As a seasoned baker, I’ve consistently had success with Christina Tosi’s recipes but often find them overly complicated and involving ingredients that can be difficult to find. This book is the antidote to that reputation. The recipes are simple, typically only requiring ingredients that the average person would have in their pantry, while laying a framework for home-bakers to experiment with flavors and integrate their favorite snacks. I love that it starts with the basics, like recipes for jelly, caramel, and traditional sandwich bread, but also includes Tosi’s trademark flare in pretzel swirl brownies, payday pie, and pb s’mores bars. Any fans of the quarantine Bake Club days will know that Tosi often includes a basic outline and then suggestions to let your imagination run free and she doesn’t disappoint here, including dozens of variations on marshmallow treats, popcorn, fudge, and puppy chow. There has been a longstanding moratorium on the acquisition of new cookbooks in my house because space is limited, but I will be adding this book to my collection and sacrificing precious space to add it to my collection. I can’t wait!

As an OG member of Bake Club and a huge Tosi fan... this book is pure icing on the cake! Bake Club started during COVID times when grocery shopping wasn't always easily accessible, thus, one of the main points Christina always made was to choose semi-basic recipes where ingredients could be easily swapped, and bakers could do endless modifications to fit both their tastes and pantries. The 'Do You' and 'Choose your own adventure' mottos continue in this book, which I absolutely love. The recipes are easily approachable for any level of home-baker, and Tosi's tips, photos, and personal anecdotes throughout the book make these recipes all the more personable.

During the 2020 lockdowns and social distancing I became a Bake Club member. Seeing the care the author put into making baking fun and accessible when the grocery supply chain was not reliable is something I will not forget. This new book has 101 recipes for someone who knows they enjoy baking but needs some permission to be creative in the kitchen. As someone who often experimented on kitchen growing up- to varying levels of success, I think this would be a great book for a young adult. The author shares personal experiences with making baking fun and I love the layout of the recipes.

The opening message of this book is really sweet and honestly Christina Tosi wants to set you up for success in the kitchen. Each recipe has a photo of all the ingredients you will need and it’s mentioned that most of them can be made with a foundation of five simple ingredients: butter, flour, sugar, eggs, and salt with a few extras here and there.

Some of the contents include: Your DIY Pantry, Dropoffable Desserts, Baking for Breakfast, Daily Bread, Cake Every Which Way, Snack Aisle, and Tabletop Desserts.

This collection of 100 plus recipes is definitely a cookbook to have in your kitchen to use for all occasions. It even has a recipe for the biscuits from Ted Lasso!...as well as savory recipes. It’s a fun and refreshing take on baking when you don’t have fancy equipment or five star ingredients. The pictures are so cute and mouth-watering good looking…it’s laid out in such a whimsical way. This is a fun cookbook for your kitchen.

Special thanks to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor | Knopf for sharing this book with me in exchange for my honest review.

I really loved the approachability of this book and while it's unlikely that many readers will choose to make their own staples like graham crackers or marshmallows, there were some great easy-to-follow recipes like the Birthday bread that will be enticing for readers of all ages.

I am a fan of Christina Tosi and the Milk Bar and this book is chock full of wonderful recipes and photos for very doable but still interesting recipes.
I have already made the ‘Easy, can’t mess it up bread’ and the chocolate chip cookies and I am looking forward to making the fudge and no churn ice cream.
The recipes are all the classics and some more unusual ideas too.

Christina Tosi, of Milk Bar fame (and the reason I own whole milk powder and freeze-dried strawberries), is at it again with her latest cookbook: Bake Club. Tosi has had an organized online bake club since 2020, when she used Instagram Live to teach viewers how to cook. She’d post the ingredients you would need the day before, and then everyone logged on to bake together. She’d answer questions along the way, guiding followers through the process. It was great for families – Tosi knows how to talk to kids, and how to make baking approachable for everyone.

It’s no surprise then that her Bake Club cookbook replicates that formula. While Tosi promises you won’t need to buy more unique ingredients, some of the recipes call for the milk powder mentioned above. A worthy purchase in my book, but it’s also something my local grocery stores do not carry. I had it on hand from making other recipes by Tosi. Is milk powder essential? As Tosi would say, “Do You.” She provides substitutes for many ingredients throughout the book, so you can use what you have on hand. Some of her recipes have “Do You” pop-outs with ways to modify.

The start of the book runs you through how to make various things you may-or-may-not have in your pantry/fridge, like caramel sauce, graham crackers, sprinkles, and more. These are the ingredients that will come up in later recipes. You can still buy them – no worries – but Tosi walks readers through how to make these base items if you don’t have them on hand. I *love* this section – for me, the book is worth buying for this alone.

For Ted Lasso fans, this cookbook includes the recipe for THE biscuits – those delectable shortbread cookies Ted so lovingly bakes and brings to share with his boss. Milk Bar baked this recipe ahead of the Season 2 premier to promote the show, and (again) I am absolutely in love with it.

Tosi runs the gamut – with recipes for essentials like brownies, cookies, pancakes, english muffins, bagels, brioche, tortillas, bundt cakes, sheet cakes, potato chips, gummy bears, cheesecake, crème brûlée, and more. You’ll also have a ton of fun baking more unique things like Sprite cake, Bugle bars, PB smores bars, and more. If you’re starting a cookbook collection, this is one of your new foundational books.

Tosi has created a flexible, yet fun baking cookbook that gives home bakers simple yet enjoyable recipes. She also enables bakers to switch up the recipes easily while still maintaining the quality of the baked goods. I feel like I would use this cookbook frequently in my baking if it were in my collection.