Dear Friends, Baking cookies or eating cookies—which is more fun? Baking cookies fills your home with great smells that welcome family and friends, and decorating cookies fuels your family’s creativity. But eating cookies is equally fun—each treat is a bit magical, turning an ordinary day into something special, when you eat one . . . or two! What else can deliver so much joy in such a small package? Baking perfect cookies and bars isn’t rocket science. With our top tricks and tips, you too can be a cookie-baking pro! From quick and easy no-bakes to adorably decorated holiday cookies, you’ll find a recipe for every occasion. Just flip through the gorgeous photos of every recipe . . . and try NOT to let your mouth water! Homemade cookies—the perfect gift for any occasion? Yes! What other gift is guaranteed to never be returned or re-gifted? Whether a simple “thank-you,” a birthday gift for that hard-to-buy-for teen or even as an anniversary present, homemade cookies will be a hit every time. Delicious, for sure—but they also give an extra touch of your love and caring that purchased gifts just can’t deliver. And don’t miss the creative ways included inside for wrapping your cookies for gifting, whether you give just one or an entire batch. Here in The Big Book of Cookies you’ll find cookies, brownies and bar recipes for any time you need to “bring something to share” or . . . when your sweet tooth strikes! There are cookie-jar favorites, contest-winning recipes and even several gluten-free recipes. Just be warned—these recipes are going to make you VERY popular! Bake a batch and wait for the smiles! Warmly,

Sarah Kieffer knows that you don’t have to be a professional baker in order to bake up delicious treats. Though she started out baking professionally in coffee shops and bakeries, preparing baked goods at home for family and friends is what she loves best—and home-baked treats can be part of your everyday, too. In The Vanilla Bean Baking Book, she shares 100 delicious tried-and-true recipes, ranging from everyday favorites like Chocolate Chip Cookies and Blueberry Muffins to re-invented classics, like Pear-Apple Hard Cider Pie and Vanilla Cupcakes with Brown Butter Buttercream. Sarah simplifies the processes behind seemingly complicated recipes, so baking up a beautiful Braided Chocolate Swirl Bread for a cozy Sunday breakfast or a batch of decadent Triple Chocolate Cupcakes for a weeknight celebration can become a part of your everyday baking routine. Filled with charming storytelling, dreamy photos, and the tips and tricks you need to build the ultimate baker’s pantry, The Vanilla Bean Baking Book is filled with recipes for irresistible treats that will delight and inspire.

Carole Walter’s fans know her as an award-winning author, teacher, and mentor, and her new book will keep them cheering, as she turns her attention to the most popular theme in home baking: cookies. Packed with more than 200 delectable recipes and more than 150 tantalizing photographs, Great Cookies skillfully and joyfully answers the call for a colorful, all-inclusive cookie book. From traditional favorites like Snickerdoodles, Oatmeal Raisin, and Favorite Lemon Squares to future stars of the cookie jar like the trail mix–inspired Teton Trailers and chewy, chocolaty Midnight Macaroons, Great Cookies provides something to satisfy every taste and every occasion. There’s even a section devoted to the quintessential American cookie—chocolate chip. With nuts or without? White chocolate or milk? Chocolate dough? Oatmeal in the dough? Carole provides a dozen chocolate chip recipes in all, plus definitive research on a crucial issue: “Not All Chocolate Chips Are Created Equal.” Drop cookies. Bar cookies. Piped, pressed, and rolled. Great Cookies covers every conceivable method for baking these tasty confections. In the more than thirty years that she has studied and taught baking, Carole has cataloged a wealth of helpful tips and troubleshooting hints that for the first time are gathered in one collection. With guidelines for measuring and substituting ingredients, storing and freezing, recapturing that fresh-from-the-oven flavor, decorating, even gift-wrapping and shipping, Great Cookies addresses all the basics and then some. And this ultimate guide is rounded out with authoritative information on ingredients, equipment, and the foolproof techniques for which Carole is known, including the essential “Secrets To” hints for every type of cookie. With master baker Carole Walter by your side, you may never look at a glass of ice cold milk the same way again.

