I love to read cookbooks and when my eyes took in the thick layers of chocolate and graham in the S’Mores Bars (YUM!) on the cover of this collection, I envisioned how fun it would be to fulfill a request to “bring a dessert” with one of these decadent options. I forgot that I’ve subscribed to Food & Wine Magazine in the past and never pulled out many recipes to save. It was the same for me here.

The approx. 150 recipes tend to be for versatile bakers with well-stocked kitchens, to be refined (even complex) in flavors and special vs. everyday, and to be rich (I’m going by the ingredients lists; nutritional info is not provided). They’re arranged in groupings of Cakes & Pastries, Pies & Fruit Desserts, Cookies & Bars, Puddings & Custards, Frozen Desserts, and Candies & Sauces. An evocative full-page, full-color photo accompanies almost every entry, and I think most people (and foodies for sure) would see this collection as luscious. So I’m sad that the recipes didn’t hold my interest to read, much less prepare, much less eat even if at a restaurant.

I did mark a few smaller-scale, less-decadent entries to try right now for my husband and me:
. Caramel sauce (to pair with sliced apples for dipping)
. Sour cream coffee cake muffins (can freeze some for later)
. Apple cake with cranberries (assembled like a pineapple upside-down cake)
. Lemon-glazed citrus-yogurt pound cake (when baked as mini-muffins, they’re described as “a shot of fresh-squeezed juice,” YUM!)

(Review based on a copy of the book provided by the publisher.) ( )