Cookies For Dummies®
Published by
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
111 River St.
Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774
www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2001 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published simultaneously in Canada
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax 978-646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, 201-748-6011, fax 201-748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.
LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. The fact that an organization or Website is referred to in this work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the author or the publisher endorses the information the organization or Website may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that Internet Websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read. FULFILLMENT OF EACH COUPON OFFER IS THE SOLE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE OFFEROR.
For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002.
For technical support, please visit www.wiley.com/techsupport.
Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2001092751
ISBN-13: 978-0-7645-5390-5
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Carole Bloom, CCP, is a European-trained pastry chef and confectioner, cookbook author, food writer, media chef, cooking instructor, and spokesperson. In addition to having professional experience in world-class hotels and restaurants in Europe and the United States, Carole has taught her art for over 20 years at cooking schools throughout the United States. She has also worked as a consultant for both new and established culinary enterprises.
Carole is the author of five cookbooks. Her most recent is All About Chocolate: The Ultimate Resource for the World’s Favorite Food (Macmillan/IDG), winner of Best Chocolate Book 1999 at Eurochocolate. Carole’s other books include Truffles, Candies, and Confections (Crossing Press), The International Dictionary of Desserts, Pastries, and Confections (Morrow), The Candy Cookbook (Chronicle Books), and Sugar and Spice (HP Books). She also contributed to the candy chapter for the newly revised edition of the American culinary classic Joy of Cooking (Scribner). Carole’s food articles appear regularly in national magazines, including Bon Appétit, Fine Cooking, Food & Wine, and Gourmet. She is often on television for cooking demonstrations and interviews, with appearances on the Today Show, ABC World News This Morning, CNN, and Better Homes and Gardens Television. Carole speaks frequently at national and international conferences and is one of the chefs who make annual appearances at the Chef’s Holidays in Yosemite, California. She has been the national spokesperson for the American Boxed Chocolate Manufacturers Group.
With love to my husband, Jerry, a true cookie monster.
For moral support and tasting lots of cookies, I thank my mother, Florence Bloom, and good friends Terrie Chrones, Susie Hostetter, and April Stinis (ice skating buddies extraordinaire), and Suzy Semanick-Schurman. Special thanks to Kitty Morse for being such a supportive and understanding friend. Thanks to my agent, Jane Dystel, for her savvy and for always being there when I need her. Thanks to acquisitions editor Linda Ingroia for breathing new life into this book. Project editor Suzanne Snyder did a masterful job and was a real pleasure to work with. Many thanks to my husband, Jerry, my premiere cookie taster, dish washer, computer guru, resident comedian, and travel planner. Without his unwavering support and help I would not have been able to complete this project.
We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our Dummies online registration form located at www.dummies.com/register/.
Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:
Acquisitions, Editorial, and Media Development
Project Editor: Suzanne Snyder
Senior Acquisitions Editor: Linda Ingroia
Senior Copy Editor: Tina Sims
Assistant Acquisitions Editor: Erin Connell
Technical Editor and Recipe Tester: Emily Nolan
Nutritional Analyst: Patty Santelli
Editorial Manager: Pam Mourouzis
Editorial Assistant: Carol Strickland
Composition Services
