Dorie's Cookies

I thought to myself, All I need is a cookbook full of COOKIE recipes!!! Don't I have enough of those?!? But I was convinced by the food 52 piglet tournament of cookbooks this year to purchase this. As it made it's way through the competition home cooks, chiefs and bakers alike raved about it. First of all, IT'S HUGE!. 517 pages but I knew that however, it's not obvious until you hold it in your hands. dang.... it's heavy. Anyway, I've had it for about two weeks and this weekend I dove in sugar and flour flying to make three recipes. Dorie gives lots of instruction about technique, tools and ingredients. I really appreciate this. I don't think I've come across this except in a Cook Illustrated cookbook before. Here's what I've notice in the three recipes I made and it made all the difference in the world on how the cookies came out. First butter and eggs must be a room temperature. This was new for me. I don't believe I've been taught this when making cookies in the past. Secondly, salt is add NOT with the dry ingredients but with the wet. Third, all dry ingredients are added at once and NOT over mixed.... but just until no more flour is visible. Brilliant! Everything was baked at 350. First up was the Peanut Butter Change-ups: Love this twist on the classic peanut butter cookie. It truly is a cross between a shortbread and peanut butter classic cookie. No hatch marks with the fork required. The surprise ingredient was the addition of nutmeg. Subtle but adds a really nice pop of this spice. My husband is going to go crazy for this cookie:) Secondly was Crash-O-Cookie: This was a basic raisin, oatmeal, chocolate cookie however, it uses MILK chocolate which makes it tastes amazing. very easy to mix together and bake. Even though raisin were moist, Dorie instructs to soak in hot water while to whip up the batter. I'll be making these again! Lastly, Chocolate-Oatmeal Biscoff Cookies: I hadn't a clue as to what Biscoff was before this recipe. I had to google it to at least see a picture of the jar. It's a spread made of coco, cookies and probably sugar. Dorie insisted that you use that brand - Biscoff because of it's unique taste. These cookies come together quickly but you have to refrigerate the dough for 2hours. Also, there's not a lot of flour in these. So I roll them out into about 1" ball and press with the bottom of a 1c measuring cup. I didn't except them to spread but they did. I essentially got 25 cookies when I should have gotten 50. Okay so my first effort was not uniform. The cookies are delicious and I've made a note for the next time I make them. I was impressed with these recipes and there are SOOOO MANY more to try. I haven't even mentioned the savory cookie recipes she has in there too. I've heard those are not to be missed. Highly recommend for those that bake all the time or that don't even own one cookie cookbook. A classic that will long out live all my future baking days I'm sure.

I didn't think I needed another cookie book, then I thumbed through this. This is hands-down the best cookie book I've ever bought. There's a huge variety of classics, and some really special cookies. Great instructions! Beautiful photos. It's a surprisingly big volume, so make a little space in cookbook village. Pictured below: 1) Honey-Blue Cheese Madeleines - p427. Delightfully savory little cookies. I could see this as an hors d'oeuvre, along with a cheese course, or along side a salad or cup of tomato soup. 2) Macarons - p312. Her method is a very easy one. I intended to make mine yellow and fill them with my favorite strawberry lemonade jam from Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving , but grabbed an orange food color paste by mistake, so I went for it. I added 1/4 t Boyajian Pure Orange Oil, 3.4 Fluid Ounce to the batter, (They make lemon and lime oils, too, that are fun with curd fillings!) and filled them with Milk Chocolate Ganache - p476. Yum! 3) World Peace Cookies - p335. These are the cookies on the cover, so I had to try those! Amazing! Really. She's not overselling with that name. 4) Chocolate-Pecan Pie Cookie Bars - p74. Terrific! 5) Bruno’s New Year’s Waffles – p253. These are my favorite cookies in the book so far. They’re flavored with cinnamon and rum, and wonderfully crisp. The instructions call for a pizzelle iron. I have a Krumkake iron (Scandinavian version of a pizzelle iron). That made 14 big cookies instead of 120 tiny ones. I had to tweak the recipe to accommodate it. Each cookie took exactly 3 Tablespoons of dough, rather than ½ teaspoon. I flattened them into thin disks before putting them into the iron because the dough is so sturdy, and I didn’t want to break my machine pressing it. In the krumkaker, the cookies took 55 seconds. Chef's Choice 839 Krumkake Express 6) Rose-Hibiscus Shortbread Fans – p 191. These are delightful! They have very subtle floral notes, and are beautifully fragrant. My kids had their friends over swimming and loved them, but I think they’d be even better for a lovely garden party. 7-9) Fortune Cookies – p 261. Oh my gosh! Are these ever neat! They’re the real deal and not too hard to make, although I’m sure my forming cute use a little more practice! Only 2-3 cookies go in the oven at a time, so you need some oven time set aside. Do you write in your books? I like to sketch little notes for myself. I can't wait to try the rest! Some others I have flagged to try: Sebastian’s Remarkably Wonderful Brownies – p 30 * Every-Way Shortbread Fans: the Lemon Poppy Seed Version – p 189 * Meringue Snowballs – p 224 * Swedish Dream Cookies – p 227 * Devil’s Food Wafflets with Chocolate Sauce – p 255 * Three-Way Sugar-Cone Pizzelles – p 258 * Maple-Star Anise Cookies, Sandwiched or Open Faced – p 264 * Hamantaschen – p 283 * Sunny-Side-Up Meringues – p 300 * Chocolate Crème Sandwiches – p 306 * Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Dulce De Leche Filling – p 309 * Coconut-Lime Sables – p 341 * Mulled Wine Jammers – p 362

