Bake Anything: Essential Recipes and Techniques to Build On for Endless Possibilities

BON APPETIT'S BEST NEW COOKBOOKS FALL 2026

From Erin Jeanne McDowell, award-winning food stylist, recipe developer, and New York Times bestselling author of The Book on Pie, a foundational handbook to bake with limitless creativity, flexibility, and confidence.

Erin Jeanne McDowell, bestselling cookbook author, baker extraordinaire, and beloved teacher, shares in her newest book how to bake just like she does—with confidence and creativity.

Learn just 11 basic recipes and unlock an infinite arsenal of baked goods. You can make Erin’s Vanilla Sugar Cookies for a simple, sweet treat. Or, you can finish it with icing or turn it into a sandwich cookie. Or, use it as the base for a Classic Fruit Tart. Or, maybe go all-out for a birthday with a stacked cookie cake. For another example, take Erin’s biscuits, the loftiest in the land. Make a classic version with buttermilk, or let Erin guide you through swapping in yogurt or even cream instead. Top any fruit cobbler. Make a sweet cinnamon cream cheese biscuit “danish,” or stuffed biscuit waffles. Or, use as the crust for a quiche or in a sheet pan shortcake!

In Bake Anything, Erin shares, with her signature can-do encouragement and detailed guidance, how baking is as flexible as cooking. Each chapter focuses on a building block of baking, starting with a baking overview, essential tips for success, step-by-step photos, and QR codes to instructional how-to videos, all making for a fool-proof, comprehensive guide to mastering the basics, before diving into the adventurous, delicious recipes that make use of the building block:

• Sugar Cookies (Iced Sugar Cookies, Tarts, and more)
• Pudding (Parfaits, Pies, Poke Sheet Cakes...)
• Biscuits (Cobblers, Shortcakes, Quiche...)
• Pate a Choux (Eclairs, Cream Puff Cake...)
• Creme Anglaise (Ice Cream, Caramel Mousse, S'mores Mousse Cake…)
• Chocolate Cake (Fudge Glazed Chocolate Bundt, Any Day Chocolate Cake...)
• Sponge Cake (Victoria Sponge Sheet Cake, Peaches and Cream Cake...)
• Puff Pastry (Cardamom Twists, Mille Feuille, Sausage Rolls...)
• Brioche (Sugared Brioche Buns, Cinnamon Rolls, Doughnuts...)
• Macarons (Macarons, Macaron “Cake,” Macaron Stacks...)
• Yeasted Puff Pastry (Danish, Croissants, Croissant Loaf, Morning Buns...)

Throughout, you’ll also find complete storage, refresh, and make-ahead info (freshly baked goods in the morning—without waking up before dawn—is possible for all!), idea sparkers (fun inspirations for transforming and flavoring recipes), and “mini building blocks” (think fruity jams, whipped creams, bright citrus curds, and other extra sweet touches).

A complete package with QR codes to how-to videos and beautiful photographs throughout, this comprehensive handbook is your key to unlocking endless, delicious, creative bakes. With Bake Anything, you'll be able to bake whatever delicious combination you can think of.