Beginner’s Sourdough, inspired by baking blogger Maurizio Leo’s intimidation-free recipe complete with helpful step-by-step photos for shaping the dough. Joanne Chang’s Focaccia from Flour is here too, yielding a perfectly dimpled and chewy loaf that’s ideal for sandwich-making or oil-dipping. Our favorite chapters are Flats, staple recipes that’ll elevate your everyday eating, including flour tortillas, pita, pizza crust, cheesy naan and matzah, and Sweets, including Kate Wood’s Overnight Cinnamon Rolls and an irresistibly easy yet gourmet Banana Bread from Snejana Andreeva, aka The Modern Nonna.

Hetal Vasavada made a name for herself with Milk & Cardamom, her recipe blog and namesake cookbook, and we’re thrilled that she’s penned a tome dedicated to desserts. These sensational sweets, with their bold Indian flavors and even bolder colors, define show-stopping desserts (see the Diwali-inspired Cardamom Vanilla Yogurt Bundt Cake that bursts with color upon slicing). We can picture making Ginger & Jaggery Spritz Cookies to pair with a cup of piping hot chai or Strawberry Lemon Earl Grey Financiers to serve for a celebratory afternoon tea. We appreciate that the book includes recipe modifications for those who want to make their sweets gluten-free, egg-free or vegan, as well as next-level decorating techniques, like the cookie icing on Phulkari-O’s that echoes the sumptuous flower-work embroidery of Phulkari textiles.

Sarah Fennel has earned a loyal following for her approachable, practically fool-proof baking recipes on her site and social media platforms Broma Bakery. The book starts with helpful tips on how to be a better baker, like measuring like a scientist and make-ahead strategies. The recipes are organized around clever themes, including Almost Too Pretty to Eat, like a S’mores Tart with a pillowy, torched meringue topper, and Dessert for One, with the likes of Cinnamon Swirl-banana Bread Mug Cake and Personal Edible Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough vying for make-me-first status. And just in time for the holidays, there’s an aptly titled Holiday Baking chapter where you’ll find showstoppers like a Caramel Pumpkin Layer Cake (#teamcake), irresistible Hot Chocolate Cookies and Maple-Glazed Apple Blondies that beg to be paired with a mug of tea and a cozy sweater.

If you’re someone who can’t imagine a celebration without cake, no matter how minute or monumental the occasion, this is the book for you. Baker extraordinaire Dominique Ansel has gathered a collection of some of his sweetest yet simple recipes organized by themed chapters, including one centered around traditions, like winter-holiday ready Snowflake Beignets dusted with confectioners’ sugar and make-ahead, centerpiece-worthy Baba au Rhum. In Ansel’s book, weekends are a call for celebration, and, to that end, we’re eagerly awaiting a leisurely Sunday to make Liege Waffles studded with crunchy pearl sugar or a lazy Saturday to whip up stacks of Ansel’s family-favorite Buttermilk Pancakes. Of course, if you’re looking for a project, there’s the show-stopping croquembouche or a multi-tiered vanilla bean birthday cake, which just might become your new favorite.

Katarina Cermelj holds a PhD in Inorganic Chemistry, which informs her ingenious yet approachable way of modifying baking recipes for her popular free-from baking blog The Loopy Whisk. Whether or not you already consider yourself a baking nerd, with The Elements of Baking you’ll grasp the science behind the art of baking and get to know the ingredients that bend a recipe to your needs, all while keeping flavor in focus. We’re willing to bet that a number of recipes could match their unmodified counterparts in a blind taste test, like vegan Tiramisu Cupcakes or diary-free Burnt Basque Cheesecake. We’re impressed by the Gluten-free Vegan chapter, whose line-up includes Fudgy Walnut Brownie Pie with a gooey-brownie filling and flaky pie crust, Tahini Shortbread Cookie Sticks, practically made for dunking in a cuppa and PB&J Muffins with perfectly caramelized muffin tops. And we appreciate the number of savory bakes, too, including gluten-free Cheesy Garlic Pull-apart Bread and dairy-free Creamy Mushroom Galette.

Cookbook author, food writer and self-styled cookie obsessive Ben Mims has created a beautiful tome that is equal parts cookbook, history lesson, technique primer and culinary passport. Exploring all the permutations of the cookie around the world gave Mims a framework for organizing his compendium of 300 cookie recipes by geographical region, including honey-soaked treats from Greece and Turkey, cardamom cookies from Somalia, Belgian and Dutch spiced cookies, coconut-scented Southeast Asian treats and Venezuelan Brown Sugar Cookies from South America, to name but a few. There are familiar favorites, like homey oatmeal-raisin cookies and fanciful confections like French macarons, as well as unheralded treats that just might become new favorites, such as Icelandic Gingerbread Cookies and Senegalese Peanut-Topped Sugar Cookies (aka Cinq Centimes). Besides the astonishing amount of research and recipe testing, we’re also impressed by the introductory section encompassing Mims’s know-how on essential equipment, baking basics and key techniques. With this book, you’ll be a cookie connoisseur in no time.