Review: Fairly Solid and Personalized
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 8, 2012
There is a linked table of contents which appears at the end of the book.  The author does include information about how to access it at the beginning, which is helpful.  However, if the author is not going to make the TOC available at the beginning so it can be seen in the "Look Inside," it would be helpful if the description included at least the number of recipes.  I counted 25 recipes for cookies plus an icing, but would consider it really to have 23 recipes (see below).The basic peanut butter cookie recipe at the beginning of the book has a variation for a peanut butter and jam cookie.  However, the variation appears later in the book as a separate recipe. I was also a bit disappointed to see a "Toll House Cookie" recipe in the book.  Yes, it is indeed a classic and a solid recipe, but it's very widely available and it's not "Grandma's" recipe even if "Grandma" uses it 7 days a week.The recipes appear solid and well written.  I did spot the rare typo here and there - maraschino "cheery," and I'd spell it "ooey-gooey," but honestly, with a phrase like that, there's some leeway.  The text is clean and clear and many recipes include variations.The author has personalized the book to a good degree, including anecdotes and explanations.  The gum drop cookie recipe made me laugh with the tip of "don't use the black ones."  The black jelly beans and gum drops were NEVER popular in my house growing up and we gave them all to my grandmother, who loved them.This book is unique and clean enough to overcome the issue of the two recipes I noted above and get 4 stars from me, meaning "I liked it."  There are a couple of recipes I either didn't have or didn't remember having in my collection.