Sweet Miniatures: The Art of Making Bite-Size Desserts

You've seen them at tea parties and fancy bakeries--tiny cakes, cookies, and pastries that offer a tantalizing choice of colors, tastes and textures. Braker ( The Simple Art of Perfect Baking ) launched her cooking career creating these tidbits, and her enthusiasm for them is infectious. She makes an artful craft sound easy, and points out that providing family or guests with several such dessert selections is bound to surpass the unveiling of a single kind of cake or pie. Her directions are invaluable and explicit; her many time-saving or do-ahead steps will maximize time spent in the kitchen. The recipes are precise, but also allow for experimentation. Experience with handling pastry dough or chocolate will give some readers a slight edge, but even newcomers will be able to tackle much of what's here, baking their way up to the trickiest, airiest echelons. Ingredients are likely to be accessible, but readers will have to invest in miniature tart pans--a purchase well worth it for anyone quickly dazzled by Shreveshire tarts, chocolate galaxy peticakes or pistachio petits fours. Photos not seen by PW. (June)