In this fun cookbook, award-winning pastry chef and Food Network star Gale Gand shares her favorite ways to indulge family and friends--and yourself--with sixty recipes devoted to two classic flavors, chocolate and vanilla. Organized into sections featuring chocolate and vanilla, Gand first offers tips on buying and working with chocolate, including demystifying those ever-confusing cacao percentages, before getting down to business with more than thirty luscious, tempting recipes. Organized by type of chocolate--dark, semi-sweet, milk, and white--they run the gamut from simple treats such as Chocolate-Praline Cake in a Jar and Creamy Dreamy Walnut Fudge to impress-the-guests desserts that include Mexican Hot Chocolate Fondue and Chocolate-Almond Upside-Down Cake. Moving onto vanilla, Gand offers tips on working with both vanilla beans and vanilla extract, revealing which is best for what, and includes a helpful substitution guide. And then it’s on to the good stuff: recipes for irresistible sweets that showcase vanilla’s beguiling flavor. With one section devoted to desserts using whole vanilla beans--think Vanilla Raspberry Rice Pudding with Lemon-Vanilla Caramel and Late-Night Vanilla Flan--and another focusing on extract--such as Vanilla-Blueberry Crumb Cake and Boston Cream Cupcakes--these are recipes that are anything but plain vanilla. Accompanied by amusing anecdotes, helpful make-ahead notes, and clear, uncomplicated techniques, Gand’s creations are as much fun to make as they are to eat.

Sarah Kieffer knows that you don’t have to be a professional baker in order to bake up delicious treats. Though she started out baking professionally in coffee shops and bakeries, preparing baked goods at home for family and friends is what she loves best—and home-baked treats can be part of your everyday, too. In The Vanilla Bean Baking Book, she shares 100 delicious tried-and-true recipes, ranging from everyday favorites like Chocolate Chip Cookies and Blueberry Muffins to re-invented classics, like Pear-Apple Hard Cider Pie and Vanilla Cupcakes with Brown Butter Buttercream. Sarah simplifies the processes behind seemingly complicated recipes, so baking up a beautiful Braided Chocolate Swirl Bread for a cozy Sunday breakfast or a batch of decadent Triple Chocolate Cupcakes for a weeknight celebration can become a part of your everyday baking routine. Filled with charming storytelling, dreamy photos, and the tips and tricks you need to build the ultimate baker’s pantry, The Vanilla Bean Baking Book is filled with recipes for irresistible treats that will delight and inspire.

The Chocolate Romance Series-Book 2!Love Comes in Many Packages!Andrea Flaven only dates black men. Imagine her surprise when she wakes up and realizes she was intimate with a white man! To make matters worse she can't remember the details of the passionate night. Andrea's world is thrown off-kilter! Unintentionally, the gorgeous white man in question, Marceau LeBlanc, keeps her in a state of flummox. Will Andrea release her pre-conceived notions and give love a try, or will she stay within her comfort zone and reduce her interaction with Marceau to an interesting anecdote!

Get your whole family excited about eating healthy! Veteran cookbook author Dreena Burton shows a whole foods, plant-based diet can be easy, delicious, and healthy for your entire family. In Plant-Powered Families, Burton shares over 100 whole-food, vegan recipes—tested and approved by her own three children. Your family will love the variety of breakfasts, lunches, dinners, desserts, and snacks, including: Pumpkin Pie Smoothie Vanilla Bean Chocolate Chip Cookies Cinnamon French Toast No-Bake Granola Bars Creamy Fettuccine Sneaky Chickpea Burgers Apple Pie Chia Pudding Plus salad dressings, sauces, and sprinkles that will dress up any dish! With tips for handling challenges that come with every age and stage—from toddler to teen years —Plant-Powered Families is a perfect reference for parents raising "weegans" or families looking to transition to a vegan diet. Burton shares advice and solutions from her own experience for everything from pleasing picky eaters and stocking a vegan pantry to packing school lunches and dealing with challenging social situations. Plant-Powered Families also includes nutritionist-approved references for dietary concerns that will ensure a smooth and successful transition for your own plant-powered family!

"Mix in one part Diane Mott ­Davidson’s delightful culinary adventures with several tablespoons of Jan Karon’s country living and quirky characters, bake at 350 degrees for one rich and warm romance." --Library Journal A full-hearted novel about a big-city baker who discovers the true meaning of home—and that sometimes the best things are found when you didn’t even know you were looking When Olivia Rawlings—pastry chef extraordinaire for an exclusive Boston dinner club—sets not just her flambéed dessert but the entire building alight, she escapes to the most comforting place she can think of—the idyllic town of Guthrie, Vermont, home of Bag Balm, the country’s longest-running contra dance, and her best friend Hannah. But the getaway turns into something more lasting when Margaret Hurley, the cantankerous, sweater-set-wearing owner of the Sugar Maple Inn, offers Livvy a job. Broke and knowing that her days at the club are numbered, Livvy accepts. Livvy moves with her larger-than-life, uberenthusiastic dog, Salty, into a sugarhouse on the inn’s property and begins creating her mouthwatering desserts for the residents of Guthrie. She soon uncovers the real reason she has been hired—to help Margaret reclaim the inn’s blue ribbon status at the annual county fair apple pie contest. With the joys of a fragrant kitchen, the sound of banjos and fiddles being tuned in a barn, and the crisp scent of the orchard just outside the front door, Livvy soon finds herself immersed in small town life. And when she meets Martin McCracken, the Guthrie native who has returned from Seattle to tend his ailing father, Livvy comes to understand that she may not be as alone in this world as she once thought. But then another new arrival takes the community by surprise, and Livvy must decide whether to do what she does best and flee—or stay and finally discover what it means to belong. Olivia Rawlings may finally find out that the life you want may not be the one you expected—it could be even better.

Perhaps the history of ice cream isn't crucial to the advancement of civilization, but it's one of humanity's sweeter inventions and that may make its study more significant than one would think at first glance. This is the "elite treat" of Europe that underwent an American transformation as stunning as Norma Jean to Marilyn Monroe. From hand cranked machines to Baked Alaska, Dairy Queen to Ben and Jerry's, the history of ice cream also becomes a history of American culture and tastes. Paper edition (unseen), $18.95. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

From celebrated blogger Sarah Kieffer of The Vanilla Bean Baking Blog! 100 Cookies is a go-to baking resource featuring 100 recipes for cookies and bars, organized into seven chapters. Chocolatey, fruity, crispy, chewy, classic, inventive—there's a foolproof recipe for the perfect treat for everyone in this book. • Introduces innovative baking techniques • Includes an entire chapter dedicated to Kieffer's "pan banging" technique that ensures crisp edges and soft centers for the most delicious cookies • Nearly every recipe is accompanied by a photograph. Recipes range from the Classic Chocolate Chip made three different ways, to bars, brownies, and blondies that reflect a wide range of flavors and global inspiration. This is the comprehensive-yet-charming cookbook every cookie lover (or those who love to bake cookies) needs. • Recipes include Marshmallow Peanut Butter Brownies, Olive Oil Sugar Cookies with Blood Orange Glaze, Red Wine Cherry Cheesecake Swirl Bars, and Pan-Banging Ginger Molasses, S'mores Cookies, Snickerdoodles, and more • A great pick for the home baker who loves cookies, as well as fans of Sarah Kieffer's blog and Instagram • You'll love this book if you love cookbooks like Sally's Cookie Addiction by Sally McKenney; Dorie's Cookies by Dorie Greenspan; and The Perfect Cookie: Your Ultimate Guide to Foolproof Cookies, Brownies & Bars by America's Test Kitchen.