Diet? What diet?

From the heavy traffic up at the Rec Center, I can see that everybody is trying to lose those extra pounds they gained over the holidays (that's surely the reason I'm up there).  But if you're feeling cavilier about your calorie intake - or you're one of those people who don't gain weight during the holidays - then check out these sweet new books:
Irresistible Macaroons, by Jose Marechal.  I always thought of macaroons as being the simplest of desserts, but Marechal dresses them up by making them into little sandwich cookies with a wide variety of fillings.  Oh, and he also uses food coloring to turn them into eye-popping shades of green, blue, red, purple and black.  I'll be honest, I'm not a macaroon fan....and the liquorice and violet ones look a bit stomach-churning.  But the other selections in this book are quite elegant, and the pineapple and saffron macaroons are very tempting.
The Whoopie Pie Book: 60 irresistible recipes for cake sandwiches classic and new, by Claire Ptak.  Being a native of New England, this book is more up my aisle.  If you've never had a whoopie pie, they are a layer of fluffy filling/frosting sandwiched between two cakey cookies.  Fruit fillings, nuts, caramel sauces and liquors jazz up Ptak's recipes.  I like the classic:  chocolate cake with buttercream filling.  Yum!