telynor's Full Review: Tish Boyle - The Good Cookie: Over 250 Delicious R...
Cooking, and to be more specific, baking has been enjoying a renaissance lately. Wander through the cooking aisle of your local bookstore, and there are dozens of books to tempt you, with plenty of photographs and ingredients.
Besides the traditional chocolate chip cookie, and all of its variations, there's quite a few that use unusual ingredients such as rosemary (in a cookie), and two very special recipes for your pets -- a dog and cat cookie, respectively.
Introduction Equipment
These two chapters are rather standard, with an interesting history of cookies (or cakes, as they were known in earlier times) and where they may have originated, as well as the linguistic roots of the word itself.
Ingredients
What I rather liked in this section was the listing of various sorts of flours, from all-purpose, bread, cake to whole-wheat and how they will affect your recipe. There's also plenty of lore on fats and sugars, and how using various sorts will change or break your recipe. Nuts and all of their varieties are covered, and a special section on chocolate and how to use it, as well as additions that children find especially appealing. A very useful chapter and just about worth the cost of the book itself.
Techniques, Tips, and Troubleshooting
How to prep your ingredients, and measuring such tricky things as eggs (just what is half-an-egg?). How to prep nuts and chocolate, and a nice little troubleshooting page that list all of the disasters that can befall the cook and how to rescue a flopped batch of cookies from the trash.
Storing, Wrapping and Shipping Cookies
This was the other chapter that I found useful. I keep getting pleas from folks to either ship them, or bring them cookies. I got quite a few suggestions as to what to do to ensure that they'll get there in one piece without paying a fortune to the FedEx man. And also, which sort of cookies will best survive the transit -- never send chocolate in the summertime...
Drop Cookies
The title says it all -- dropped cookies are formed with you push a spoonful of dough onto the baking sheet. Every variation you can think of for traditional chocolate chip, peanut butter and oatmeal cookie are in here. If bar cookies are the easiest, these are the next easiest to make.
Rolled Cookies
Shaped with cookie cutters and a rolling pin, here you will find the traditional sugar cookie in here along with some delicious variations, including a dog and cat version for your pets.
Bar Cookies
Lemon bars. That's my acid test for a cookie book; while this one is not as good as the one that I found in the Alice Medrich book, it's quite respectable. Cookies packed with nuts, fruits and chips as well as brownies will be found in here. Great to make
Hand-Formed Cookies
Rolled into balls, crescents and ropes, here's some to have fun with. Wonderful to let the kids get into the act. Worth it for the ANZAC tiles as well as the ginger wafers and macaroons.
Piped and Molded Cookies
Spritz cookies and Madeleines will be found here, along with several delicious variations on them as well.
Refrigerator Cookies
This is one of best things to make if you sudden have someone show up -- just take out a chilled log from the freezer, heat the oven and slice them up. The Key Lime cookies are not to be missed as well as the delicious Palmiers.
Filled and Sandwich Cookies
Linzer Hearts, as well as a make your very own Oreo cookie are here.
Decorator Cookies
I found several new techniques as well as finding out how to use springele forms in this -- this is the chapter you want when you want something spectacular. There's also the instructions and patterns for a "wicked witch candy cottage."
Savory Cookies and Crackers
This was the most unusual of all the chapters with recipes that use herbs, cheeses and even hot peppers and olives in cookies.
Basic Recipes
Now this made me wonder. Why would you put the basic recipes in the back of the book? Here you find sweet crusts, puff pastry, a buttercream frosting, and fruit fillings.
Cookies for Every Occasion
No recipes in this chapter, but suggestions as to what sort of cookie would do best in this or that situation, such as afternoon teas, quick cookies, the coffee break, as well as what ships well.
Sources, Index, Metric Conversion Guide
Specialty ingredients and where to find them.
All in all, this is a fun as well as informative book. I found several new techniques and ideas to try as well as many old favorites. Boyle's writing style is breezy and in each cookie she gives where she found the recipe and the reaction from her taste-tester (her husband) who even tried the pet cookies!
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