Unlike a lot of the reviews already posted here, I was not already a Dorie fan when I purchased this book. I had heard of her and noticed this book was getting a lot of press in all the foodie sources I follow, and as a lover of cookies, I preordered the book. For some reason, I had assumed that it would be more like a "cookie bible"... a source of standard, well loved cookies from all over the world. Not at all! Dorie's Cookies is more like a Senior Thesis on cookies- like Dorie sat around in her kitchen trying out recipes that turn traditional cookie making on it's head. The chapter on Cocktail Cookies was really intriguing to me, and since Thanksgiving was coming up, I thought if I tried out some of those recipes they'd be great at the appetizer table. So far, I've tried 4 recipes from the book. Frankly, I've found all the recipes a bit fussy and sort of delicate. I'm used to baking things like Tollhouse Cookies, where my big secret is to double the chocolate chips and cram tons of other things in there to change it up, like pretzels or corn flakes and no matter what I do to them I can't ruin them. So I found the recipes I tried here a bit more precious and exacting than I was used to. I started with the Sesame Sea Salt Cookies, which were kind of like a pie crust where butter was cut into the flour. I found I needed to add 2T more butter to get the dough to come together properly, and if you accidentally leave the dough for any time more than 1 hour in the freezer, you will not be able to cut it without getting cracked cookies. That said, they turned out amazing and were devoured from everyone at our Thanksgiving party, from my 8 year year old to the grandparents. They are not salty, not sweet, tiny and dainty and the entire batch fit in my smallest Tupperware container. I then made the Puffed Grain and Miso Cookies. These didn't work out at all and we ended up throwing these out without bringing them to the party. I bought a ton of new ingredients that I had to search out from 3 different locations for these cookies- puffed rice, goji berries, puffed barley, and brown rice syrup. Perhaps it was the brand of miso or rice syrup that I used but the flavor of these was just too strong. My kids immediately hated them, my husband, who was drinking a beer at the time, started out liking them with his beer but after a few also found the flavor just too much. Then, because I needed to have some chocolate represented, I made the famous World Peace Cookie. In the intro to this recipe Dorie tells you the dough is kind of fussy, and she was right. Yes, the flavor was wonderful- super deep and lingering chocolate, but cutting the cookies from the logs was a challenge and next time I just might make this dough into a simple drop cookie and see what happens. A few days later, I made the Snow Topped Brownie Drops which was fairly easy and super delicious. However, the picture shows gorgeous bright white cookies and as thickly as we rolled our cookies in confectioner's sugar, our cookies did not look like that. Our sugar had melted into a pretty ghostly, thin covering. Still worth eating and making again. So of the 4 cookies I made, 1 was a complete dud, and 2 were pretty fussy to make, and 1 came out slightly visually disappointing. I still give this book 5 stars because I find that rather than find the Ultimate Snickerdoodle recipe, I'd rather flip through this book and find something completely new and surprising. A lot of the recipes in this book make relatively small batches of small, dainty cookies. So it's a bit of jumping through hoops to get like 25 cookies, as opposed to 1 bowl and a few minutes of mixing time to get 4 dozen Tollhouse cookies that you can just slop onto the sheets after no freezing time. To me, this is more about the experience of making and experimenting than it is about churning out a huge batch of the old standard, reliable recipe. It's like baking an interesting recipe for a chic dinner party rather than mass quantities of something expected for the school bake sale. I'm plotting what I will make next and that anticipation is part of the pleasure of this book. Finally, I am seeing a lot of people critiquing the book's layout and I find it doesn't bother me at all. I love seeing a full page picture of the cookie I am making. To me, it's part of the pleasure of browsing through this beautiful book. I don't find it such an inconvenience to have to turn the page while making the cookie- it's not the hardest thing to do.

