PUBLISHER: Weldon Owen, 2/2019PURCHASE: link
MY GRADE: C
FROM PUBLISHER: An adorably illustrated package featuring 40 mouthwatering recipes for cookies—from classic favorites and beautifully piped creations to luscious brownies and bars—this go-to guide will inspire showstopping treats for gifts, special occasions, and everyday snacks.
If you’re after the perfect cookie—whether gooey chocolate chip, thin and crispy oatmeal raisin, or classic French macaroon—this artfully curated collection of recipes delivers satisfaction on every page. The recipes are organized by type, including options for drop, shaped, piped, and rolled and cut cookies. You’ll also find fantastic brownies and bars, from tart key lime squares and raspberry-almond linzer bars to blondies glazed with caramel and decadent brownies topped with chocolate frosting. A primer on mixing doughs and batters, expert baking tips, and suggestions for serving and shipping baked goods round out this delectable collection that will appeal to cookie lovers everywhere.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Drop Cookies: Classic Peanut Butter Cookies, Oatmeal-Raisin Crisps, Chewy Coconut Macaroons, Chocolate Chip Cookie Sandwiches, Triple-Chocolate-Chunk Cookies, White Chocolate–Macadamia Cookies.
Shaped Cookies: Buttery Vanilla Shortbread, Fragrant Lavender Shortbread, Crunchy Espresso Shortbread, Mexican Wedding Cookies, Spicy Ginger Snaps, Cinnamon-Sugar Snickerdoodles, Gooey Chocolate Crinkle Cookies, Blackberry-Pecan Thumbprints, Toasted Hazelnut Biscotti, Double-Ginger Biscotti, Chocolate, Pistachio & Cherry Biscotti.
Piped Cookies: Cream-Filled Pecan Lace Cookies, Almond-Filled Macaroons, French-Style Pistachio Macaroons, Chocolate-Almond Macaroons, Butter Spritz Cookies.
Rolled & Cut Cookies: Pinwheel Icebox Cookies, Pink Raspberry Pinwheels, Chocolate-Orange Stripe Cookies, Sugar Cookie Cutouts, Black-and-White Cookies, Zesty Lime Sugar Cookies, Chocolate Spice Cookies, Apricot Rugelach, Medjool Date Rugelach, Chocolate Chip Rugelach.
Brownies & Bars: Tangy Lemon Bars, Coconut-Lemon Squares, Tart Key Lime Squares, Raspberry-Almond Linzer Bars, Glazed Cinnamon Streusel Bars, Blueberry Cheesecake Bars, Frosted Chocolate Brownies, Cream Cheese Marble Brownies, Caramel-Glazed Blondies.
Fillings & Coatings: Vanilla Glaze, Chocolate Frosting, Cooking Fillings, Sweetened Whipped Cream.
THINGS I MADE
PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES
These are good and basic. Like most peanut butter cookies these are made with butter and a mixture of white and brown sugar. I got 39 one tablespoon dough balls. I didn't add chopped peanuts to the top before baking. I flattened the cookies slightly before baking and they spread out alright. They baked in a little less time than the minimum time stated. They're a bit too cake-like for my liking and I don't think I'd make them again.
ZESTY LIME SUGAR COOKIES
These are a roll-out recipe but I just scooped the dough out with a 1 1/2" cookie scoop and flattened the balls before baking. I got 38 one tablespoon dough balls. The cookie is very dense with crisp edges and prominent butter flavor that I don't care for. It's a nice firm dough and easy to work with.
I divided the dough in half and used one tablespoon of lime zest (from three small limes) in one half and to the other half I used 1/2 c. sweetened dried tart cherries and almond extract. I omitted the cinnamon that was called for, and the almond extract that was to be added to the lime ones. I flattened the dough balls before baking and they only took 8 minutes. Cold dough for the other batches took 9 minutes. The cherry version didn't spread out while baking as much as the lime cookies did. I made a glaze for the lime cookies using powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and lime juice. For the cherry ones, I used powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and almond extract, and food coloring for both.
The first batch I made I didn't glaze. For the other batches I made a glaze and I think the cookies are so much better with glaze than without. It seems to cut through the butter flavor.
MY THOUGHTS: The hardcover book is small and very cute, both inside and out. The edges of the pages are a slightly darker shade of blue than is on the cover, as pictured here. There are no photos of the finished cookies but there is a color illustration of each recipe.
The chocolate chip cookie on page 18 is the same as the white chocolate macadamia nut cookie on page 22, which is the same base recipe as the triple-chocolate-chunk recipe from page 25.
The buttery vanilla shortbread cookie is the same as the crunchy espresso shortbread, which is the same as the fragrant lavender shortbread cookie!
The double-ginger biscotti recipe is the same as the toasted hazelnut biscotti one.
Almond-filled macaroons is the same as the pistachio macaroons.
The sugar cookie recipe is the same base recipe as for zesty lime sugar cookies.
Tangy lemon bars is the same as key lime bars.
Apricot rugelach is the same recipe as chocolate chip rugelach, which is the same as medjool rugelach.
I'm not impressed with either cookie that I made. I'm not happy that some of the recipes are being passed off as two or three completely different ones when the base recipe (flour, sugar, egg, baking soda/baking powder, salt, vanilla) is the same. Swapping out one additive, such as nuts, zest, chocolate chips, spice, ect, for another doesn't make it a completely different recipe, it just makes it a variation of the original, and the variation should have been listed as such at the bottom of the first recipe, not put on a separate page like it's a different one. For those reasons, I can't recommend this book.
I've uploaded mages from inside the book here.
I received this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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