Fire up the oven for wickedly good chocolate desserts

By Barbara Albright
Associated Press

It seems like it was just yesterday, but here we go again. This is that mouthwatering time of the year when the holidays line up, and the urge to bake grabs hold.

The call may be for just one dessert, or perhaps for a whole party piece to be assembled, a cookie-brownie-cupcake platter, or for sweet gifts.

So here’s a report from the dessert cookbook front, a few favorite recipes gleaned from browsing through and testing from recent publications.

For those who approach baking with some trepidation, several of the baking all-stars have written books this year that carefully describe each step of the way.

Some of the recipes may appear long, but that’s because they are VERY thorough in their descriptions — the advantage being it’s almost as if you have the pro in the kitchen with you.