Bodega Bakes: Recipes for Sweets and Treats Inspired by My Corner Store

by Paola Velez, Christina Tosi (foreword)

A baking book bursting with joy that will have you hightailing it to the oven—and planning a trip to your local corner store.

Growing up in the Bronx, Paola Velez’s happy place was the bodega, a unique world full of color and flavor where the shelves were stocked with everything from M&M’s to Muenster cheese to majarete (Caribbean corn pudding)—and, of course, its own cat (IYKYK). Before she was the James Beard–nominated chef, Cherry Bombe cover girl, social media darling, and cofounder of the grassroots social action network, Bakers Against Racism, Paola was a bodega kid with a taste for Warheads, Hostess cupcakes, ice pops, and Malta soda.  

Paola’s debut cookbook, inspired by these treasures and other ingredients available at corner stores everywhere, is a love letter to both her Dominican heritage and her New York City roots; its more than 100 recipes burst with distinctive flavors, inviting you to enjoy new takes on her childhood favorites and yours. Paola’s combination of classical training and self-taught pastry skills means her recipes are accessible no matter your skill level. She’ll be your hype girl through more ambitious projects (you can make a turnover—and a Guava and Cheese one at that), as well as more “set it and forget it” treats, like her Maria Cookie Icebox Cake. Whatever you do, don’t sleep on her signature Thick’ems—giant cookies that are somehow crunchy and gooey—the most requested recipe in Paola’s repertoire and the recipe that made her internet famous, which she shares here for the very first time here. With renditions of traditional Caribbean desserts like Pineapple Empanadillas and Golden Rum Cake alongside twists on classic American treats like sticky buns and brownies, Paola’s unique recipes and infectious positive spirit will help you recreate the magic of the bodega at home—BYO cat.

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Cooking, Nonfiction

281 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 1, 2024

Reviews

[Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a stunning cookbook! Almost exclusively sweets (it's a baked goods cookbook after all) with classics and twists on classics that bring a Dominican flare. Almost every recipe had a photo, but I wish all of them did because the photos were stunning and everything looked so good! Lay flat binding, beautiful layout, and largely vegetarian, though not particularly vegan, gluten free, or dairy free friendly, but again, it's a baking book. The ultimate chocolate brownies are probably the best brownies I've ever baked tbh.

[TipperGores · Rating 2 out of 5]

It pains me to give this rating because I love her style, flavors, and personal touches, but the recipes in this book are poorly written and fail more often than not.

I made six recipes from this book (Dominican cake, the lemon cookie, guava and lemon bars, Dominican sweet potato bread, burnt tahini cake, and burnt tahini cookies) and only the burnt tahini cookies worked as written.

Many recipes have copy and pasted instructions: the sentence “Add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl with the wet ingredients and pulse the mixer on and off, almost like you’re trying to jump-start a car…” appears in many recipes (cookies, cakes, and bars), even if it doesn’t make sense for the kind of recipe you’re making.

An example of a recipe that just doesn’t work is when the book tells you to mix cake batter for a total of nine minutes after the first addition of the flour… that creates rubbery hockey pucks of cake. I wanted to give the author the benefit of the doubt so I tried the recipe twice as written to see if I was doing something wrong but the cakes failed in the exact same way: dense, rubbery, flat. Then I made the recipe using a more traditional creaming method… and it worked perfectly: fluffy, moist, springy.

I’m not sure if there wasn’t recipe testing done, if these were scaled from commercial recipes, or if her editor really let her down, but I’m so sad about this book. It gets two stars because I think the flavor ideas are great, but if you are looking for a book to cook from and not just a coffee table book, this isn’t the book to use. If you are an experienced baker that can fix the mistakes you come across, it could be worth your while for the inspired flavors.

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not a fan of social media so the author was unfamiliar to me.

I was drawn to the mouth-watering and beautiful colors of the cover art and the title, Bodega Bakes.

I grew up in a multicultural neighborhood and bodegas are still are my favorite places to grab a snack or treat, a quart of milk, and anything else I might need at the last minute.

This cookbook is inspired by the diverse and unique treats the author found in her neighborhood bodegas and is a tribute to her Dominican heritage and NYC roots.