Project Coordinator: Nancee Reeves
Layout and Graphics: Amy Adrian, LeAndra Johnson, Jackie Nicholas, Barry Offringa, Jacque Schneider, Betty Schulte, Joyce Haughey
Proofreaders: Aptara, Marianne Santy, Rob Springer
Indexer: Aptara
Illustrator: Liz Kurtzman
Art Director: Michele Laseau
Cover: David Bishop, photographer; Brett Kurzweil, food stylist; Donna Larsen, prop stylist
Publishing and Editorial for Consumer Dummies
Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher, Consumer Dummies
Joyce Pepple, Acquisitions Director, Consumer Dummies
Kristin Ferguson-Wagstaffe, Product Development Director, Consumer Dummies
Ensley Eikenburg, Associate and Publisher, Travel
Kelly Regan, Editorial Director, Travel
Publishing for Technology Dummies
Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher, Dummies Technology/General User
Composition Services
Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services
Title
Introduction
How to Use This Book
Conventions Used in This Book
Foolish Assumptions
How This Book Is Organized
Icons Used in This Book
Part I : Ready, Set, Let’s Bake Cookies
Chapter 1: How to Get Started as a Great Cookie Baker
The Benefits of Making Your Own Cookies
A Good Cookie Maker Is Always Prepared
Be Organized
Making the Cookies
Chapter 2: The Cookie Baker’s Toolbox
Take Your Measure
Heavy Equipment
Pots, Pans, Sheets, and Racks
Basic Tools
Specialty Tools
Cookie Storage Containers
Paper Goods and Wrappings
Chapter 3: Ingredients for the Cookie Cupboard
Dry Ingredients
Dairy Liquids
Eggs
Fats
Flavorings
Fruit: Dried and Crystallized
Liquid Sweeteners
Nuts and Nut Pastes
Preserves and Jams
Salt
Special Ingredients
Sugar
Substitutions
Chapter 4: Foolproof Techniques for Outstanding Cookies
Preparing Ovens and Pans
Measuring and Sifting
Different Strokes for Different Ingredients
Dough Mixing 101
Baking Considerations
Cooling
Part II : Popular Types of Cookies
Chapter 5: Drop Cookies
Don’t Be a Drop Cookie Dropout
Chunky Drop Cookies
Chocolate Chip-Walnut Cookies
White Chocolate Chunk- Macadamia Nut Cookies
Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies
Peanut Butter Cookies
Not So Chunky Drop Cookies
Chocolate Macaroons
Molasses Spice Drops
Maple Pecan Crisps
Chapter 6: Rolled Cookies
Handling the Dough
Baking Your Rolled, Cutout Cookies
Decorating Your Cookies
Ready to Rock and Roll
Mocha Hazelnut Snaps
Almond-Cinnamon Stars
Walnut-Lemon Stars
Rolled Sugar Cookies
Almond Butter Cookies
Sablés
Chapter 7: Refrigerator Cookies
Chilling in the Fridge
Roll Your Own and Then Slice ’Em Off
Almond Coins
Diamond Circles
Butterscotch Coins
Benne Wafers
Hazelnut Slices
Part III : Stylish Cookies
Chapter 8: Bar Cookies
The Best, Bar None
All-Time Favorites
Oatmeal Shortbread Bars
Coconut-Pecan Squares
Lemon Squares
Belafonte Bars
Date-Nut Bars
The Art of Shortbread
Classic Scottish Shortbread
Cakelike Bars
Very Rich Cakelike Brownies
Gingerbread
Chapter 9: Sandwich Cookies
Sticking Together
Mastering Pastry Bag Techniques and Piping
Cocoa Sandwiches
White Chocolate Cream Filling
Hazelnut-Almond Sticks
Sandwiches with a Touch of Class
Pofer Cookies
Ischl Tartlets
Chapter 10: Filled Cookies
Thumbs Up to Thumbprints!
Raspberry-Hazelnut Thumbprints
Apricot-Almond Thumbprints
Hidden Surprises and Mini-Pies
Rugelach
Pecan Tassies
Date Pinwheels
Part IV : Shaping Up Your Cookies
Chapter 11: Pressed Cookies
Let the Presses Roll!
Using a Pastry Bag to Press Cookies
Delicious Pressed Cookies
Chocolate Butter O’s
Almond Macaroons
Cocoa Wafers
Nut Wafers
Chapter 12: Hand-Formed Cookies
Handling Hand-Formed Cookies
Familiar Favorites
Classic Sugar Cookies
Gingersnaps
Snickerdoodles
Keeping the Balls Rolling
Coconut Butter Balls
Cardamom-Orange Nut Balls
Hazelnut Chocolate Balls
Dressy Cookies
Hazelnut Crescents
Hazelnut Crisscross Cookies
Almond Jam Slices
Biscotti
Anise Biscotti
Chocolate Biscotti
Cornmeal Almond Biscotti
Chapter 13: Molded Cookies
Keeping Your Shape
Madeleines: Proust’s Favorite Cookies
Basic Madeleines
Dark Chocolate Madeleines
White Chocolate Madeleines
Almond Madeleines
Making Spectacular Speculaas
Speculaas
Springing into Springerle
Springerle
Part V : Cookies of Distinction
Chapter 14: International Specialties
Cookies Are Everywhere!
