Snackable Bakes

Starred review from March 21, 2022
Sheehan (The Vintage Baker), the self-anointed “queen of easy-peasy baking,” brings the irrepressible enthusiasm of her viral TikTok videos to a sumptuous collection of sweet treats designed to be made in under an hour. As someone who “despise cleanup,” Sheehan’s recipes cut out the fuss, most often coming together without creamed butter or stand mixers (“except when making... the best no-bake cheesecake you’ve ever had”). To streamline preparation, she sensibly suggests the sacrilege—mixing wet and dry ingredients together rather than separately—a technique that precludes over-mixing. Other clever tips include dropping half the required blackberries atop the batter for a lemon yogurt loaf cake instead of folding them in (for better fruit distribution), and adding sweetened condensed milk to crisped rice squares for extra chewiness. Notable standouts among her timesaving brownies, cookies, bars, and cupcakes include a 20-minute raspberry crumb-topped pie with a press-in dough crust, and fried summer peach fritters that can be assembled in the time “it takes your oil to come to temp.” Sheehan’s confectionery devotion extends beyond the oven to the likes of no-bake orange cream pie, no-churn peppermint stick ice cream, and a pillowy fool (whipped cream layered with fruit and cookies) flavored with nectarines and thyme. This excellent guide would satisfy just about any sugar craving. Agent: Judy Linden, Stonesong.