Dorie's Cookies is OUTSTANDING! What a fantastic collection of creative and scrumptious cookie recipes. Each recipe is accompanied by a stunning photo and an interesting and informative headnote. As I've been baking for decades, I almost skipped the introduction, but I'm glad I didn't. Dorie has many great suggestions - some that I tried already, like soaking raisins in tea or using an adjustable rolling pin. And what a pleasant surprise to find so many savory (or cocktail cookie ) recipes. And I love that many of the recipes have unusual and fun names like "Friendship Cookies", "Two-Bite, One-Chip" or "World Peace Cookies", to name a few. I'm obsessed with Dorie's recipes and want to keep making the same ones again and again, but I also want to keep trying others. My favorites so far are Chocolate-Oatmeal Biscoff Cookies, Vanilla-Browned Butter Madeleines and Classic Jammers. I LOVE this book and family members and friends are thrilled to be taste testers as I work my way through it. BUY IT, YOU'LL LOVE IT TOO!

I was really excited to learn about the book as I love books that have only one subject (cookies, soups, cackes etc) so when I want something I will know where to go and not look through all of my books. Plus, I really love Dorie. So when I got the book I was so excited and there are so many recipes! The instructions are clear and her introduction on each recipe is nice and not so long. The big bonus was that every recipe has a picture. However, and this is the main reason I gave the book a 4, the photos are very unappealing. I don't understand why every picture is a macro photo of the cookie. It doesn't look good. While I like the background color, it doesn't do good for the cookies. And while people may say that it's only the pictures, I do think that it is an important thing in a cook book. I did try 3 recipes from the book and they were very good. I was upset when I saw some of her cookies bar are missing like her custardy apple squares, but what can you do... UPDATE: I've made it my mission to try all the recipes in the book, hoping it won't take too long. This is what I made so far: Seastian's brownies: It was nice, but nothing more. Dorie says to use the best cocoa there is, and I did, but the brownies were a little bitter, although there is half a kilo of sugar. That's a lot of sugar. I don't think I will make it again. Maybe with sweeter cocoa powder. Classic brownies: Very nice, very good. As she recommended I added cinnamon and instant espresso and it defiantly made it tastier. Fudgy mocha bars: Also very good. However, it was interesting to find out that people who like the classic brownies liked this brownies less, and vice versa. different strokes... Blueberry buttermilk pie bars: This is was a failure. The batter was too runny and the blueberries, although fresh, decompose in hot temperature, so while the batter was cooked, the crust was already moist with horrible texture. It was very disappointing and I tried to save it (cook just the bottom of the pan) but it didn't help. Won't make it again. Chocolate pecan bars: it was WONDERFUL! Seriously, it was so good. Enough said. Breakfast cookies: They are indeed for breakfast. Healthy, with a lot of good ingredients that go well together. Snowy brownie drops: Really good. In the same week I've made it I also made Smitten Kitchen recipe for this, and Dorie was far much better. Coffee malteds: Could not stop eating this. I think you got my point. Two bite chip cookie: While my friends really liked them, I was less enthusiastic. You need to eat them right out of the oven otherwise they are nothing special. Newest chocolate chip cookies: It was quite good, the texture was like she said (chewier in the center and crunchier in the outside). However, I think my search for the best chocolate chip cookie will continue. Cocoa tahini cookies: I like chocolate and I like tahini but for me this cookie was just...fine. Nothing unique. However, people who don't like chocolate very much loved this cookie so maybe make it for adults. Cocoa almond uglis: This was another failure. The cookies spread very much and the taste wasn't good. I don't think I've done anything wrong. In any case, I only made them because I had 3 egg white to used, so even if they were good I wouldn't have made them on a regular basis. Gingersnaps: Those were interesting. People who don't like ginger didn't like them (obviously), people who are OK with ginger love them and people that love ginger said that there wasn't enough ginger. So make your adjustment. Peanut butter change ups: Make them only to people who love peanut butter because those people REALLY loved them. Anzac biscuits: Nice but too sweet for me. There were more. If needed I will continue to write here my opinion on other recipes. Conclusion - GET THE BOOK. Is there were downfalls, there are always is, but there is huge variety of cookies and they all quite good and very simple to make. Good Luck!!!

