A lot of people want symptom relief, and that IS great. Interestingly, there is evidence that CBT may be effective in changing "personality". For example, neuroticism changes substantially after brief CBT, people with comorbid personality disorders cease to have them and so on. What is absolutely fascinating to me is the way that it is uncritically accepted that therapies which set out to change "personality" have failed to demonstrate effects on reliable measures of personality or symptoms. There is a suspicion about that some adhere to particular therapies for finacial/investment reasons (c.f. the post initiating this) or even as a kind of "cult" response. The need for external criteria for validation can help overcome that. Science, boring old science, can provide that.
You refer to the Dodo bird verdict in terms of research. Well, research has moved on since Smith and Glass (see, for example, Fonagy and Roth, "What Works for Whom", written by dyed in the wool analysts). The Dodo has been extinct for a long time, psychotherapy outcome work has moved on.
Cookbook? Not quite. Maybe worth looking in Padesky's chapter in "Frontiers of cognitive therapy" edited by Salkouskis. There are recipes however. When I go to a restaurant, I hope that the chef has one in mind, even if he/she embellishes it a bit. Happy Hunting