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We all know the feeling of wanting something sweet to snack on, like, right now. Often I find that when this feeling hits me, the recipe I crave the most calls for one or two ingredients that I don’t have on hand. Or if I’m lucky enough to have everything I need, that’s about the time I realize I was supposed to set my butter, cream cheese, and eggs out on the counter a few hours ago, before my craving took hold. While there are solutions to some temperature predicaments, it’s even more refreshing when a recipe gives you permission to break some of these rules in the name of almost-instant gratification. This is the case with most of the recipes in Snacking Bakes, the latest cookbook from photographer and food stylist Yossy Arefi.
This is Arefi’s third cookbook. Her first, Sweeter Off the Vine, was published in 2016, followed by Snacking Cakes in 2020. With her newest book, she pulls off a surprisingly rare feat: conveying the title, and the inherent mission therein, in each and every recipe. Most of these recipes keep things simple by calling for a single stick of butter, an egg, and one cup of sugar—because these baked goods are snacks, not multilayered centerpieces, you won’t need to spend the whole pound of butter on one recipe.
Arefi recommends flavor variations that allow you to tailor every recipe to what suits your mood, or perhaps, what ingredients you have on hand. Take the cornmeal carrot cake, for example. The crisp corner slice shown in the cookbook would make you rush to preheat your oven. But let’s say you’re fresh out of carrots. Don’t fret! If you have zucchini, you’re still in business. And while she photographs this cake as an 8” square, Arefi also provides instructions for baking this batter into cupcakes or a 9” round cake.
Who this book is for
Snacking Bakes is for anyone and everyone who’s ever craved a freshly baked treat within the hour. And if sweets aren’t your thing, there are recipes in this book for you too, like cheesy jalapeño cornbread, everything bagel bread with scallions, and salt and pepper olive oil shortbread. Those baking without gluten or animal products will also come away with plenty to make on repeat.
A new college graduate with minimal baking equipment (not a single recipe asks you to use a stand mixer) or money to spend on ingredients would be delighted to receive this book. Not to mention a single person of any age wanting to bake in small quantities that will last for a few days. While plenty of these bakes could stand in as a show-stopping dessert, particularly in the “cakes” section, Arefi has intentionally provided a book of snacks in all their glory, meant to be made on a whim when you definitely don’t need it, but you really want it.
What we can’t wait to cook
Aside from being almost endlessly adaptable, these recipes sound as good as they look. Don’t you want to make Peanut Butter and Jam Cake this very minute? Or maybe crisp Coconut Cookie Bark is more your speed. Whatever you do, please don’t pass up the Banana Nut Blondies—they’re everything you love about banana bread in a chewy bar cookie.
