A Baker's Field Guide to Holiday Candy & Confections

California Bookwatch, Jan, 2007

A Baker's Field Guide to Holiday Candy & Confections

Dede Wilson

Harvard Common Press

535 Albany St., Boston, MA 02118

1558323090 $16.95 www.harvardcommonpress.com

From marshmallow peeps for Easter to Christmas Ribbon Candy and hand-formed Chocolate Leaves for Thanksgiving, HOLIDAY CANDY & CONFECTIONS: SWEET TREATS ALL YEAR LONG is a guide which may have missed our December issue, but which holds importance and value far beyond a single season. Each recipe offers a full-page facing page photo of the completed item, and each recipe teaches basic tricks of the candy-making trade, from tempering and using dry ice on molds to choosing a special type of chocolate to produce a polished finish, or using a leaf-shaped cookie cutter on jelly to make leaves. If you've made candy before you're used to one-dimension cookbooks which either offer recipes alone or go into great detail on advanced techniques: this one offers a bit of both and is far above most in ease of use and polished results.