When Nancy Baggett set out to find the best homemade desserts in America, she knew just where to look. She turned to small-town cooks who are locally famous for their specialties, innkeepers and bakers whose treats lure guests back year after year, and church and bake-sale ladies whose creations are always snapped up at events.

Many of Nancy's finds have never been published, or even written down, before. Some of the local treasures include

* an irresistibly easy blueberry buckle from a Vermont bed-and-breakfast

* a tender peach cobbler from a home cook in the Ozarks who learned it from her mother

* a lusciously thick chocolate-banana malted from a celebrated soda fountain in St. Louis

* a supremely moist chiffon cake with a zingy orange glaze from Nancy's grandmother's "receipt" box

* big, soft, glazed gingerbread cookies that were a huge favorite at a former diner in Washington, D.C.

* creamy chocolate-dipped caramels, the proprietary secret of the guild members of a New Mexico Episcopal church

"Although I've been baking and writing about sweets for more than three decades, time and time again I found myself thinking, 'What a great idea! I'd never have thought of that," Nancy writes in the introduction.

Nancy has tested and retested each recipe in her own kitchen, so that you're assured of a flaky, easy-to-roll pie crust, a brownie with a perfect fudgy center and a deep chocolate aroma, and a silky-smooth cheesecake every time — even if you've never baked before.

Since the most memorable desserts are often the ones you make with your children, this book features plenty of projects for the whole family: rock crystal swizzle sticks, caramel apples, graham cracker "gingerbread" houses, and gifts such as brownie bars in a jar and quick heavenly hash fudge.

The All-American Dessert Book tells the intriguing story of America's fascination with sweets, complete with regional legends, behind-the-scenes recipe stories, fascinating snippets of baking history, and words of kitchen wisdom from cooks of the past.

"Apple pie may be America's signature dessert, but if this fine cookbook is any measure, there are a number of contenders that could reign equally supreme. Take Yellow Sour Cream — Butter Layer Cake, for example: a staple of wedding and birthday celebrations, it can be paired with nearly any icing and, in Baggett's version, is moist, aromatic and 'very buttery.' Baggett (The All-American Cookie Book) canvassed the country, visiting bakeries, restaurants, confectioneries and old-fashioned soda shops to come up with this collection of 150 recipes. Her book covers pies, tarts and cheesecakes; cakes and frostings; fruit desserts; puddings; cookies; ice creams; candies; and easy gifts and treats, such as Maple Sugar on Snow (a popular Vermont confection). There are, naturally, many regional favorites, such as Black Walnut Pound Cake, adapted from several versions from Missouri, where black walnuts grow in abundance. Many recipes include instructional asides (e.g., a lesson on forming the lattice top for a pie, used in both Deep-Dish Blueberry Pie and Deep-Dish Raspberry-Apricot Pie), and useful sidebars detailing the history of Concord grapes, Key limes, Martha Washington's cheeseless cheesecake and other fare. Most recipes also have a solid introduction explaining the recipe and any required techniques. Elegant and inspiring, this volume has something for every cook. Photos." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Elegant and inspiring, this volume has something for every cook.

America's favorite baker has been on a road trip around the country. Now she's back, with something for every dessert lover: the best pies, cakes, puddings, crisps, cookies, ice creams, and candies in the land. Photos.

America"s favorite baker, Nancy Baggett, has been on a road trip around the country. Now she"s back, with something for every dessert lover: the best pies, cakes, puddings, crisps, cookies, ice creams, and candies in the land. Many of her discoveries were locally famous family secrets—until now.

They include a memorably simple blueberry buckle from a Vermont bed-and-breakfast; a coconut chiffon cake from an island off the coast of Virginia that has become a "destination dessert"; a never-before-revealed recipe for chocolate-dipped caramel candies, the fund-raising specialty of the women of an Episcopal church in New Mexico; and a sublime peach cobbler from a cook in the Ozarks.

Baggett has tested and retested every recipe in her home kitchen to ensure that all cooks get the same results. She has even included a chapter on easy gifts to make with children, from "bars in a jar" (a homemade brownie mix) to fancifully decorated graham-cracker holiday cottages.

Every recipe in this lavishly photographed book comes with an

intriguing bite of history, a witty anecdote, or a little-known fact.

Together they tell the story of America.

Nancy Baggett is one of America's most respected baking teachers. She is the author of the best-selling All-American Cookie Book, The International Cookie Cookbook, and The International Chocolate Cookbook, which was named the best dessert cookbook by the International Association of Culinary Professionals. Her work has appeared in Gourmet, Food and Wine, Bon Appetit, and Ladies' Home Journal. She has demonstrated her recipes on many television shows, including Good Morning America and CBS This Morning.