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This visually appealing book is full of tantalizing recipes for cold and frozen treats and drinks. The book is divided into four sections: ice cream and frozen desserts, shakes and smoothies, non-alcoholic beverages, and alcoholic drinks. Each recipe takes up only one page and is accompanied by a beautiful color photograph of the end result. Some formatting issues in the book compress some of the pictures and affect recipe line breaks, but these do not get in the way of enjoying both the photos and the recipes. Almost every recipe uses fewer than eight ingredients, the majority of which can be found in any grocery store.
Despite the apparent simplicity of the book’s recipes, the drinks and desserts they make range from familiar and basic to exotic and complex. For example, while the non-alcoholic beverage section does include the expected lemonades, iced tea, and punches, it also offers novel recipes such as the “Mango Mule,” an interesting twist on a common cocktail. The recipes in the ice cream section range from simple but elegant sorbets to a decadent “Velvety Smooth Chocolate Ice Cream.” The book’s healthful and enjoyable smoothies and shakes include recipes for a homemade “Frappuccino” and a “Green Tea Kiwi and Mango Smoothie.”
While each section has its standouts, the crowning feature of the book is its last chapter. The alcoholic beverages it offers combine innovative new recipes with old standards. The "Earl Greyhound," a spin on the traditional greyhound cocktail, involves making and infusing an Earl Grey-grapefruit shrub to mix into the end product. Quicker, more familiar drinks such as the two-ingredient "Aviation" or the "Dark and Stormy" are also present in this section. From strawberry daiquiris to huckleberry cheesecake popsicles and lavender lemonade, this book offers cool treats for all tastes.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review