Salty, Cheesy, Herby, Crispy Snackable Bakes: 100 Easy-Peasy, Savory Recipes for 24/7 Deliciousness

by Jessie Sheehan

Snackable Bakes, a New York Times Best Cookbook of 2022, gets a salty remix with easy-peasy crackers, quick breads, hand-pies, and more.


Jessie Sheehan’s lickety-split recipes, dynamic personality, and kitchen savvy advice have made her a beloved food personality on social media. In Salty, Cheesy, Herby, Crispy, she relies on the same assemble-in-minutes-with-everyday-ingredients mandate that has become her calling card, but now ventures into new flavor territory. Eschewing marshmallow creme in favor of pimiento cheese, Sheehan bakes up scrumptious, savory treats that are perfect for a snack board (“girl dinner,” anyone?), offer sustenance for game night, and can easily stand in for lunch or grace the table at brunch. Think Hot Pepper Jelly and Cream Cheese Stuffed Muffins, Smash Burger Hand Pies with Cheese, Pepperoni Pizza Galette with Ricotta, or some Butter Crackers with Melty Cheese and Sour Pickles. With classic snackable style, Sheehan also provides a few “shortcut” staples, like Magic Melted Butter Pie Dough and Quickest (yet Tastiest) Caramelized Onions. Fun, playful, and exceptionally delicious recipes, accompanied by gorgeous photographs, make this a must-have book for 2024 and beyond.

Genres: Cookbooks, Nonfiction, Cooking, Food, Adult

255 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 24, 2024

About the author

Jessie Sheehan is a cookbook author, food writer, recipe developer, and baker. She is the author of The Vintage Baker (one of the Washington Post’s best cookbooks of 2018 and beloved by Oprah and Nigella) and the co-author of Icebox Cakes (both published by Chronicle Books). She has developed recipes for many cookbooks, besides her own, and has contributed recipes, written and/or created video content for Better Homes & Garden, Rachael Ray Everyday, the Washington Post, Fine Cooking, Yankee Magazine (October 2020) Epicurious, Food52, The Hallmark Channel’s Home & Family Show, The Feed Feed, Kitchn, TASTE, Chowhound, Yummly, Spruce Eats and Little Sous, among others. Jessie blogs at jessiesheehanbakes.com and can be found on Instagram at @jessiesheehanbakes.

Reviews

[Scottsdale Public Library]

Did you know you could make biscuits in a butter bath?!

My guy and I prefer savory bakes and when I saw this on the library shelf, I knew we had to try these recipes! Easy to follow directions, wonderful pictures, and familiar pantry staples makes this a must try.

One of our favorite recipes is the Grilled Cheese Tart. We added bacon and jalapenos to the tart and my gods, we will do that again.

The other recipe we tried was the Cheesy Butter-Swim Old Bay Biscuits! Upon the third bite of the butter bath bliss, my guy said, "Love, I like everything you bake, but THIS is my favorite!”
The best part? It is one of the easiest biscuit recipes I have ever tried, and it could be a copycat recipe of a certain red cretaceous restaurant’s famous table freebies, but better!

Well done, Jessie! These recipes will be regulars in our home and we can't wait to try more. (PS. We totally bought the book so I can have butter splatters everywhere!) -Sara W.

[Meg]

This was a great cookbook. I love all the pictures. I saved a bunch of these recipes for later.

[Kristen Barenthaler]

I didn’t think it was possible to want to eat immediately after lunch, but the recipes in this cookbook proved me wrong. I wanted it all to immediately appear in my kitchen for another round of snacks.

[Claire]

A library borrow, but I own her (sweet) Snackable Bakes. Her writing style is very upbeat but can be grating after a while.

I don’t think I need to own this book, but my husband balked when I said that. We made and devoured the Hot Honey Cornbread two weeks in a row! (The recipe halved perfectly in my 6” round cake pan, and the second time I reduced the brown sugar a little, to no ill effect).

There are too many cream cheese bakes in here to interest me, but lots of fun party food ideas, especially with frozen puff pastry. I’m definitely inspired by some of the “quick” breads/muffins (see exhibit A: hot honey cornbread).

**The jalapeño corn muffins were spectacular! I used my own pickled peppers and swapped greek yogurt for sour cream, to great success. I also skipped the egg wash, and they turned out great. Using a local coarse cornmeal also helped contribute great flavor.

**The Sweet Potato Cream Biscuits were excellent, even with my DIY cake flour sub. I’m glad Jessie reminded me that you can microwave a sweet potato to cook it!

**I also made the seedy loaf bread, which is based on some gluten free cracker. I swapped 70% of the amount of walnuts for unsalted pepitas in this one and omitted the black sesame seeds. My sunflower seeds were roasted and salted so I was afraid the end result would be too salty, but it wasn’t. Also used greek yogurt for sour cream (my standard substitute). Tasted best sliced thinly and toasted—excellent avocado toast!

