a love letter to chocolate

First of all, I want to talk about how dangerous this cookbook is. If you are a chocolate lover (I am), then you will instantly be drooling over the photos and that will continue until you finally get up and bake yourself something chocolate or just find something chocolate in the kitchen to snack on. This will happen every time you look at this book. So you should probably buy a copy for all your favorite bakers, so they too will want something chocolate every time they open it and will maybe bake something tasty and share it with you.

The author, Michele Song, first learned to bake by watching Jacques Pepin on television and eventually went to pastry school. This book is the result of her weekend experimenting as a kid on through working in a professional bakery, so there are some bakes that will resonate with your inner child’s sweet tooth (and with the actual children in your life) and other bakes that are weekend projects and showstoppers for big occasions. Song provides a good mix of these 60 recipes, along with her time-tested recommendations for what kind of chocolate to buy and how to get the best flavor from it.

If you’re looking for something simple to start with, there are classics like the Very Best Chocolate Chunk Cookies, Fudgy Shiny-Top Brownies, Anytime Chocolate Snack Cake with Chocolate Buttercream, or Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Pie.

If you want something with more sophisticated flavors, you can try the Cocoa and Tahini Marble Cookies, Chewy Mochi Brownies, Orange and Olive Oil Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache, Strawberry White Chocolate Chantilly Cake, or Chocolate Maple Candied Pecan Pie.

If you’re wanting to raise you baking game and looking for something more challenging, then there is Ricotta Choux Crullers with Chocolate Glaze, Cookies-and-Cream Puff, Chocolate Cremeux Eclairs, or Pumpkin Chocolate Babka.

My favorite part of this cookbook is the mouth-watering photos, since it does includes pictures of every bake. But these recipes are delicious and inspiring, classic and modern, old favorites and new twists. And while there are only 60 recipes, it feels like a year’s worth of tasty treats (that is more than one per weekend), and so many delicious options for holidays, celebrations, and every day chocolate cravings. This would be the perfect gift for an aspiring baker with a bent for chocolate desserts (or anyone you know who wants to bake treats for you).

Egalleys for Chocolate Lovers were provided by Chronicle Books through Edelweiss, with many thanks.