The United Nations of Cookies
Husar Rounds
Mexican Wedding Cakes
Chinese Almond Cookies
Pinolate (Italian Pine Nut Cookies)
Walnut Mandelbrot
Pizzelles
Bizochitos
Chapter 15: Cookies to Celebrate the Holidays
Holiday Baking Tips
Holiday Cookies from Around the World
Kourambiedes (Greek Butter Cookies)
Cocoa Brownie Balls
Spritz Cookies
Almond-Vanilla Crescents
Moravian Molasses Spice Cookies
Lebkuchen
Chapter 16: Chocolate Indulgences
Life without Chocolate? No Way!
So Go Ahead, Indulge Yourself
Chocolate Drops
Chocolate-Peanut Butter Coins
Mocha Pretzels
Cocoa Spice Drops
Chocolate Fudge Brownies
Mocha Walnut Coins
Mocha Hazelnut Fingers
Florentines
Chapter 17: Big Cookies
Thinking Big
Giving Your Small Cookies Growth Hormones
No, You Don’t Need an Airplane Hangar
Ginger Molasses Giants
Giant Pecan O’s
Cocoa Walnut Giants
Oatmeal Raisin Walnut Giants
Chapter 18: Cookies Are for Kids
Nearly All Ages Can Help Bake Cookies
Baking Safely with Kids
Peanut Butter and Jelly Disks
Butterscotch Nut Squares
Gingerbread People
Trail Mix Cookies
Hermits
Chapter 19: Slender Cookies
Where Fat in Cookies Comes From and What It Does
Lowering the Fat in Cookie Recipes
Maintaining Texture
Boosting Flavor
Chocolate and Cocoa Touches
Florentine Bars
Cocoa Meringue Drops
Swiss Cocoa Spice Cookies
Spice It Up!
Honey Spice Bars
Pfeffernuesse (Spice Nuts)
Cinnamon Stars
Reduced-Fat Ischl Tartlets
Spiced Sugar Cookies
Zalettini
Part VI : Dressing Up Your Cookies
Chapter 20: Chocolate Embellishments
Anything Tastes Better with Chocolate
Treating Your Chocolate Like an Honored Guest
Dipping Cookies in Chocolate
Be a Chocolate van Gogh (or Renoir, or . . . )
Chapter 21: Decoration Sensations
Spreading It On
Basic Decorating Icing
Royal Icing
Cookie Paint
Jazzing Up Your Cookies
Part VII : The Part of Tens
Chapter 22: Ten Troubleshooting Tips
My Cookie Dough Is Too Soft or Sticky When It’s Rolled or Pressed
My Dough Is Too Crumbly and Cracks When It’s Rolled
My Cookies Spread Too Much When Baking
My Cookies Are Too Crisp and Dark on the Bottom
My Cookies Are Too Dry or Too Moist
My Cookies Break Apart When Moved to a Cooling Rack
My Cookies Stick to the Cookie Sheet
My Cookies Bake Unevenly on the Cookie Sheet
My Cookie Dough Sticks to the Mold
My Molded Cookies Lose Their Detail When Baked
Chapter 23: Ten Tips for Storing and Transporting Your Cookies
Keeping the Freshly Baked Taste and Consistency
Storing Chocolate Cookies
Storing Iced or Filled Cookies
Cookie Stacking 101
Don’t Put Warm Cookies in Storage
Freezing Cookies
Taking Cookies on the Road
Cookie Exchanges
Cookies Make Great Gifts
Shipping Cookies Out of Town
Appendix A: Glossary
Appendix B: Sources for Ingredients and Equipment
Appendix C: Metric Conversion Guide
E veryone seems to like cookies and has a favorite cookie or two or three. Maybe for you it’s one of the old standards, like oatmeal, chocolate chip, or peanut butter. Or maybe it’s a cookie with ethnic origins that your mother or grandmother made. Actually, I like just about every cookie. I especially like homemade cookies fresh out of the oven. With milk, coffee, or tea, or just plain as a snack, cookies seem to fit in nicely whenever and wherever.
