The Cookie Lover's Cookie Book

Unlike many of the books on the subject that have come out in the past few years, this title takes cookies seriously. Sax, the author of Cooking Great Meals Every Day and Old-Fashioned Desserts, thoroughly explores the cookie world and comes up with more than 100 recipes that are neither overly elaborate nor too simple and include gingerbread hermits, butterscotch crunch cookies, chocolate-dipped peanut brittle fingers, baby fruitcakes and espresso bars. Sax also discusses techniques and ingredients as well as offers tips on baking, storage and mailing. Overall, the effort is enough to make the cookie jar tempting again. (November)