Recipes + Cook Books

Clotilde Dusoulier is a twenty-seven-year-old Parisian who adores sharing her love of all things food-related—recipes, inspirations, restaurant experiences, and above all the pleasure of cooking with the fresh ingredients found in her local Montmartre shops. But her infatuation with food was born not in her mother’s Parisian kitchen, but in San Francisco, where she moved after college and discovered a new world of tastes. When she returned to her beloved France, her culinary exploits inspired her popular and critically acclaimed blog, ChocolateandZucchini.com.

In her first book, Dusoulier provides a glimpse into the life of a young Parisian as she savors all that the city has to offer and shares her cooking philosophy in the form of more than 75 recipes that call for healthy ingredients (such as zucchini) and more indulgent tastes (such as chocolate). The Los Angeles Times calls her recipes "simple, charming, and fun."

Appetizers such as Cumin Cheese Puffs, sandwiches and tarts like Tomato Tatin, soups like Chestnut and Mushroom, main dishes including Mustard Chicken Stew, and desserts like Chocolate and Caramel Tart can all be found alongside menus for entertaining, as well as tips for throwing cocktail or dinner parties with French flair. Chocolate & Zucchini is the book for anyone who has journeyed to Paris and can still recall the delicious flavors and aromas—or for those of us who only dream about them.

Beginning with a blueprint for mix-doctoring success, which includes information on pantry essentials and a useful chocolate primer, the book then presents over 150 easy recipes for a full range of chocolate layer, pound, sheet, angel food, and chiffon cakes, as well as muffins, cookies, brownies, and more. Among these, readers will surely want to try Triple Decker Raspberry Chocolate Cake, White Chocolate Peach Cake, Frozen Chocolate Neapolitan Cake, and Jessica's Caramel Chocolate Brownies. Besides more basic finishes, the frosting chapter offers recipes for the likes of Crushed Peppermint Buttercream Frosting. An introductory section presents color photos of all the cakes; Byrn also supplies interesting technical information, lore (Nuggets of Chocolate History, for one), and a chocolate cake glossary all bakers can use. --Arthur Boehm

Arranged by chocolate intensity, the recipes come from the company's files and from chefs including Flo Braker, Jim Dodge, Thomas Keller, and Stephanie Hersh. Although the formulas vary in difficulty, most are within the range of all cooks interested in making something terrific. Readers should note, however, that the recipes require chocolate with specific cocoa-solids contents--62% semisweet, for example--that may be difficult to find. Most cooks will know, however, that one high-quality chocolate of similar cocoa content can usually replace another. With narrative sections in which Steinberg and Scharffenberger trace (at perhaps excessive length) their career trajectories, interesting asides such as "Bread and Chocolate," lots of chocolate lore, and a good primer on how chocolate is manufactured--plus color photos--the book makes a happy addition to the chocolate lovers' kitchen library. --Arthur Boehm

Cupcakes are now an established alternative to the traditional cake at weddings and other celebrations.

The first book to combine recipes with a celebration of the joy of cupcakes themselves.

This indulgent, beautifully photographed, yet totally practical celebration of the world of cupcakes features 100 ideas for baking, decorating, displaying, serving and consuming cupcakes--the small cake with BIG potential. Recipes include a range of yummy sponge cakes, icings and frostings, while ideas for embellishment and display show that the sky's the limit. Includes suggestions for incorporating cupcakes into every occasion, from chic weddings and cute baby showers to festive Christmas parties and sassy girls' nights in. Written by two experts in the world of cupcakes who know just how cupcake connoisseurs want their creations to look and taste.