This book goes much further than simply showing you how to make great cookies. It tells you how to make cookies easily, quickly, and with flair. It gives you all the necessary tips and tricks so that you can streamline the process and avoid any pitfalls. By following the guidelines in this book, you’ll quickly be a pro at making drop, rolled, refrigerator, shaped, bar, and sandwich cookies. This book is a fail-safe guide to making great cookies. You get all the necessary information to guide you to success, from what equipment and ingredients to have on hand to how to show off your cookie creations. The book is loaded with easy techniques to help you be successful every time you make cookies. I offer more than 100 cookie recipes, many with variations. These are the best of the best cookies.
You don’t need to read everything in this book before you start baking your first batch of cookies. However, you should look over all of the non-recipe chapters to see what’s in them. When you come across something that you’re unfamiliar with or something that you want to find out a little more about, stop and read that section. Then move on to whatever else you think you need to bone up on. My hunch is that you will end up reading most of the book before you begin to make your first batch of cookies. But it wouldn’t be nice of me to tell you to read every word first before making some of these yummy cookies.
For very first-time cookie makers, I do suggest that you read through all of the sections prior to making any recipes. You can discover a lot about the whole world of cookie making, especially some important techniques. You’ll also gain some confidence from taking in all that cookie-making knowledge.
Every recipe in this book has been tested, so you can be sure that they all work. And each recipe has a nutritional analysis provided so that you know exactly how many calories you’re eating, along with how they’re distributed. For people watching their weight, I include reduced-fat cookies and tips for lowering fat in regular cookies. For people with kids, I offer a chapter on how to get the kids involved in cookie baking, complete with kid-friendly recipes. Check out the chapters on holiday cookies and international specialties if you want to search out a cookie that may be a particular favorite or try many others that may become your favorites. I also include chapters on decorating cookies, including chocolate decorative touches, and I offer tips on storing, presenting, and transporting your cookies.
My objective in writing this book is to show everyone how easy it is to make great cookies — those that make your mouth water just thinking about them and those that your family and friends want you to make for them. Just dive in, and in short order, you’ll be smelling the wonderful aroma of baking cookies. Soon thereafter you’ll be saying, “Which one shall I do next?”
All the recipes in this book include preparation and baking times so that you know what to expect when choosing a recipe. If you need specialty tools or equipment, I provide that information. The following details hold true throughout the whole book but are not repeated for each recipe.
All eggs should be large.
Eggs should be at room temperature.
All brown sugar should be firmly packed.
Use only pure vanilla extract.
All oven temperatures are Fahrenheit.
Always use the middle shelf of the oven unless a recipe indicates otherwise.
I don’t expect the reader of this book to own every little piece of baking equipment necessary to make every recipe in this book. For equipment and tools that you’re not familiar with, please see Chapter 2, where I discuss them in depth. For those pieces of equipment and tools that you would like to obtain, see Appendix B for a list of sources. You can learn how to use the equipment by looking at the various chapters that deal with certain individual types of cookies.
This book is organized by parts, with several chapters in each part. Each part has a major theme, and the chapters in the parts offer more specific information on the theme. In this section, I explain what each part includes.
Part I gives you information on how to get started making your own cookies, including information on how to organize your space, the equipment and tools you will need, and the basic ingredients that you’ll want to have on hand. You also find out how to get the most out of your equipment and tools and how to measure your ingredients so your cookies turn out just right.