My husband bought me this cookbook for Christmas, and, I have to say, it is one of my favorite gifts. Greenspan’s cookbook is divided into chapters: introduction, the perfect-cookie handbook: techniques, ingredients and gear, brownies, bars, break-ups and biscotti, cookies for every day, any day, cookies for weekends, holidays and other celebrations, the beurre & sel collection, cocktail cookies, cookie go-alongs and basics and index. The included photos are gorgeous and make you instantly crave a cookie. I also loved Greenspan’s personal stories and advice included with each recipe. It feels like an old friend or relative is in the kitchen with you. I have made the blondie sables (p. 356) and Sebastian’s remarkably wonderful brownies (p. 30). YUM! This is a cookbook I will use over and over again, and one that will be passed down to my girls. If you love to bake, you need this book! “When you are ready to add the dry ingredients to the cookie dough (or batter)-a step that usually comes at the end of the process, or just before you add chips or nuts or crunchies-turn the mixer off, add the flour all at once, and pulse the mixer on and off until the risk of flying flour has passed. Then, once the flour is in, mix on low speed only until it disappears into the dough or is incorporated. Don’t mix any longer-there’s no need, and more mixing will just overwork the dough. If you add the flour all at once, you’re mixing less than you would if you added it in several additions,” (p. 11).

How many cookbooks do you read where you want to make every single recipe? For me, not many. This one is quite a challenge because I don't know where to start! Every recipe is enticing and seem easy. She also provides a great intro with tips and tricks that will be useful to any level baker. I first heard of Dorie on NPR's Splendid Table and had to start trying out her recipes. Oh how I wish I'd learned of her sooner!

Greak cookie book. Our cookies always sucked and tasted wrong or had a bland flavor until we got this book. The cookies from this book tasted as good as anything that comes from the bakery.

A friend gave me a Dorie Greenspan cookie recipe at Christmas and it was a HUGE hit both with friends and for myself. It turned out perfectly as written. I have since tried another Greenspan recipe and love it as well. So I decided to order this book to have more of her recipes at hand. It is a great book. Each recipe has a photo - a must for me.

Ho ordinato il libro, con la speranza di vedere tante ricette di biscotti, una totale delusione. Non mi piace e costa troppo per delle ricette che trovi su Internet, fantasia zero. Consiglio libri di veri pasticeri.

Soy fan de Dorie, me gustan sus recetas tanto dulces como saladas. Sus “world peace cookies” son una absoluta delicia y muy sencillas de hacer. Recomiendo mucho el libro. El único detalle es que lo pedí con un vendedor externo, y el libro llegó un poquito roto de la pasta. Me lo quedé de todas formas, pero por el costo creo que tuvieron que enviarme una copia íntegra.

The only cookie Bible you ever need. It's really really nice if you are interested in baking. And it's a pretty big book . The first few recipes are of brownies of every kind you will ever need.

There are some great recipes in this book, I look forward to trying some of them.