I bake so much that it’s second nature. I don’t know what my kitchen would  look like without my stand mixer and various baking accessories. But to some, baking a cake can seem like an insurmountable task. Just look at any tv food reality show where the chefs complain about having to make a dessert: most of them pull it off, but not without acting as through they’ve been asked to run a marathon on short notice. They might be able to use a copy of Baking Unplugged, a cookbook that is intended to show you how simple and non-intimidating baking can be.

The book is really an introduction to baking and it covers some basics that other books skip over. For instance, it tells you, item by item, what some of the basic tools you need to have in your kitchen for baking. This section only covers standard tools, not any special appliances or equipment, and these are all the things you need to make the recipes in the book. The idea, again, is to keep it simple and not to say “you can’t make this recipe because you don’t have the right tools.” The book also outlines basic baking ingredients, what you need to know about them and how to use them. It even discusses how to read a recipe - a skill that most of us are left to learn on our own. After the introduction is complete, the book moves on to the recipes themselves. There is quite a variety, and they are not all “beginner” recipes, in spite of what you may think coming into a basic baking book. There are cookies, cakes, pies and more, with recipes ranging from the easy Chewy-Crisp Chocolate Chip Cookies to a decadent Butterscotch Walnut Tart, which wouldn’t be out of place in any cookbook.

The recipes in Baking Unplugged are great for any level of baker, are easy to follow and offer a lot of interesting flavors. It’s the rest of the book that really makes this a good choice for those just starting out, or those that need a reminder that baking is supposed to be easy and fun.

A cooking club is just what it sounds like - a group of people who come together to share their love of cooking, eating and food in general. Many people who join cooking clubs have a vested interest in food and are looking to meet other like-minded people. Others choose to join a group to encourage themselves to cook more, or even to get out of a culinary rut of only preparing the same few foods over and over again. You can start one with existing friends, or start one (or join one) to meet new people. Whatever your reason. Cooking Club: Great Ideas and Delicious Recipes for Fabulous Get-Togethers is a good place to get started, as the book is all about how to start a cooking club.

The introduction covers a lot of the logistics of putting your club together, such as coming up with some goals for the group - lower fat cooking, international cooking, etc. - and determining where and when you all will meet. It also points out little things that might cause a few glitches down the line if you don’t think them through in advance, like who does the dishes and how will the leftovers be divided up. After the intro, the book is divided up into complete menus with recipes for all the dishes it mentions. The menus are mostly seasonal and include several “exotic” themes, such as Hawaiian Luau and Thai Cuisine.

The recipes are easy to follow and, although there are more photos of cooking clubs meeting than of the dishes themselves, there are lovely descriptions of each of the foods that precede each recipe, describing flavor of the food, the history of the dish and/or how the recipe was put together. There are also some tips sprinkled throughout that will help with the planning of meetings, including where to shop and how to add a little ambiance to a room to better set the mood. The book is encouraging and definitely makes you want to go out, join a club and get cooking!

Even though there are tons of ice creams stocked on grocers shelves, few summertime activities are as satisfying as making a batch of homemade ice cream and eating it fresh out of the ice cream maker. This can be a challenge for some home cooks who prefer not to eat eggs and dairy, but still want the satisfaction of being able to make indulgent, refreshing summer treats at home. Enter The Vegan Scoop, a cookbook full of dairy and egg free ice cream recipes. It’s perfect for vegans, vegetarians, those with dietary restrictions and non-vegans looking for a little more variety in the kitchen.

The book has 150 recipes that run the gamut from classic - Vanilla, Chocolate, Rocky Road, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough - to crazy - Peanut Butter and Jelly, Chocolate Pretzel, Thai Chili, Wasabi - and everything sweet and fruity in between. They are all quite easy to make and use similar techniques that you’d find in other ice creams. The primary difference, of course, is that these recipes use a variety of non-dairy milks, including almond milk, coconut milk and soy milk. They also call for the use of soy creamer, which adds creaminess to the finished dishes. Most use bold flavors and are generous with them, so you won’t end up with an ice cream that “sort-of” tastes like the flavor the name promises.

Some of the selling points to those cooks who normally reach for “regular” ice creams include the fact that most of these recipes have about 1/3 fewer calories than their dairy-based cousins and also contain more “healthy” ingredients, such as flaxseed and lots of fresh fruit. The book actually has lots of little tips throughout that discuss the health aspects of some of the ingredients, as well as their origins. It also has a fairly comprehensive introduction that discusses many of the ingredients (including the various types of milk) used in the book and techniques for making ice creams in general, as well as a chapter at the end with recipes for accompaniments - vegan, of course - to the ice creams.

