cover image Brownies, Blondies and Bar Cookies

Brownies, Blondies and Bar Cookies

Laura Gates-Galvin, Binney. HP Books, $8.95 (120pp) ISBN 978-1-55788-019-2

Gates and Binney's first cookbook is an unsubtle collection for those that will appeal most to those who have a hyperactive sweet tooth and believe that excess is best. The authors seem to relish piling flavor upon flavor, as when they present fudge brownies filled with an orange-fig spread and topped with orange glaze or cover lemon-poppy seed blondies with raspberry icing and fresh raspberries. They also have a powerful fondness for sugar, as evidenced by their butterscotch blondies with brown sugar meringue and the peanut butter and jelly picnic packers--peanut butter cookie crust covered with apricot jam, dark brown sugar, coconut and white chocolate. Directions are generally lucid, although not entirely free of surprises. The recipe for ``best-ever'' buttermilk brownies, for instance, doesn't make brownies at all, but a fairly ordinary chocolate cake with chocolate icing. Nevertheless, even beginning cooks can whip up most of the desserts here; in fact, a few recipes in the book's ``quick & easy'' section are based on packaged mixes, like the rocky road brownies that add marshmallows, chocolate chips and chocolate syrup to a mix. (June)