Dessert

If you only have room for one light dessert cookbook, Cooking Light Desserts is a good one to have. As others have alluded to, its small size does not mean that it is lacking in recipes. Rather, its size is more of an indication that it has been well edited to include only the best recipes from Cooking Light's pages. What you'll find is a comprehensive collection of classic recipes as well as some with more unusual flavors. In other words if you need recipes for things like pumpkin pie, lemon squares, oatmeal raisin cookies, banana pudding, strawberry shortcake, and fruit cobbler they are all here. I can't think of a single standard dessert this book doesn't have. Beyond the comprehensive nature of this book another asset is the abundance of color pictures. You get a picture for each recipe, which isn't common in all cookbooks, but really helps to inspire the imagination and give you an idea of what the end result should look like. I love this because it makes the cookbook enjoyable to browse through. The only thing that could have made this cookbook better would be increasing the size of the cooking class section which includes tips on stocking your kitchen, tips for measuring, and essentials for making staples like layer cakes and pastry. I would love to see even more tips on how to lower the fat in baking recipes in general for when I am trying to give my fattening recipes a makeover. That small nit aside this is a fabulous book. I recently lent a co-worker my best baking books and this was one I gave her along with Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook.

I love this entire series by Cooking Light! I love the pictures and easy to follow recipes! I often make these desserts when entertaining, and no one knows that they're light!

As has already been said in the previous review, this book is definitely a keeper for those who aren't necessary concerned about extreme low-fat/low-calorie recipes but would like to "lighten" the desserts you eat. These are awesome recipes and very tasty!! I haven't tried them all yet but what I have tried has come out really good. I definitely give it a 5-star rating!!

I can't believe no one has commented on this book yet. It has the creme of the crop from years past, all with beautiful photos of the finished recipe. So far I have made: Double Crust Apple pie, Texas Sheet Cake, Pecan Pie, and the New York Cheesecake. All of them have been absolutely delicious, with easy to understand directions and ingrediants that can be found just about anywhere. There are many more that I have marked to try yet, in fact thumbing through the book I find very few recipes that don't make my mouth water. Also included throughout the recipes are little tips and suggestions to help the beginner and more advanced cooks alike. Included in the end of the book is some general guidance describing various kitchenware and baking techniques. This would definately be helpful for the beginning cook. I would have liked to see a section that shows you how to take a recipe and lighten it up. However, take any of these recipes and search online for the full calorie version and it's not too hard to see where they make their changes. What you may not find: Low carb dieters or people with diabetes probably would be best to look elsewhere. Cooking Light doesn't necesarily shy away from sugar, flour, or other carbs. Conversely the recipes frequently aren't low fat either. A lot of the recipes use small amounts of full fat butter and even occasionally shortening. If this scares you, you can pretty easily adapt the recipes to fit your diet (probably sacrificing some taste). This book focuses more on great taste and portion control. All the recipes have reasonable caloric levels, but sometimes there portion sizes are a little small, so if you worry about that "just one more bite" mentality... the recipes in this book could be dangerous. Myself, I portion everything out for the week. If I cheat early in the week, come Friday I am going to regret it because I won't have anything to eat. On my final note, don't be put off by their "only" being 62 recipes in this cookbook. These are Cooking Lights best dessert recipes, no fillers. I'd much rather have fewer recipes if it means they are fully illustrated and top quality.