Baking Soda

World Peace Cookies Makes about 36 cookies 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1 stick plus 3 tablespoons (11 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature 2/3 cup (packed) light-brown sugar 1/4 cup sugar 1/2 teaspoon fleur de sel or 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chips, or a generous 3/4 cup of store-bought mini chocolate chips Sift the flour, cocoa and baking soda together.

Baking: From My Home to Yours By Dorie Greenspan The New York Times Dessert Cookbook Edited by Florence Fabricant St. Martin's Press / 2006 / $29.95 Whether it's the grand finale of a sophisticated supper or the reward for eating all of your peas, The New York Times Dessert Cookbook comes to many sweet conclusions. This noteworthy collection, edited by Florence Fabricant, has contributions from numerous Times writers and noted chefs and covers dessert in all its forms - from a humble stove-top pudding to dazzling pastries.

Hyacinth Logan of Princeton, N.J., was looking for a recipe for a sweet-potato cake. Shirley Eldringhoff of Bel Air sent in a recipe she found in the newspaper many years ago that is still a family favorite. She says that she prefers to cook the sweet potatoes in the microwave oven because they seem to have more body. I decided to bake them in the conventional oven at 350 degrees for a little over an hour. The skins peeled off easily once the potatoes were cooked and cool enough to handle, and then I pureed the potatoes in my food processor.

Kim Jackson of Red Springs, N.C., was looking for a recipe for a Banana Split Cake. Cathy Bryan of Columbia sent in her recipe. Her cake is a little time-consuming, but if you want a showstopper of a dessert this would be one. I baked the banana cake in the morning and then assembled the rest of the recipe a couple of hours before serving so that it would have time to set up in the refrigerator. Even though the finished cake looked like a bit of a gooey mess, it cut just fine and tasted absolutely delicious.

The Cake Book By Tish Boyle Mastering Cakes By Elinor Klivans William-Sonoma / 2006 / $19.95 Mastering Cakes is a fine introduction to the essentials of cake baking. Following the tried-and-true formula of other volumes in the Williams-Sonoma Mastering series, this is a step-by-step lesson plan packed with information and illustrated with beautiful photographs. All the basics of ingredients, tools and techniques are here. The text, by cookbook author Elinor Klivans (who also does freelance work for The Sun)

This bundt-cake recipe produces a fine crumb and richly flavored cake that needs little more than a dusting of confectioners' sugar. Adapted from The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook, from the staff of America's Test Kitchen and Cook's Illustrated magazine. The cake can be wrapped in plastic wrap and kept at room temperature up to three days. It freezes well, too. RICH CHOCOLATE BUNDT CAKE Makes 14 servings 3/4 cup boiling water 6 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped 3/4 cup cocoa powder 1 3/4 cups flour 1 teaspoon each: salt, baking soda 5 eggs, room temperature 2 cups packed light brown sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 1/2 sticks ( 3/4 cup)

JEWISH HOLIDAY FEASTS By Louise Fiszer and Jeannette Ferrary Chronicle Books / 2005 / $9.95 This little book is just what it says, a collection of recipes and menus for the Jewish holidays. Simple and straightforward, the recipes incorporate traditional ingredients in sometimes novel ways. Instead of roast chicken, for example, the authors offer a recipe of honey- and cumin-glazed cornish hens for a Rosh Hashana meal. Traditional apples and honey of a Jewish New Year feast are incorporated in a side dish with cooked red cabbage and wine.

The Middle East is in the news every day, but usually the events are not happy ones. So it is refreshing to open up May S. Bsisu's The Arab Table (MorrowCookbooks, 2005, $34.95) and read about the rich culinary traditions of Iraq, Iran, Egypt, Syria and other predominantly Arab countries. Some of the 175 recipes, such as the hummus, stuffed grape leaves and tomato stew, will seem familiar. Others appear unfamiliar at first, but turn out to be dishes you know (a recipe for almond cookies turned out to be almond-flavored macaroons)

Shari Tanner from St. Augustine, Fla., was looking for a simple, straightforward Banana Nut Bread recipe. Many readers sent in their tried-and-true recipes. Beth Edelstein of Timonium thinks hers is "the world's best." She says that it has been exported to Costa Rica, where her daughter bakes it to supplement her teacher's salary. It is a good basic recipe that makes a moist, not too sweet, banana bread. It toasts and freezes well. Recipe requests Marie Allinson of Kingsville has lost her recipe for Cream of Crab Soup.

Irish soda bread has changed as it has traveled across the Atlantic. Like the Irish in America, it has picked up new habits in the new land. Many turn-of-the-century Irish immigrants changed their names, dropping the O in the ocean. The O'Mahoneys of Ireland, for instance, became Mahoneys in America. But soda-bread recipes have added ingredients. Now Irish soda-bread recipes can be found that have eggs, raisins, currants, even orange zest, in them. This is considered heresy by some sons of Erin.