A raw and powerful memoir of Jaycee Lee Dugard's own story of being kidnapped as an 11-year-old and held captive for over 18 years On 10 June 1991, eleven-year-old Jaycee Dugard was abducted from a school bus stop within sight of her home in Tahoe, California. It was the last her family and friends saw of her for over eighteen years. On 26 August 2009, Dugard, her daughters, and Phillip Craig Garrido appeared in the office of her kidnapper's parole officer in California. Their unusual behaviour sparked an investigation that led to the positive identification of Jaycee Lee Dugard, living in a tent behind Garrido's home. During her time in captivity, at the age of fourteen and seventeen, she gave birth to two daughters, both fathered by Garrido. Dugard's memoir is written by the 30-year-old herself and covers the period from the time of her abduction in 1991 up until the present. In her stark, utterly honest and unflinching narrative, Jaycee opens up about what she experienced, including how she feels now, a year after being found. Garrido and his wife Nancy have since pleaded guilty to their crimes.

Over many years, Mary Berry has perfected the art of cake-making and her skills have earned her a reputation as the queen of cakes. Now she has updated her classic home baking bible, the Ultimate Cake Book, and once again shares with you the secrets of her success. With over 200 classic cake recipes, Mary Berry's Ultimate Cake Book includes recipes for every cake, biscuit and bun you ever wanted to bake and many more. From the traditional Victoria Sandwich Cake, Tarte Tatin or Millionaires Shortbread to the indulgent Very Best Chocolate Roulade, Swiss Wild Strawberry and Walnut Cake or Sharp Lemon Cheesecake, there is sure to be a cake or bake here to suit everyone. Ideal for cake-baking novices as well as more experienced cooks, Mary explains the basic methods of baking and gives advice on ingredients and equipment. Mary's easy recipes are interspersed with baking tips and solutions for the most common problems, making it possible for everyone to bake their favourite cake, whatever the occasion.

The fun and easy way® to live a vegan lifestyle Are you thinking about becoming a vegan? Already a practicing vegan? More than 3 million Americans currently live a vegan lifestyle, and that number is growing. Living Vegan For Dummies is your one-stop resource for understanding vegan practices, sharing them with your friends and loved ones, and maintaining a vegan way of life. This friendly, practical guide explains the types of products that vegans abstain from eating and consuming, and provides healthy and animal-free options. You'll see how to create a balanced, nutritious vegan diet; read food and product labels to determine animal-derived product content; and stock a vegan pantry. You'll also get 40 great-tasting recipes to expand your cooking repertoire. Features expert guidance in living a vegan lifestyle and explaining it to friends and family Includes proper dietary guidelines so you can get the nutrition you need Gives you several action plans for making the switch to veganism Provides parents with everything they need to understand and support their children's choices With the tips and advice in Living Vegan For Dummies, you can truly live and enjoy a vegan way of life!