The treats are unique, delicious, and some sound more complicated than they are.

Anyone who knows me knows I don't cook (or bake).

I just love to drool over luscious photos and be inspired by the recipes.

Maybe one of my goals for 2025 is to bake more. Maybe. 🤔

[Matt]

I loved this cookbook. Paola's voice shines through in her introduction and in each recipe. Smart, informative, and funny.

She certainly returns to some ingredients in her pantry (passion fruit puree, plantains, rum, citric acid) often, but each recipe felt distinct and used ingredients in innovative ways. Most of the recipes have photos, and I really enjoyed the vibe and art direction of the cookbook.

I made Plantain the Tarte Tatin for Thanksgiving. I liked the flavors, but some of the recipe was a little confusing to parse and it did not come out like I would have wanted. Reading through some of the other recipes I felt like some of the instructions could have used another editing pass for clarity. But that's a small nitpick.

I also made the Extra Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies, which might be the best gluten free cookie I've ever had. They resembles a flourless brownie but it only contains egg whites sugar salt and chocolate! I also baked the Passion Fruit Half Moon Cookies, which were a real standout! Bright and decadent.

There were plenty of other recipes I want to return to in the Summer too.

[Maria Kammer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love that Paola Velez pays homage to both her Dominican heritage and NYC roots through the delectable recipes in this cookbook. While there are many sweet recipes that are obviously unique to her background, they are not intimidating. A few of the ingredients might not be found at your local grocer, but are easily accessible at larger chain stores or online. The author also takes classic American treats such as brownies, cookies, sweets and gives them some Latina love. Recipes feature luscious photos, step-by-step directions and useful notes to ensure success. I'm looking forward to finding new treats to add to my baking repertoire.

[Kirsti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastically appealing and colorful cookbook with a friendly and encouraging tone. I learned about Dominican Republic-made artificial vanilla (which is sweeter and more floral than other vanillas, real or fake), rose water, dulce de leche, and many other ingredients. Can't wait to make the Nutella popsicles.

[Kate]

beautiful colorful cookbook with a lot of recipes I'm not bold enough to try (esp at home-- will not deep fry in my kitchen)

love the OG thick'em cookies -- perfect for people that don't want a wimpy cookie

I wish some of the odder (to me) recipes like pineapple "gummy bear" bars had photos instead of pages of photos for brownies, a classic most people know

[Bridgette Guerzon Mills · Rating 4 out of 5]

I made the guava and cheese turnovers. Which I've made before but with other recipes. This one was perfection. It's a straightforward recipe where yousinly used store bought products- paste, cream cheese and frozen pastry puff sheets, but sometimes it's just small tweaks that makes something really work.
I like her voice in the intros before each recipe.

[Stella · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to love this! Author is one of the co-founders of Bakers Against Racism and seems like an amazing person. There are beautiful photos of most, but not all the recipes. A lot of the recipes would require special ordering ingredients online for my area, and between that and my family's allergies, there's not a lot here I would attempt to make.

[Cherie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish my bodegas had treats like this. The best I ever had was that processed stuff wrapped in cellophane. Bodegas aside, this cookbook is full of yummy recipes inspired by her bodegas and Dominican neighborhood. Some of these sound esp yummy.

[Elizabeth]

As heard it on Listening to The Splendid Table: Conversations & Recipes For Curious Cooks & Eaters:
https://mgln.ai/e/5/dts.podtrac.com/r...

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely obsessed with this chef, these flavor profiles and recipes. So filled with love, and so accessible. 1000 stars.

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

omg the guava lemon bars inspired by sour punch straws and the molten tres leches cookies. genius!!

[Lydia Kass · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful book. Accessible ingredients

[Dray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book, full of unique but accessible delights.

[Kayla Darling · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous book with such fun recipes! I made the brown butter mango blondies and they disappeared so fast. Can’t wait to bake more from this inspirational take on baking!

[Fiore · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am sure going to be dreaming of those manga and brown butter blondies.

[BluMoon Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing recipes! I "dog eared" so many pages reading this for the first time.