Blissful Brownies

_Blissful Brownies_ has the subtitle "Delicious and luxurious recipes for mouthwatering brownies", and that is exactly what this recipe book is all about: BROWNIES! There are about 40 brownie recipes included in the book. There are traditionals such pecan brownies, blond brownies, and fudge brownies. There are also a number of new twists, such as black russian brownies (which use Kahlua liqueur and black pepper), three or four different ginger brownie recipes, a mint julep brownie (with bourbon and mint), and some cookie sheet versions like fruity bars and a hazelnut chocolate crunch. There are lots of different ingredients used, like macadamia nuts, cardamom, ginger syrup, different types of alcohol, almond flour, and cranberries. Which brings me to one of the drawbacks of _Blissful Brownies_: it's published in the U.K., and sometimes the ingredients are difficult for a U.S. shopper to find. Different recipes call for: confectioner's sugar, superfine sugar, golden superfine sugar, unrefined superfine sugar, brown sugar, light brown sugar, muscovado sugar, and granulated sugar. I know what some of those are, but it would be nice to have some type of substitution chart for the others. Similarly, ingredients such as whole cardamom pods can be fairly pricey to use in brownies. Many of the measurements are in grams, and the oven temperatures are in both Fahrenheit and Celsius. There is a bit of difference between standards Fahrenheit oven temperatures and standard Celsius oven temperatures, and I suspect that is why some recipes have had different cooking times in a Fahrenheit oven (that's at 3300 feet altitude) than are specified in the book. All that aside, there are some FANTASTIC recipes in this book, and I consider it well worth buying if you like chocolate and want something more exotic than a box mix. The black russian brownies are quite good. The apple toffee cake is SUPERB, and the super mocha brownies (with almond flour, but no other flour, and whipped egg white for leavening) was incredibly rich and tasty. It's not a book for someone who's new to cooking, or doesn't like to experiment, but it's GREAT for someone who likes rich chocolate and new taste combinations.