If you think sumptuous desserts and healthy eating don't go together, you'll change your mind when you see the tempting, yet delightfully healthy desserts that Bo Friberg has added to the Third Edition of this ever-popular pastry cookbook. The Light Desserts chapter now offers twice as many mouth-watering desserts that will please your palate, your heart, and your waistline. The Third Edition on The Professional Pastry Chef offers hundreds of tempting, easy-to-follow recipes that range from classical to contemporary favorites. Here is a complete guide to the preparation and artful presentation of a bounty of pastries and desserts, including breads, cakes, cookies, pastries, ice creams, candies, and restaurant desserts. Instructions for every recipe have been rewritten using shortened, numbered steps to make them as easy to follow as possible. Each recipe - thoroughly tested by the author and thousands of his students - has been refined to perfection and is virtually foolproof. In brand new, consolidated introductions to each recipe, Master Pastry Chef Bo Friberg carefully explains the proper blending of ingredients, use of pastry equipment, alternate presentations, and professional techniques so you can produce professional results the first time.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE • Look for special features inside. Join the Random House Reader’s Circle for author chats and more. In boyhood, Louis Zamperini was an incorrigible delinquent. As a teenager, he channeled his defiance into running, discovering a prodigious talent that had carried him to the Berlin Olympics. But when World War II began, the athlete became an airman, embarking on a journey that led to a doomed flight on a May afternoon in 1943. When his Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean, against all odds, Zamperini survived, adrift on a foundering life raft. Ahead of Zamperini lay thousands of miles of open ocean, leaping sharks, thirst and starvation, enemy aircraft, and, beyond, a trial even greater. Driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperini would answer desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and humor; brutality with rebellion. His fate, whether triumph or tragedy, would be suspended on the fraying wire of his will. Appearing in paperback for the first time—with twenty arresting new photos and an extensive Q&A with the author—Unbroken is an unforgettable testament to the resilience of the human mind, body, and spirit, brought vividly to life by Seabiscuit author Laura Hillenbrand. Hailed as the top nonfiction book of the year by Time magazine • Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for biography and the Indies Choice Adult Nonfiction Book of the Year award “Extraordinarily moving . . . a powerfully drawn survival epic.”—The Wall Street Journal “[A] one-in-a-billion story . . . designed to wrench from self-respecting critics all the blurby adjectives we normally try to avoid: It is amazing, unforgettable, gripping, harrowing, chilling, and inspiring.”—New York “Staggering . . . mesmerizing . . . Hillenbrand’s writing is so ferociously cinematic, the events she describes so incredible, you don’t dare take your eyes off the page.”—People “A meticulous, soaring and beautifully written account of an extraordinary life.”—The Washington Post “Ambitious and powerful . . . a startling narrative and an inspirational book.”—The New York Times Book Review “Magnificent . . . incredible . . . [Hillenbrand] has crafted another masterful blend of sports, history and overcoming terrific odds; this is biography taken to the nth degree, a chronicle of a remarkable life lived through extraordinary times.”—The Dallas Morning News “An astonishing testament to the superhuman power of tenacity.”—Entertainment Weekly “A tale of triumph and redemption . . . astonishingly detailed.”—O: The Oprah Magazine “[A] masterfully told true story . . . nothing less than a marvel.”—Washingtonian “[Hillenbrand tells this] story with cool elegance but at a thrilling sprinter’s pace.”—Time “Hillenbrand [is] one of our best writers of narrative history. You don’t have to be a sports fan or a war-history buff to devour this book—you just have to love great storytelling.”—Rebecca Skloot, author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

A kitchen classic for over 35 years, and hailed by Time magazine as "a minor masterpiece" when it first appeared in 1984, On Food and Cooking is the bible which food lovers and professional chefs worldwide turn to for an understanding of where our foods come from, what exactly they're made of, and how cooking transforms them into something new and delicious. For its twentieth anniversary, Harold McGee prepared a new, fully revised and updated edition of On Food and Cooking. He has rewritten the text almost completely, expanded it by two-thirds, and commissioned more than 100 new illustrations. As compulsively readable and engaging as ever, the new On Food and Cooking provides countless eye-opening insights into food, its preparation, and its enjoyment. On Food and Cooking pioneered the translation of technical food science into cook-friendly kitchen science and helped birth the inventive culinary movement known as "molecular gastronomy." Though other books have been written about kitchen science, On Food and Cooking remains unmatched in the accuracy, clarity, and thoroughness of its explanations, and the intriguing way in which it blends science with the historical evolution of foods and cooking techniques. Among the major themes addressed throughout the new edition are: · Traditional and modern methods of food production and their influences on food quality · The great diversity of methods by which people in different places and times have prepared the same ingredients · Tips for selecting the best ingredients and preparing them successfully · The particular substances that give foods their flavors, and that give us pleasure · Our evolving knowledge of the health benefits and risks of foods On Food and Cooking is an invaluable and monumental compendium of basic information about ingredients, cooking methods, and the pleasures of eating. It will delight and fascinate anyone who has ever cooked, savored, or wondered about food.

Here is a book as joyous and painful, as mysterious and memorable, as childhood itself. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings captures the longing of lonely children, the brute insult of bigotry, and the wonder of words that can make the world right. Maya Angelou’s debut memoir is a modern American classic beloved worldwide. Sent by their mother to live with their devout, self-sufficient grandmother in a small Southern town, Maya and her brother, Bailey, endure the ache of abandonment and the prejudice of the local “powhitetrash.” At eight years old and back at her mother’s side in St. Louis, Maya is attacked by a man many times her age—and has to live with the consequences for a lifetime. Years later, in San Francisco, Maya learns that love for herself, the kindness of others, her own strong spirit, and the ideas of great authors (“I met and fell in love with William Shakespeare”) will allow her to be free instead of imprisoned. Poetic and powerful, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings will touch hearts and change minds for as long as people read. “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings liberates the reader into life simply because Maya Angelou confronts her own life with such a moving wonder, such a luminous dignity.”—James Baldwin From the Paperback edition.