Desserts 4 Today

It's hard not to love Dodge's concept. Everyone is looking to simplify and having four fresh ingredients makes all the beautiful desserts in her book seem approachable. Of course, no chef as talented as Dodge (she previously wrote The Weekend Baker ) can stop with just four of anything. So each recipe includes Switch-Ins, which suggest different flavor pairings. These also include swap-out ingredients in case you don't have, or don't care for, something in the recipe. She also suggests ways to Gussy It Up. This is a great book for someone who wants to learn to bake. -- The Providence Journal

First, let's just make this clear: Desserts 4 Today is not the latest Hip Hop group. It's an ingenious new cookbook by former pastry chef and culinary veteran Abigail Johnson Dodge. The book is divided into 5 easy chapters: Cookies, Creamy Desserts, Frozen Desserts, Fruit Desserts, and Pastries (a number of which conveniently rely on quality store-bought products like frozen puff pastry and phyllo dough.) The hook is that each gem of a recipe contains no more than 4 ingredients. Seriously. Okay, each recipe is followed by numerous variations with headings like, Switch-Ins, Gussy It Up; and Change It Up, but there is really no reason to go there unless you feel like taking that extra step. As written, each of the basic recipes is a perfect study in simplicity and creativity. And you can rest assured your grocery cart will not be overloaded with expensive, esoteric ingredients you may never use again. --Project Foodie

One might expect a cookbook of four-ingredients-max dessert recipes to rely heavily on convenience ingredients or lots of dressed-up shortbread. But in her latest cookbook Desserts 4 Today (Taunton Press, $17.95), pastry chef and baking expert Abigail Johnson Dodge delivers a surprising number of cookies and other sweets made simply and with fresh ingredients. --Newark (NJ) Star-Ledger

If you bake frequently, a good number of the recipes wo