Baking Powder

Doris Porter of Baltimore was looking for a recipe for what she called "Wacky Cake." It was in a cookbook that was compiled in the 1950s by her daughter's fourth-grade class and, sadly, she has lost it. She said while she has come across other recipes for the cake over the years, none of them produced the chocolate sauce in the bottom of the pan after baking that made this cake so particularly delicious. Margie LaDue of Mud Butte, S.D., sent in a recipe that her grandmother had passed down to her mother and the family always enjoyed.

A Baker's Odyssey By Greg Patent A Passion for Baking By Marcy Goldman Oxmoor House / 2007 / $29.95 Welcome to the world of Cheesy Garlic Twisty Bread, Sticky Ooey-Gooey Peanut Butter Cookies and Cheesecake Truffle Bombs. Author Marcy Goldman has a freewheeling Willy-Wonkaesque approach to baking that is both fun and tasty. Caramel Swirl Hunks oozed gobs of dulce de leche and begged for a cold glass of milk. Bookstore Cafe Apricot Squares were a pretty, not-too-sweet treat and Blueberry Hill Oatmeal Cookies were laced with toasted coconut and studded with blueberries.

It's easy to fall in love with the lemon bars at Joan's on Third in Los Angeles - all lined up in the glass bakery case, prettily dusted with sugar. A recipe for lemon bars with the right balance of tart and sweet isn't so easy to come by. But these are both sweet and citrusy-bright, with fresh lemon curd over a rich shortbread crust. Noelle Carter writes for the Los Angeles Times, which provided the recipe analysis. Joan's on Third's Lemon Bars Makes 9 bars 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour (divided use)

Lindt Chocolate Passion Lindt's Maitres Chocolatiers Share Their Recipes and Techniques Green & Black's Chocolate Recipes By Caroline Jeremy Kyle Books / 2007 / $19.95 Of the three books, it was hardest (though, you know, not that hard) to find an appealing recipe in this book. Part of the problem, I think, is the way it's organized. While the other books break down the world of chocolate into sensible chapters - cookies, pies, drinks, etc. - this one divides its material into such ambiguous topics as "magic" (desserts to mesmerize and seduce)

The Pastry Queen Christmas By Rebecca Rather with Alison Oresman Christmas Sweets Georgeanne Brennan Chronicle Books / 2007 / $18.95 Talk about visions of sugarplums. This book will have you rolling dough and sharpening your X-Acto knife to create a gingerbread cookie box. Apricot-Pistachio Bars are gift-giving pretty. And the creative packaging ideas for your edible gifts spread the good cheer. joannah.hill@baltsun.com Apricot-Pistachio Bars -- Makes about sixty-five 1 1/2 -inch squares 1 teaspoon butter plus 1 cup (2 sticks)

It's holiday crunch time. Time to dig out those last ornaments. Time to bake cookies for Santa. Why not save a little time, and make ornaments out of cookies? Baltimore International College senior associate chef instructor Faith Kling showed us how to make simple, edible ornaments from a standard sugar-cookie dough. They're baked much like regular cookies (in fact, you can bake some to eat and some to use for decoration in the same batch). Kling uses crushed Jolly Ranchers to make a stained-glass effect.

Pure Dessert By Alice Medrich Desserts by the Yard By Sherry Yard Houghton Mifflin / 2007 / $35.95 I was thrilled to discover Sherry Yard's new dessert book, because now I know what to serve should Hugh Grant come calling (Chocolate-Caramel Tart). And if faced with a mob of sugar-starved Academy Award winners, I know exactly what to whip up (Chocolate Truffle Tarts with Chocolate Creme Brulee Diamonds and Seven-Bean Vanilla Ice Cream). Yard, the executive pastry chef at Spago Beverly Hills, combines cookbook and memoir in this collection of recipes that ranges from her Brooklyn beginnings to the razzle-dazzle of Hollywood.

Southern Cakes By Nancie McDermott Junior's Cheesecake Cookbook By Alan Rosen and Beth Allen The Taunton Press / 2007 / $22 In 35 years of baking I had never made a cheesecake. Ever. But cheesecake baking, according to the cheesecake mavens at Junior's Restaurant in New York, can be a no-fear proposition. So I decided to put it to the test by making the Original New York Cheesecake. I first read the nine-page Cheesecake 101 introduction - twice. Each step was explained in an easygoing, conversational style.

Baking Boot Camp By the Culinary Institute of America and Darra Goldstein What's a Cook to Do? By James Peterson Artisan / 2007 / $16.95 With its unassuming title, diminutive size and down-to-earth headings such as "How high to turn the oven," this primer from a veteran cookbook author is in many ways the quintessential Cooking 101. Unlike the somewhat intimidating world of Baking Boot Camp, this book makes cooking seem almost too easy. It isn't that easy to find the recipes, though - they're not titled like recipes in other books, but folded in with hundreds of techniques ("How to make a dump cake," "How to make my favorite cookie," "How to make a quiche")

King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking By King Arthur Flour Bob's Red Mill Baking Book By John Ettinger and the Bob's Red Mill Family Running Press / 2006 / $29.95 Bob's Red Mill Baking Book takes a less academic, more laid-back approach to whole-grain baking. Produced by the people behind Bob's Red Mill Natural Foods, this easygoing, informative book covers all the basics and is even slightly more adventurous in including several recipes for less well-known grains such as triticale, teff and Kamut.