The Good Book of Southern Baking: A Revival of Biscuits, Cakes, and Cornbread

100+ beloved recipes proving that Southern baking is American baking—from the James Beard Award-winning chef and owner of the New Orleans bakery Willa Jean.
 
“Kelly Fields bakes with the soul of a grandma, the curiosity of a student, and the skill of a master.”—Vivian Howard, author of Deep Run Roots: Stories and Recipes from My Corner of the South
 
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • Bon Appétit • The Atlanta Journal-Constitution • Garden & Gun

Celebrated pastry chef Kelly Fields has spent decades figuring out what makes the absolute best biscuits, cornbread, butterscotch pudding, peach pie, and, well, every baked good in the Southern repertoire. Here, in her first book, Fields brings you into her kitchen, generously sharing her boundless expertise and ingenious ideas. With more than one hundred recipes for quick breads, muffins, biscuits, cookies and bars, puddings and custards, cobblers, crisps, galettes, pies, tarts, and cakes—including dozens of variations on beloved standards—this is the new bible for Southern baking.

Kelly Fields grew up near Charleston in a family with a strong Lowcountry baking tradition. She has worked as a pastry chef for more than twenty years, including first working under Susan Spicer and then at August in New Orleans before opening her own Willa Jean, after which Eater New Orleans named her Chef of the Year. She won Outstanding Pastry Chef from the James Beard Foundation in 2019 and was named one of the most influential people in the South by Garden & Gun magazine. She founded the Yes Ma'am foundation to inspire, encourage, and mentor the next generation of women in the restaurant and hospitality industry. Like every good Southerner, she has a good dog (Kinney) by her side.

Kate Heddings is a food journalist and writer, and the former food editor at Food & Wine.