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My Favorite Summer Cookbooks

July 30, 2014 by Joy the Baker 31 Comments

The Lemonade Cookbook Bread Cake Doughnut Pudding Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream Desserts
A Change of Appetite The Bar Book Ceviche
Plenty More The Grilling Book The Nourished Kitchen
A Mouthful of Stars Let's Do Brunch Sweet and Vicious

I collect two things, nail polish and cookbooks.  Ironically, I don’t always have my nails done and I certainly don’t cook every recipe from this massive collection.  I have more cookbooks that any reasonable home cook should have.  They’re wonderful inspiration.  I love experiencing food through different perspectives. These are the most lovely of the summer books that I’ve collected so far.  Judging by this list, I have a lot of recipes to get in the kitchen and bake!  I’m starting with doughnuts and french toast.  Yes!

•  I love the California stylings of The Lemonade Cookbook.  It’s perfect for summertime.  Filled with lovely salads like this Watermelon and Snap Pea number, and a mega amount of lemonade inspiration.  Well, wouldn’t you expect that from The Lemonade Cookbook?  I made this Blueberry Mint Lemonade and swooned for days.

•  I like to think that I have a fool-proof and super-supreme doughnut dough base, but I’d really love to experiment with different doughnut recipes.  I mean… someone’s got to try all of the doughnuts, might as well be me.  Bread, Cake, Doughnut, Pudding is a gorgeous book and the doughnut recipe is on deck in my kitchen.

•  The new cookbook from Jeni’s is absolutely beautiful!  She has a way of combining wonderfully unusual ingredients into decadent and comforting desserts.  I’ve got my eye on the Extra-Strength Root Beer Ice Cream.  Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream Desserts!

•  I love the way Diana Henry writes about food.  Elegant and inviting.  This piece make me want to sit down at a table and share a plate of radishes.  Radishes!  A Change of Appetite is her latest and most vegetable-centered book.  It’s thoughtful and rooted in the seasons.  Blackberry and Apple Rye Galette?  Done.

•  The Bar Book is all about technique!  A good cocktail comes from good technique.  This book is all about juicing, measuring, shaking, stirring, and garnishing with some awesome classic cocktail recipes.

•  I’ll be honest, I bought the Ceviche: Peruvian Kitchen cookbook because I loved the font and lived on a diet of banana y leche smoothies and ceviche while in Costa Rica this year.  This is a lovely book with lots of texture and place.

•  Do you have the Plenty cookbook?  Beyond.  I’m looking forward to Plenty, More out this Fall!  Yotam Ottolenghi is a beast when it comes to perfect cookbooks.

•  I’m learning how to grill.  Coals, starters, temperatures, smoke, and char!  I’m learning.  There is so much nuance.  The Grilling Book is my grill bible this summer.  So far I’ve grilled a ton of chicken, I’m working on my steak, and hoping to nail a pizza sometime soon.  Along with grilling here in New Orleans I have lots of white wine and mosquito repellant.  It’s perfect.

•  The Nourished Kitchen is such a mindful way to approach food and cooking.  It’s inspiring for any season.  There’s a tutorial on how to make raw milk yogurt, real buttermilk, and a recipe for Sourdough Blueberry Pancakes that look just dreamy!

•  This book of food and travel feeds my wanderlust like no other.  A Mouthful of Stars.  I now want to go to Seoul with Kim Sunee and eat everything ever.

•  Let’s Do Brunch!  No seriously, let’s!  This book is loaded with all sorts of breakfast-y / lunch-y inspirations.  It’s a sweet and simple book with a recipe for Almond-Crusted French Toast that I suddenly can’t live without.

•  I think I need to ask Libbie Summers to be my best friend.  The cover for her book Sweet and Vicious is a sign.  Any woman with a frosting-laden knife and cute dress is a soul sister.  The book is beautifully photographed and full of deliciously irreverent recipes.  Coconut Fluff Cake please and thank you.

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  1. Drycha

    August 18, 2014 at 12:10 pm

    I LOVE cookbooks! I’m waiting for some goodies now :) and I was on Cookbook Event two or three weeks ago – lots of treasures to be found!
    I would love to get few of Your types from todays post! TFS!

    Reply
  2. Jeff @ Cheese-burger.net

    July 31, 2014 at 10:39 pm

    My favorite cookbook this summer is The Grilling Book.

    Reply
  3. Lynn @ The Actor's Diet

    July 31, 2014 at 8:19 pm

    Plenty is such a Bible! Also, I have to shoutout my cousin Kristine Kidd who writes a gluten-free cookbook for Williams Sonoma. It’s pretty incredible for people who are going gluten-free but don’t wanna go bananas.

    Reply
  4. Sophia

    July 31, 2014 at 3:23 pm

    I have the same addiction as well! I love reading cookbooks in beds and making notes beside the recipes that I like. I’m currently focused on collecting cookbooks from different countries and regions – trying to collect the go-to-recipe book from each country,

    Reply
  5. Maggie

    July 31, 2014 at 11:13 am

    This is gold! Thank you! There is just so much out there, that it’s super helpful to have the “go ahead” from a trusted voice!

    Reply
  6. Cecile

    July 31, 2014 at 8:57 am

    I, too, have sooo many cookbooks – yet I still buy new ones & accept any that my friends don’t care to keep anymore!! (You and I will just have to live to ‘ripe old ages’ to even make a dent in our cookbook collection !!)

    Reply
    • joythebaker

      July 31, 2014 at 3:10 pm

      i look forward to ripe old age!

      Reply
  7. Lily @ Life, Love, and Cupcakes

    July 31, 2014 at 7:39 am

    I’m obsessed with cookbooks! Not only are they fun to read/flip through, but they look so pretty on a shelf too! I have such a long list of recipes to try out of all the cookbooks I have right now, but I’ve added a couple of these to my wishlist, especialy Jeni’s Ice Cream book!

    Reply
  8. ladygourmetCatherine

    July 30, 2014 at 10:27 pm

    Wonderful gathering of summer cookbooks.

    Reply
  9. Melissa King

    July 30, 2014 at 9:18 pm

    I collect cookbooks too! I actually just did an interview with another blogger and told her your cookbook was my “off the top of your head” favorite! Love it. Can’t wait for your next one.
    I can’t wait to get some of these too! Plenty More is on the top of my list!

    Reply
    • joythebaker

      July 31, 2014 at 3:11 pm

      that’s pretty amazing!

      Reply
  10. Briel K.

    July 30, 2014 at 2:14 pm

    I LOVE Lemonade and always spend WAY too much money when I go there. Maybe I should get the cookbook and make the things I love myself. :)

    Reply
    • joythebaker

      July 31, 2014 at 3:12 pm

      you totally should! it’s a great book!

      Reply
  11. Deanne Katz (@impromptuCook)

    July 30, 2014 at 2:10 pm

    Love this, especially that it covers everything from grilling to dessert to cocktails. My to-read list is so much longer now.

    Reply
  12. Sherri

    July 30, 2014 at 12:44 pm

    I love the Lemonade cookbook. If you haven’t made the blondies, I highly recommend them, they’re delicious!

    Reply
    • joythebaker

      July 31, 2014 at 3:12 pm

      they’re on my list! thank you!

      Reply
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