The best books that will make you rush to the kitchen

Turner’s snarky, laugh-out-loud funny rom-coms are always my top pick for a mood booster, and the addition of warring chefs forced to work together on a cooking show to advance one’s career and save the other’s makes this of my favorites.

While not as heavy on the luxurious food descriptions of some of my other picks, the sheer fun of this book always reminds me that food—like life—is best taken with a dose of whimsy and an adventurous spirit.

This modern retelling of Sense and Sensibility charms with its tea shop setting, complicated sisterly relationships, and seamless prose.

But the real appeal to this book is the obvious love and expertise with which Lodge describes food, tea, and all their accoutrements. The delicious recipes at the end of each chapter certainly don’t hurt either.

Need some baking inspiration? Just flip through and choose from recipes like Cranberry Vanilla Scones, Pear and Earl Gray Hand Pies, and Raspberry Cream Cheese Kolaches.

This sweet romance might be short in length, but it’s long on culinary delights and the idea that food can bring people together.

The book’s main appeal is the internal journeys of the food blogger heroine and chef hero, but I can’t lie—the mere mention of things like blueberry-and-basil scones has me rushing to my baking supplies to figure out my own version…and the scene involving butternut squash lasagna with browned butter, sage, and apples has my mouth watering every time.

In fact, I might need to take a break from this book rec to whip up a dupe.

No can deny that pie is magic, but in this book, pies are literal magic: anyone who eats the fruit pies at the Blackbird Café will receive messages from their long-lost loved ones, thanks to the blackbirds who arrive at midnight and sing their dreams.

I adore the touch of magical realism in this gentle novel, and I can never read it without wanting a slice of pie and a glass of blackberry sweet tea. There’s something so quintessentially summery and wholesome about this book that you can practically taste it as you turn the pages.

Yes, this is a cookbook, but 1) it’s by the inimitable Stella Parks of Serious Eats fame and 2) it’s absolutely dripping with American baking nostalgia.

With elevated takes on childhood favorites like fudge brownies and cinnamon rolls and homemade dupes of classics like Twinkies, Oreos, and Pop-Tarts, I defy you to flip through this book without marking a dozen recipes to try.

In my home, breakfast muffins made from her Top Shelf Muffin Mix are on permanent repeat, and the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure approach to chocolate chip cookies never disappoints. Just don’t read it if you’re watching your diet, because I can guarantee it will send you running to the kitchen within five minutes of opening the cover.