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

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.

Author: Erin Jeanne McDowell
Publisher: Harvest Publications
Published: 09/29/2026
Pages: 352
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 2.90lbs
Size: 9.90h x 8.00w x 0.70d
ISBN: 9780063411364


Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 07/01/2026 pg. 74
Booklist 09/01/2026

About the Author
McDowell, Erin Jeanne: - ERIN JEANNE MCDOWELL is a bestselling author, recipe developer, and teacher with a specialized focus on baking. She's contributed to New York Times Cooking, The Washington Post, Better Homes and Gardens, Food Network, and more. She was a baking coach on the Netflix series The Big Nailed It Baking Challenge. She is the author of The Fearless Baker, which was named one of the Best Baking Books of 2017 by The New York Times; The Book on Pie, a New York Times bestseller; and Savory Baking. She previously hosted the award-winning series Bake It Up a Notch and currently hosts Happy Baking on YouTube. She lives and works in Kansas City, Missouri.