Lisa Messinger's
Cookbooks of the Week

The Butterscotch Lover's Cookbook & Mail-Order Treats Source Guide

by Diana Dalsass (Buttercup Press)

Butterscotch lovers owe Diana Dalsass a slice of triple butterscotch cheesecake, a bowl of butterscotch pecan ice cream with hot butterscotch sauce or at least a butterscotch chip cookie. That's because the cookbook author took pity on them and decided it was about time they had a cookbook all their own. Fortunately, Dalsass puts her considerable expertise from writing a number of other acclaimed dessert books to use on the fun food that's mainly butter and brown sugar, but has a flavor much greater than the sum of its parts. Dalsass' imagination has few limits and those who are just moderate fans of the creamy concoction will probably find lots to love among recipes as varied as butterscotch brittle bread pudding, butterscotch s'mores, butterscotch truffles and butterscotch fudge cake. It may, though, take die-hard fans to appreciate over-the-top treats like death by butterscotch (Dalsass' ingenious take on the rich, much-published death by chocolate dessert), a dense shortbread crust made with finely ground butterscotch candy that's filled with a mixture of pecans, butterscotch morsels and whipped cream.

RECIPE: BUTTERSCOTCH FUDGE CAKE