Just in time for Valentine's Day, Amanda from Slow Like Honey whips the up bittersweet brownie recipe from Alice Medrich's book Pure Dessert. I've heard lots of good things over the years about Medrich's desserts and from the looks of these brownies, it appears that all the praise has been spot-on.

Thanks for adding your luscious photo to the pool, Amanda!

It's time to break out the flour, cookbooks and parchment paper and start doing some holiday baking. Aside from an increase in the amount of red and green sprinkles used for decorating, there isn't anything that really separates a Christmas cookie from a regular cookie, but there are some seasonal flavors that are going to be a bit more prevalent in these seasonal treats. This month, we're going to put up a new Christmas cookie recipe every week that will hopefully inspire you to bake a little bit before December 25h. Our first cookie recipe is for Chocolate Peppermint Drops.

These cookies have a deep, dark chocolate flavor and a moist texture, like a soft and slightly chewy brownie. In fact, they look just like little brownies. They taste very decadent and rich, so make sure to have a glass of milk or a cup of coffee at the ready to wash them down. The peppermint flavor comes from crushed up peppermint candies, although Andes mints or chopped up peppermint bark would make an excellent substitution.

In my mind, Perfect Light Desserts: Fabulous Cakes, Cookies, Pies, and More Made with Real Butter, Sugar, Flour, and Eggs, All Under 300 Calories Per Generous Serving has more than just a few good things going for it. Obviously, it is geared towards slightly less fattening/lower calorie treats. The recipes use less butter or sugar than they might otherwise, and often make substitutions like swapping egg whites for whole eggs. No artificial sweeteners or other ingredients are incorporated into the pies, cakes, cookies and other baked goods, so the recipes will taste just as satisfying as their high-calorie counterparts with less guilt attached.

Author Nick Malgieri is known for his much more decadent desserts and it is somewhat reassuring to know that he really stands by these recipes, in much the same way as dessert maven Alice Medrich stands by her hugely popular book Chocolate and the Art of Low Fat Desserts. To add another chef to the mix, David Lebovitz is also recommending it and has provided the recipes for Banana Cake and Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (which look quite similar to my favorite low-fat oatmeal cookie recipe) on his blog.

If you like to bake, this is definitely one to add to your wish list for the holidays - although if you sneak out and buy yourself a copy, you'll get to "wow" your family and friends in a way that they'll appreciate at parties and other festive (food-related) occasions.

Alice Medrich must be one of the most talented pastry chefs to have ever published a cookbook. "Pastry chef" seems like a better description than "baker" because, though she bakes, she specializes in chocolate. Bittersweet: Recipes and Tales from a Life in Chocolate is an exceptional work from her and won the IACP awards for Best Single Subject Cookbook and Cookbook of the Year in 2004, after the book was released. The book covers different types of chocolate, detailing levels of sweetness and types of cocoas, and provides a wealth of information on how to work with it, including troubleshooting common problems. Not only does it cover the topics, but Medrich explains the difficult nature of chocolate in an extremely eloquent way, something which not all writers who have tackled the topic can claim. While her prose is detailed, it pales in comparison to the level of specificity that Medrich applies in her recipes. While it may seem intimidating at first glance, the recipes are still very readable and can walk the cook through from start to finish of some of the most mouthwatering chocolate creations you can imagine. The book is also full of stunning illustrations, should you need any encouragement to attempt the recipes.

Speaking of recipes and photos, some food bloggers have worked through recipes in the book and published their results. Check out Coconut Saras, Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream or Molten Chocolate Cherry Cakes with Roasted Cherry Compote for a quick taste of what's in the text.

My mouth is watering just looking at this Chocolate Marble Cake. It was made by Rorie, who runs the blog Milk & Honey. The cake is an old favorite of hers that comes from one of my favorite cookbooks, Chocolate and the Art of Low Fat Desserts, by Alice Medrich. As you might have guessed, the cake is actually low fat, but I can certainly attest to the fact that it doesn't taste low fat at all, as I have made it many times. The cake is pleasingly dense, moist and very rich, all thanks to a generous amount of yogurt that is incorporated into the batter. The flavor is the perfect balance of chocolate and vanilla. Rorie has the recipe on her site, if you want to give it at try.

Other food bloggers like the light and chocolaty Alice Medrich recipes, as well. Here's a sampling from the same book:

• Chocolate Chestnut Souffle Cake 
• Cocoa Fudge Cookies
• Chocolate Souffles

Chocolate and hazelnut is a nearly-unbeatable combination and among the most popular in the world of confectionery. It seems only natural to combine the flavors in other things, like spreading Nutella on toast, adding hazelnut syrup to a Starbucks mocha or baking a cake. Jessica, at Su Good Eats, tested not one but three different cakes using a hazelnut and chocolate flavor combination in a quest to come up with the best one. Not only are they delicious, but they are also lower in fat than your average cake - quite a feat considering that nuts are rather high in fat, even if it is the heart-healthy kind. Her favorite of the cakes was the above-pictured version of Nigella Lawson's Nutella Cake, which she describes as being almost like a solid slab of nutella: rich, smooth and flavorful. It is definitely the perfect cake to make for a special occasion or on a day when you are feeling just a bit decadent.