Coffee: Scrumptious Drinks and Treats

Every day, millions search for The Perfect Cup of Coffee in caf s, diners, and kitchens around the world. Here, coffee guru Betty Rosbottom offers easy-to-follow recipes guaranteed to please anyone who takes delight in sampling, sipping, and serving exquisite coffee concoctions. Mornings are brighter with a hot Cafe au Lait, and a homemade Cappuccino takes the frost right out of a cold day. A chic Caffe Macchiato is sure to spice up the night, and for something sweet, an Old-Fashioned Coffee Soda topped with whipped cream should do the trick. Aromatic, delicious and addictive nothing satisfies like a good old cup o' Joe.

This is a gorgeous little book that could serve quite well as a gift. The photos are eye-catching, delectable, and frequent. The recipe layout is clean, simple, and easy to read. Directions are easy to follow, and there are no unnecessarily complex recipes in here.

The book starts off with a modest amount of information aimed at helping you to produce a wonderful cup of coffee. (This is largely information such as different brewing methods, a few notes on different roasts, and a page of tips and hints.) This is followed by 'recipes' for the basic coffee drinks that everyone loves. However, the book swiftly moves on to the recipes you won't find in every other book; this seems to me to be a very good compromise.

'Coffee' includes recipes for new and different coffee drinks (one of my favorites is a coffee-based ice cream soda), tidbits to enjoy with your coffee (such as a fantastic pastry to dip in your coffee that's easily assembled from a sheet of puff pastry and some crystallized ginger), and coffee-flavored treats. We made an ice cream recipe from this book that was out of this world. If you're feeling adventurous you could make a coffee-flavored cake with coffee-toffee icing, or you could keep things simple (yet impressive) with java jolt truffles or coffee caramels. Every recipe we tried came out beautifully, and the directions were detailed and easy to follow.

Betty Rosbottom delivers again! This is a wonderful little book. I made the cream cheese brownies to rave reviews and have other recipes tabbed to try. I suggest to anyone reading this review that any Rosbottom cookbook is a resource you will come back to over and over again.