Drop, rolled, and refrigerator cookies are staples in most households. These are the types of cookies that people most often make and eat. In Part II, you find a variety of cookie recipes, such as Oatmeal Raisin Walnut Cookies, Almond Butter Cookies, and Butterscotch Coins. I provide a lot of techniques and tips to help you easily and quickly make these cookies. For very first-time cookies makers, this is a good place to start.
Part III takes cookies to a slightly higher level. To reach this level, bar, sandwich, and filled cookies require a little more effort. They’re not difficult, but some recipes require an extra task to finish off the cookies. Several creative techniques are presented in Part III, including how to use a pastry bag and how to make a parchment paper pastry cone. When you see how great these cookies look and taste, you’ll be glad you tried them.
Part IV is where you can really get artistic with your cookies with a limited amount of effort. Pressed, hand-formed, and molded cookies can be made in a variety of sizes and shapes. Here you discover how to make these types of cookies using a cookie press and cookie molds. I also provide some helpful hints on hand forming cookies. In this part, you can practice making cookies look uniform and making them look free-form.
In Part V, you get a chance to make several different types of cookies using a wide variety of methods. Here you can find international cookies, such as Chinese Almond Cookies, and holiday cookies, such as Moravian Molasses Spice Cookies. I also include chapters on chocolate cookies, oversize cookies, and reduced-fat cookies, for those of you watching your calorie intake. Many tips and techniques are presented throughout Part V. If you enjoy exploration, this part will take you on a very rewarding journey — one where you’ll discover a lot and want to return time and time again.
Part VI is where you find out how to make your cookies look the very, very best they can. Here you find out how to use chocolate in a variety of ways to give your cookies a better look and taste. I cover how to handle chocolate as well as how to write with chocolate using a paper pastry cone. Decorating with fruit and nuts and tips on cookie painting are also covered. You can read about several techniques to help you make your cookies beautiful.
This part is a mixed bag of helpful information. The troubleshooting tips can save a batch of cookies from disaster. Part VII also provides you some great ideas on ways to share your cookies, including hosting a cookie exchange. I also talk about the best ways to package cookies and send them all over the world.
Appendix A is a glossary of cookie and cookie-related terms. You’ll find some enlightening information there to help you become a cookie-making aficionado.
Appendix B has a list of sources for supplies and ingredients. Where applicable, I also supply the Web site. You can get just about everything you need for cookie baking through these sources.
Appendix C is a metric equivalents chart that can come in pretty handy in case you need to translate any measurements.
For ways to display and otherwise show off your cookies, please go to our Web site at www.dummies.com/bonus/cookies.
The following icons appear throughout the book to feature specific points you’ll want to be sure not to miss.
Smaller icons appear at the beginning of each recipe heading. They represent the recipe’s level of difficulty, as follows:
This “E” stands for “easy.” Look for this icon if you want to whip up a batch of cookies at a moment’s notice, or if you are a beginner and want to gain experience in making cookies. Recipes marked with this icon present great opportunities for children to participate in the cookie-making process as well.
This “I” stands for “intermediate.” Recipes marked with an “I” are a bit more involved than the “easy” recipes. To make these cookies, you may have to use techniques such as rolling — or special equipment, such as cookie cutters.
This “A” stands for “advanced.” Recipes at this level often involve more steps than do the recipes from the other two levels. They also may require more ingredients and be more time-consuming to prepare.
In this part . . .
This part sets the stage for making cookies. It covers how to organize your space with emphasis on having plenty of elbow room, all the neat equipment and tools that you will be using, and the basic ingredients that you want to have on hand. By having the right equipment and ingredients, your cookie-making experience will be quick, easy, and fun.
This part further discusses how to make friends with your tools and equipment and how to get the most out of them. You will also learn that measuring ingredients can be a little tricky, so you want to pay close attention to the methods for this. Techniques are at the core of success. By following the techniques presented here, everything will go smoothly.