[Melissa Nuttall]

Check out this great new cookbook for holiday entertaining: "Salty, Cheesy, Herby, Crispy Snackable Bakes" by Jessie Sheehan! This cookbook is packed with easy savory appetizer and snack recipes perfect for upcoming festive gatherings.
 
I recently attended a book signing at my favorite bakery, Mindy’s, where I sampled some of the delicious dishes featured in the book. One standout was the gorgonzola fig jam drops—essentially a jam-filled shortbread that I loved!
 
You'll also find a variety of mouthwatering recipes, including savory pumpkin bread, chorizo, Manchego & date scones, and hot pepper jelly & cream cheese stuffed muffins, among many others. These recipes would be fantastic at your Thanksgiving celebration - you could also buy a copy of this cookbook as hostess gifts for the holiday season.

[Mohon Ali]

★★★★★

Salty, Cheesy, Herby, Crispy Snackable Bakes is exactly the kind of cookbook that makes you want to head straight into the kitchen. The recipes are wonderfully approachable, flavorful, and perfect for those moments when you want something savory, satisfying, and homemade without a complicated process.

I especially love the variety of textures and flavors throughout the collection. The combination of salty, cheesy, herby, and crispy elements makes the recipes feel indulgent while still being practical enough for everyday baking. There is a great mix of ideas for casual snacking, sharing with friends, entertaining, or simply treating yourself to something delicious.

The instructions feel easy to follow, and the recipes are creative without requiring intimidating techniques or hard-to-find ingredients. Having 100 options also makes this a cookbook I can see returning to again and again whenever I need inspiration.

Overall, this is a fun, inviting, and genuinely useful collection for anyone who loves savory baked snacks. It delivers exactly what the title promises: crispy, flavorful, comforting bites that are difficult to resist. A delightful addition to any home baker’s cookbook shelf. Five stars!

[Laura]

This book delivers on it's promise - addictive, easy cheesy snacks that you make at home. I'm not much of a break baking person, so those were the chapters I was less interested in. However, the muffins are amazing. Also the snack chapters - Fire Crackers, Butter Crackers - so easy and delicious for your next cocktail party. The muffins would go great with soups. And each recipe is clearly written and has a photo.
While this may not fit into your weekly dinner rotation, there are enough savory treats in here that it's worth checking out. Great for lunches, sides and parties!

[Jessica]

I was looking forward to this one because I love all things savory and cheesy. Sheehan organizes the recipes by type - muffins, breads, savory cookies and crackers, etc. There is also a chapter at the end called "the essential savory hacks" with tips for savory staple ingredients (dough, caramelized onions, etc.). While I love a good savory baked good, I guess I originally misread the title and thought it would include other savory snacks like dips, cheeseballs, etc. There were a few recipes I'd like to try but I was a little disappointed with this one.

[Mary C]

I love getting a new cookbook in the mail. I have too many of them, but as hard as these chefs work to publish them I think they are deserving of a purchase if I'm going to use their recipes! Jessie Sheehan's has the best sausage cheese balls and also the popular ritz cracker pickle and cheese that I love!

[emyrose8]

Lots of recipes I want to try. Most seem to be pretty quick, however, sometimes that involves using prepared ingredients, i.e. store-bought pie crust, pre-browned hamburger, already cooked noodles, etc.

[Wendy]

This is a great cookbook filled with doable recipes. I made several recipes for family and friends and they all turned out wonderful. Whether it was biscuits, scones or dips, they all tasted delicious. The spaghetti bake was a favorite with my family and requested I make it again and again.

[Emily]

Kind of a random mix of recipes. Some breads and more intermediate appetizers along with some very, very basic snack recipes. Glad I got this one from the library to look through.

[Cherie]

While not veg, and I wouldn't cook every recipe in this book, there are some excellent recipes that I def want to try. Buying this for my MIL as well for a gift. The savory breads sound esp good.

[Lydia Kass]

Fun book. Some good ideas that can be adapted into vegetarian.

[Sarah]

Great photos and descriptions with every recipe. Varying levels of difficulty too. I made Pizza Crackers FTW!

[Leah]

Library checkout. Wanted more savory recipes.

[CC]

So much cheesy savory goodness. Don’t read this book hungry.

Also lol this author sure loves her parentheses.

[Fiore]

I cannot resist a good savory baked good! Hot pepper jelly and cheese cheese-stuffed muffins? Zucchini Parm Scarpaccia? Crumbly Gouda Bites? Yes, yes, and yesss.

[Amy Van Oordt]

Found some delicious looking recipes!

[Reevkah Hokanson]

We *spiced* things up for book club this month and read a cookbook! I’m excited to try a few of the recipes and bring one to our book club meeting. 🥖

[Dory]

Cookbook club this month, many appealing recipes.

[Kris Lodwig]

I made Sour Cherry, Goat Cheese, and Rosemary Danish. Yum!!

[Beka]

3.5 stars

So many lovely looking treats, and a few that I'm really eager to try.

[Danielle Mccoy]

I want this cookbook

[Andrea Press]

Have in pile from Library, did not look at yet. I copied lots of recipes from this book.