"SWEETS OF ARABY: ENCHANTING RECIPES FROM THE TALES OF THE 1001 ARABIAN NIGHTS"

(Countryman Press, 128 pages, $19.95).

Long before the stories of 1,001 Arabian Nights were told by Scheherazade to save her life from the murderous King Shahryar, women have told stories. Leila Salloum Elias and Muna Salloum join the tradition with "Sweets of Araby: Enchanting Recipes From the Tales of the 1001 Arabian Nights" Stories about growing up on their mother's desserts as third-generation Syrian-Canadians help the sisters personalize this dessert cookbook.

The unusual feature of this book is its connection to the Arabian Nights, a collection of short stories told within the shell of the frightening relationship of the royal Persian couple. Scheherazade not only curtailed the king's wrath with her stories each night, say the authors, but also with sweets. "She must ensure that his love for her became even more powerful," the Salloums write in opening. "Starting tonight, she would serve with each tale a sweet from Araby that would please him even more."

The Salloum sisters translated the recipes of these life-saving delights from ancient texts. Sure, perhaps they could have gotten several of the recipes from their mother or from one of the cooks they met as they enjoyed the treats across the Middle East.

But isn't the whole point here the telling of stories? It's much more fun to prepare these exotic treats after learning how the recipes were directly translated by the authors, both Middle East scholars, from 10th-century manuscripts before being adapted for today's modern cooks.

Most of the 25 recipes (one for each tale included) use the same core ingredients. If you like rosewater and spiced nuts, you're as golden as the almond-filled fried doughnut hole called luqum al-qadi, or the pistachio-stuffed and batter-fried dates. If Scheherazade's desserts don't tempt you like they did the king, consider the book a sweet compilation of 25 of the legendary tales, colorfully illustrated by Linda Dalal Sawaya.

CATHERINE DEHDASHTI, freelance writer

Catherine Dehdashti, a freelance writer from Eagan, can be reached at cdehdashti@yahoo.com