Betty Crocker's Chocolate Cookbook

Rating:
Summary: A Blast from the Past
Review: This 20 year old classic cookbook has about 200 recipes, and it shows its age. As many as half (depending on how pick you are) are out of date ones that you will never do. What I like best is that all of the recipes are thoroughly tested and worked as advertised, even those that look wrong (like Soldier's Fudge). You can pick a recipe and rely on the instructions being correct, without having to worry about a problem. This is a nice, but not great chocolate cookbook.

There are a few fascinating recipes, like chocolate crepes, chocolate pate a choux dough, and an unusual Sacher Tort that uses bread crumbs (unfortunately, the texture of the cake is rather gritty). Happily, there are not many recipes that rely on whipped egg whites. For cakes, shortening is specified, and margarine is preferred for cookies; the flavor is not as good as butter, but the texture is superior.