Party books

Kettle corn, chocolate-covered pretzels or salted caramels? Yes, please!

If you love the way sweet-salty treats play together, be prepared to adore this book, which repeatedly will make its way to your cookbook holder: "Salty Sweets: Delectable Desserts and Tempting Treats with a Sublime Kiss of Salt" by Christie Matheson (Harvard Common Press, $19.95).

Rule No. 1 about this book? For the sake of your diet, do not open while hungry. I promise, that's a mistake because you'll want to make everything. And while you may already have versions of some of the recipes in the book (like the aforementioned sweet-salty phenomena), for every slight kick — like the simplest (and most brilliant?) addition of fleur de sel to everyone's favorite campfire treat, s'mores (page 29) — there's a combination you might not have thought of in your wildest, sugar-laden dreams, like lemon sugar cookies with zesty lime salt (page 49) or coconut sorbet (page 121).

And, no, a clump or sprinkling of salt on top is not always the answer here. Some items are more subtly salty-sweet, with the salt mixed into the batter/dough, icings or glazes, like in the caramel-butterscotch pudding (page 86) which sounds absolutely to die for — and including a splash of heavy cream, lots of whole milk and multiple egg yolks? Well, just be glad there's no nutritional information listed for each dessert. Thankfully, the recipes make enough to share, which makes this a great way to introduce a crowd to something you've already come to realize: salt brings out the best in everything — even desserts.