Sweetness

August 1, 2016

This colorful cookbook by Jordan (Come Home to Supper) will appeal to readers who have a modest budget but still want to treat their family and friends to homemade desserts. Within chapters for cookies, cakes, pies, confections, and many other sweets are recipes for chocolate chocolate chip cookies (made with Bisquick baking mix to save time), frozen turtle pie, pineapple fritters, and coconut cake with no-fail, seven-minute frosting. Compared to similar titles, this work relies heavily on store-bought products such as baking, gelatin, and pudding mixes, whipped toppings, and jarred condiments. While this might please busy bakers, home cooks who favor a completely from-scratch approach will be disappointed. VERDICT Filled with family stories and cheerful advice, this cookbook is a reasonably priced volume of easy-to-make sweets.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2016
This slim collection of 197 Southern recipes relies on good old fashioned white sugar, butter, and eggs. Classic cheesecake made easy; coconut cake with “No-Fail Seven-Minute Frosting”; Coca-Cola pie, and the Southern classic hummingbird cake are just a few of the easy-to-bake sweets Jordan includes. Mix-in-pan pie crust, a recipe for homemade strawberry candy, and a box titled “A Recipe to Cure the Grumpies” will help even the most cynical baker warm to the straightforward, genuine tone and touching sentiment that permeate this title. Family memories, including recollections of Jordan’s grandmothers, are interspersed in sidebars, head notes, and vintage photos. Write-ups such as “The Secret to Uncloudy Tea” may inspire even those residing in a chilly climate to feel like sipping sweet tea on the porch on a sweltering afternoon could be just around the corner.

September 15, 2016
The difference between an ordinary life and an extraordinary life is finding extraordinary things in an ordinary life. This is just one of the many gems sprinkled throughout the latest collection of recipes from the creator of SouthernPlate.com. Jordan, also a contributing editor to Taste of the South, delivers the sweetness in both recipes and life musings. From the dedication page on, Jordan pays sweet homage to those who came before her. With recipes ranging from cookies to brownies, pies, and candies (and much more), any baker would be hard pressed to find a recipe that doesn't satisfy the sweet tooth. Recipes include classics, such as Old-Fashioned Butter Cookies and Classic Cheesecake Made Easy, but there are also fun new recipes, such as Katy's Birthday Cookie Bars and Cappuccino Cake. There are also recipes to wash everything down with, such as fresh strawberry-ade and that southern staple, sweet tea. Like a warm hug from Grandma, the recipes here will bring comfort and joy, making it the perfect addition to any baker's bookshelf.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)