An unusual family trait led Kelly Cooper, author of Cookies for Grown-Ups (Red Rock Press, Nov.), to develop recipes for savory cookies in the 1990s, when her sons disliked sweets as they were growing up.

Cooper’s trips through Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia gave her the opportunity to discover new tastes and ideas about what was appropriate as a dessert or snack. “In these travels I discovered the multitude of ways to approach flavor with spices, fruits, and vegetables,” the California-based Cooper says. “I realized the level of sweet I was accustomed to in America neutralized some of the best features in our ingredients.” Cookies for Grown-Ups, perhaps the first cookbook to include recipes for savory cookies as well as sweet, is the result of the author’s years of experimentation with flavors and ingredients. The book will include full-color photographs throughout.

Indie publisher Red Rock Press will include QR codes in the book for each of the recipes, which can be downloaded to smartphones. The ingredients list will instantly appear, which will make shopping for any cookie a seamless activity. Cookies for Grown-Ups will be marketed to all the major food magazines and Web sites, and Cooper will tour and visit a number of appropiate venues. Today, she and her publisher host a Cocktails and Cookies tasting at 3:30 p.m. at booth 2942.