Dessert First

Jamie Cahill: The Patisseries of Paris
This is not my book, but I wish I'd gotten to write this book. The sweetest spots in the capital of pastry - perfect fuel for your sugar daydreams.

Elisabeth Prueitt: Tartine
One of the most famous bakeries in San Francisco for good reason - and the cookbook is equally wonderful. If you can't visit SF, this is surely the next best thing.

Krystina Castella: Pops!: Icy Treats for Everyone
Frosty, frozen art. You will definitely want this on your bookshelf when summer really kicks into gear.

Martha Rose Schulman: Spain and the World Table
What, a non-baking book? Well, I do have to eat sometime - and this latest book from the CIA presents beautiful tapas - one of my favorite foods - and some mouthwatering desserts too.

Melissa Murphy: The Sweet Melissa Baking Book
Never has homemade looked so classy and delicious. You may think you don't need another recipe for chocolate cake or muffins but you'll change your mind when you see this book.

Valerie Peterson: Cookie Craft: From Baking to Luster Dust, Designs and Techniques for Creative Cookie Occasions

Elizabeth Falkner: Demolition Desserts: Recipes from Citizen Cake

Sherry Yard: Desserts by the Yard

Alice Medrich: Pure Dessert

Pichet Ong: The Sweet Spot: Asian-Inspired Desserts

Eric Kayser: Eric Kayser's Sweet and Savory Tarts

Donna Hay: Modern Classics Book 2

Carole Bloom: The Essential Baker

Robert Steinberg: Essence of Chocolate

Kate Zuckerman: The Sweet Life: Desserts from Chanterelle

Dorie Greenspan: Baking: From My Home to Yours

Emily Luchetti: A Passion for Ice Cream

Michel Bras: Notebooks of Michel Bras: Desserts

Thomas Keller: The French Laundry Cookbook

The Cook's Book

Fran Gage: A Sweet Quartet : Sugar, Almonds, Eggs, and Butter

Alice Medrich: Bittersweet

Emily Luchetti: A Passion for Desserts

Linda Dannenberg: Paris Boulangerie-Patisserie : Recipes from Thirteen Outstanding French Bakeries

Rick Rodgers: Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague

Claudia Fleming: The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern

Michael Recchiuti: Chocolate Obsession

Dorie Greenspan: Paris Sweets : Great Desserts From the City's Best Pastry Shops

Dorie Greenspan: Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Herme

Dorie Greenspan: Desserts by Pierre Herme

David Shalleck: Mediterranean Summer: A Season on France's Cote d'Azur and Italy's Costa Bella

Michael Ruhlman: The Reach of a Chef: Beyond the Kitchen

David Kamp: The United States of Arugula: How We Became a Gourmet Nation

Michael Pollan: The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals

Bill Buford: Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany

Ruth Reichl: Garlic and Sapphires : The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise

Chloe Doutre-Roussel: The Chocolate Connoisseur

Michael Ruhlman: The Soul of a Chef : The Journey Toward Perfection

Steve Almond: Candyfreak : A Journey through the Chocolate Underbelly of America

Rudolph Chelminski: The Perfectionist : Life and Death in Haute Cuisine