Organic cooking is as simple as using organic ingredients, right? This is true, and easier for meats and vegetables than it is for baked goods. It’s not because organic flours and sugars are so few and far between, but because there is a lot more that goes into baking a layer cake than cooking a steak. The premise of Organic and Chic is that baking healthy doesn’t have to be a chore, and you certainly shouldn’t have to compromise on your culinary point of view to indulge in some sweets.

In this cookbook, healthy doesn’t mean fat free and no sugar “treats.” It means all organic ingredients, in-season fruits and whole grain flours, as well as bright, clean and sometimes unusual flavors. The recipes are clearly written and easy to follow. Most come with suggestions for flavor variations - such as rosemary, earl grey, matcha and ginger as options for shortbread cookies - and suggestions for serving. The cakes and cupcakes are accompanied by lots of great decorating tips that will allow you to put together some truly gorgeous cakes.

There are also plenty of beautiful photographs of the food throughout the book. Although not every recipe is photographed, the inclusion of endearing family photos from the author more than makes up for it. These photos really allow the reader to connect with the snippets of stories on pages and make the cookbook an enjoyable read even without cooking from it. It also gives the book a casual feeling, so when you read through the information on different organic ingredients (there is a list of resources if some are not readily available in your area in the back of the book), it feels like you’re talking to a friend, not being talked down to.

There are few things that are quite as comforting as a a warm bowl of apple cobbler or some other freshly-baked, fruit-filled goodie. Rustic Fruit Desserts: Crumbles, Buckles, Cobblers, Pandowdies, and More is a book that is dedicated to the homey comfort foods in this category. The great thing about these types of desserts is that they are incredibly unfussy. Unlike a cake, which has to be carefully mixed, baked, cooled and frosted, a fruit cobbler requires only a little prep for the fruit before it goes into the oven, and it comes out ready to serve while it is still hot. These fruit-laden desserts also offer a lot of variety, as opposed to that chocolate cake, because they can be made with so many different types of fruit and you can work with what is in season.

This cookbook is a great resource for these fruit desserts because it seems to cover all of them. Additionally, while it does offer many classic flavor combinations, it doesn’t stick to your basic apple cobbler and leave it at that. Some of the other recipes include a Gingered Pear and Raspberry Pandowdy and Boozy Dried Cherry, Chocolate and Hazelnut Bread Pudding. The accompanying photos for the recipes, as well as some filler photos of ingredients and fruit, are mouthwatering.

The recipes are straightforward and easy to follow, with detailed descriptions of the dishes and what makes them so tasty right before each recipe. The book offers tips and tricks for getting the most flavor into each dessert, like a note about how to toast nuts before incorporating them into a crumble topping, and also offers some serving suggestions, like vanilla ice cream. Recipes for accompaniments, as well as some pantry-staples like pie crust, are included in the back of the book as they come in handy again and again, even if they’re not always a staple of a dessert.

If you’re not planning a trip to Paris in the near future, there is no reason to miss out on all the delicious pastries that the city has to offer - and let’s face it, the pastries are a big part of the draw of Paris (that, the art and the Eiffel Tower, n’est pas?)! In Dorie Greenspan’s book, Paris Sweets: Great Desserts From the City’s Best Pastry Shops you’ll find some great recipes for some of the most popular sweets at some of the most popular bakeries in the city.

The appealing thing about this book - aside from the little notes about the bakeries and bakers themselves - is that the recipes have been converted by Greenspan for an American audience. This means that the recipes are given by volume, not by weight, and you don’t need to have extensive baking experience to have success with the recipes, as they are all well-explained in great detail. Shortcuts, such as using the food processor for mixing, are given when applicable. The recipes generally range from easier to more difficult and the book starts out with a chapter on cookies, saving the more involved pastries and cakes for later chapters.

This is probably not the ideal book if your goal is to become a champion pastry chef, as this book does not focus primarily on traditional techniques in the way that a pastry school textbook might. It will, however, turn out some delicious pastries and might even make you feel like you’ve taken a little trip away from home and to the City of Lights for the afternoon. There are no photos in the book, so if you feel like you want to get an idea of what something is supposed to look like before trying it out, you might want to google the names of the french pastries (some can have unusual names or shapes). That might inspire you to want to take a trip, too!