The Latest Books on the Edible Table: Fall 2026
Bake Anything: Essential Recipes and Techniques to Build On for Endless Possibilities
By Erin Jeanne McDowell
Retail: $40
Erin Jeanne McDowell has been at the top of the baking game with her New York Times bestseller The Book on Pie published in 2020. She is a longtime supporter of sturdy pie shells, possesses an enviable collection of sprinkles and has an infectiously positive personality. Get ready for the cool season and the holidays by honing your baking skills now with her latest, Bake Anything, available on September 29. This cookbook offers all the basics, plus how to layer in variations, which she calls “idea sparklers,” from cakes and cookies to puddings and pastry. It’s not just one-and-done recipes, but educational tools to guide you through the process and add your own twists.
Recipes that inspire us: cold snap toppings (aka assorted magic shells), stuffed biscuit waffles, any day chocolate cake (the cover photo), all things macarons.
Pleasure Principles: An Almanac from the Garden
By Richard Christiansen
Retail: $35
This book is an ethereal exploration through the gardens and rooms of the renowned Flamingo Estate in the Highland Park area of eastern Los Angeles. It is part yearly garden diary, part musings of inspirations and thoroughly sensuous from start to finish. It is both botanical and horticultural, grounding itself to the earth, harvesting the abundance of the land in harmony with the seasons. Richard Christiansen is the author and primary steward of the Flamingo Estate, running his lifestyle and wellness brand from the seven-acre property and collaborating with nearby California farms. Flamingo Estate’s limited drops of seasonal products sell out quickly. The book is available on September 15. Romantic and aspirational, it offers recipes for tonics, salves, elixirs and nourishment that feeds all the senses.
Recipes that inspire us: baked grapes, turmeric ginger yuzu salt, sage pasta with poached egg, and jasmine flower–infused vinegar
The Happy Hour Book
By Brandon Alpert and Lauren Butler
Retail: $35
Introduced this past summer by our sister publisher to the north, Edible San Luis Obispo, The Happy Hour Book is written by Brandon Alpert and Lauren Butler, the people behind Paso Robles–based Yes Cocktail Co. Since 2015 they’ve been developing their own mixers, selling them in person at local farmers markets and shops. Now with a much farther-ranging distribution, including numerous locations in Santa Barbara County, their collection of recipes highlights their lineup of mixers, ranging from sweet to tangy to herbal to unusual. The recipe that caught our attention to feature as an excerpt was the Smoked Velvet, a spirit-forward mezcal cocktail in which we used a locally produced favorite, Victus Amaro from Rock12 Distillery near Lompoc.
The Edible community ethos supports small businesses so this one is available directly from yescocktailco.com. Use the website to also locate suppliers near you.
Recipes that inspire us: the Smoked Velvet, the Avocado Margarita, Blueberry Lavender Curd and Tomato Jam with Ginger (see adaptations starting on page 23).
