16 Volumes Worth Staining

Goldman, an author, pastry chef and occasional Food section contributor, has put together a significant yet easy-to-peruse batch of her "best-ever" sweets and savories, well written and presented clearly with a mix of technique and beauty shots.

The Montrealer's tips and expert preferences are grounded in the realm of amateur cooks: Brush scones twice with a syrup of butter and honey to ease their freshness into a third day; when blind baking a pie crust, skip the fuss of pie weights and place a second pie plate on top of the crust; crosshatch just-baked chocolate chip cookies to expose their melting bits.

It's true that life would be perfect if baked goods weren't so waist-expanding, and Goldman does not endorse substituting anything for butter. But she does offer chapters on whole grains and "baking in a hurry." (Several recipes from the book will be featured in our cookie issue next week.)

THE ETHNIC PARIS COOKBOOK

By Charlotte Puckette and Olivia Kiang Snaije DK Publishing, $30; 100-plus recipes

This charming sleeper didn't get the buzz it deserved upon its release in April. It proves that a life devoted to food can be liberating, allowing chef Puckette, born in Charleston, S.C., the opportunity to cook, cater and offer ethnic market tours in the City of Light.

The book will mean more to those who have sampled foods of the featured restaurants, but it also could provide culinary checkpoints for anybody's future trip. Stories about owners and chefs, illustrations, arrondissement maps and listings of Paris's best ethnic grocers round out the book's travel-guide appeal. (See Lamb With Ras el Hanout and Honey recipe, Page F10.)

COOKIE CRAFT:

FROM BAKING TO LUSTER DUST

By Valerie Peterson and Janice Fryer Storey, $18.95; five recipes, 220 designs

A must-have for this particularly driven subset of the baking crowd, by New Yorkers who write about food and have mastered pastry arts. The authors take an A-to-Z approach in planning, creating, storing and shipping decorated cookies. Their designs cover the holidays and several types of celebrations; cookie templates are included in the back of the book. Advice extends to equipment and coloration; the authors' tricks of the trade include how to clean utensils, how to prevent rust on cookie cutters (10 minutes in a 200-degree oven after they are washed) and how to decorate in a household with pets (dry the cookies under the cover of mesh food tents).