Description:
Forbes Best Cookbooks Of Fall 2026
A warm, stunning, celebratory baking book of favorite cookies, classic and new, from James Beard award-winning baker and founder of the beloved Flour bakeries in Boston, Joanne Chang.
Joanne Chang says it all started with a chocolate chip cookie. Specifically, the Nestle Toll House chocolate chip cookie--the first she ever baked as a child with her mom: perfect, gooey, and warm. She baked cookies for her fellow Harvard students and study group and became known as the "cookie girl." When she left her career as a management consultant to pursue her baking passion, she did it with a tray of cookies, jokingly declaring to her former colleagues that one day, these cookies will be famous! Now, the critically lauded baker, co-owner of the acclaimed Flour bakery, and beloved cookbook author is here to celebrate the joy of cookies that she's shared all her life.
Joanne begins the book by answering a baker's dozen of baking questions to help home bakers grasp the basics and avoid mistakes, then dives into cookies of all kinds, from classics to the new and adventurous. Chapters are organized by cookie-kind: Drop Everything and Bake These, The Bar Is High, Bake Rattle and Roll, Icing on the Cookie, Pipe Dreams, Art of the Cookie Sandwich, and Some Like It Savory. Alongside the recipes, Joanne shares, with effervescence and humor, stories of the cookies, the people behind them, and bits of her inspiring baking journey.
- Famous Chunky Lola
- Peanut Butter Miso Caramel Cookie
- Breakfast Time Cookie
- Chocolate Cherry Brownies
- Maple Shortbread
- Sticky Bun Crisps
- Chai Spice Palmiers
- Holiday Sugar Cookies
- Cornmeal Lime Sandwiches
- Oatmeal Cream Pies
- Parmesan Chive Coins
With beautiful photographs of every single cookie, The Joy of Cookies is a celebration worth baking, eating, and sharing.
Brief description:
An honors graduate of Harvard College with a degree in Applied Mathematics and Economics, Joanne Chang left a career as a management consultant to enter the world of professional cooking. She started at Boston's renowned Biba, then Bentonwood Bakery, Rialto, and New York's Payard Patisserie and Bistro, and finally Mistral. She returned to Boston with dreams of opening her own pastry shop. In 2000, she opened Flour, a bakery and café, and has since opened ten more locations in Boston and Cambridge. Flour has been featured in Gourmet, Food & Wine, Bon Appetit, the New York Times, and Conde Nast Traveler and has received numerous Best of Boston awards. Chang also competed, and won, on Throwdown with Bobby Flay. In 2007, she opened a Chinese restaurant, Myers+Chang, with her husband, Christopher Myers. She is the author of six cookbooks and was the recipient of a James Beard Award in 2016 for Outstanding Baker in America.
Review Quotes:
"Joanne does more than just share her recipes. She also shares her love for what she does, and that's what all great bakers and chefs do--they teach you to cook for the soul, not just the palate. First you find love for baking, then you bake."
- Dominique Ansel, Chef/Owner, Dominique Ansel Bakery and Kitchen, on Pastry Love
"Rejoice! At last we have another Joanne Chang book to bake through. From breakfast sweets, breads, and pies to show-off cakes and snacks as irresistible as sticky-bun popcorn, Pastry Love is chockablock with recipes we all want to make, and each is written so clearly that even first-timers can succeed. This book won't last ten minutes before it'll be smudged with butter--a true sign of a baker's love." - Dorie Greenspan, author of Everyday Dorie and Dorie's Cookies, on Pastry Love