Book reviews by Mobilism's Book Review team
Nov 12th, 2016, 6:22 pm
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TITLE: Dorie's Cookies
AUTHOR: Dorie Greenspan
GENRE: Non-Fiction, Food & Drink, Cookbooks, Baking, Cookies
PUBLISHED: October 25, 2016
RATING: ★★★★☆

PURCHASE LINKS: Amazon iBookStore
MOBILISM LINK: Read Here

Description: Over the course of her baking career, Dorie Greenspan has created more than 300 cookie recipes. Yet she has never written a book about them—until now. To merit her “three purple stars of approval,” every cookie had to be so special that it begged to be made again and again. Cookies for every taste and occasion are here. There are company treats like Portofignos, with chocolate dough and port-soaked figs, and lunch-box Blueberry Buttermilk Pie Bars. They Might Be Breakfast Cookies are packed with goodies—raisins, dried apples, dried cranberries, and oats— while Almond Crackle Cookies have just three ingredients. There are dozens of choices for the Christmas cookie swaps, including Little Rascals (German jam sandwich cookies with walnuts), Italian Saucissons (chocolate log cookies studded with dried fruit), and Snowy-Topped Brownie Drops. And who but America’s favorite baker could devise a cookie as intriguing as Pink-Peppercorn Thumbprints or as popular as the World Peace Cookie, with its 59 million Internet fans?

Review: Crystal Woods said, “I want to take all our best moments, put them in a jar, and take them out like cookies and savor each one of them forever.” I seriously believe A cookie a day keeps the sadness away.

To quote the book overview “Over the course of her baking career, Dorie Greenspan has created more than 300 cookie recipes. Yet she has never written a book about them—until now.” so you can imagine the excitement over this book finally coming out. Dorie was the owner of the famous ‘Beurre & Sel’ Cookie store in New York along with son Joshua, Dorie's Cookies has an entire section consisting of recipes of best selling cookies from her store.

Dorie Greenspan is not a new name in the culinary world, she is a well known 3 time James Beard Foundation Award winning author, who has career has spanned over more than 2 decades authoring 11 cookbooks. Dorie has worked with culinary superstars such as Julia Child, Daniel Boulud and Pierre Hermé, Dorie even has a column with The Washington Post.

The book opens with Dorie, giving us an introduction of herself and her cookie loving family
“Michael, my husband, will polish off a plate of cookies and proclaim, as though he’s Superman keeping the planet safe, “Done! That temptation’s out of the way!” Our son, Joshua’s, Twitter bio is: “C is for Cookie.” As for me, I’ve been known to get up in the middle of the night because I’ve invented a new cookie in my sleep. (Yes, I bake what I dream and sometimes it’s pretty great. The Classic Jammer is the blue-ribbon winner in that category.)”

There are loads of unusual recipes in Dorie's Cookies such as honey–blue cheese madeleines, pistachio-berry slims, Greek Honey Dainties, Goat Cheese and Chive Cookies, Coffee Malteds, Leckerli, Mocha-Ricotta Puffs, Portofignos, Hamantaschen, Rousquilles, Mulled Wine Jammers, Chocolate-Olive Cookies, Parmesan Galettes to name a few.

She also shares anecdotes how she came about various cookie in the book such as
“When Michael and I saw ring-shaped cookies in Barcelona’s bakeries, I came home and taught myself how to make them—those are the anise-scented Rousquilles. When I read the ingredients in a cocktail and thought they’d make a great cookie, I performed a little culinary transmogrify and created nuggets with the cocktail’s name, Bee’s Sneeze, and its gin too. When I found a scribble in an old notebook that said, “Make a strawberry-shortcake cookie,” I followed its dictum (turns out the cookie is both ethereally beautiful and delicious). When Michael tasted one of my new chocolate cookies and thought it reminded him of Melody cookies, his favorite boxed cookies from childhood ”

Dorie's Cookies starts with the wonderful section called ‘Techniques, Tricks, and Tips’ on how to bake the perfect cookie by following the things she explains in neat sections divided into Techniques, Ingredients and Gear. Techniques such as Preheat your oven, Line your baking sheets, Butter (or spray) your pans, Measuring and measurements, how to Prep like a pro, etc. Dorie's Cookies contains in total 170 recipes, neatly divided into 6 sections mentioned below:

    - Brownies, Biscotti, Bars and Break-ups
    - Cookies for Every Day and Any Day
    - Cookies for Weekends, Holidays and Lots of Celebrations
    - The Beurre and Sel Collection
    - Cocktail Cookies
    - Cookie Basics and Go-Alongs

She also mentions variations that can be done to each recipe at the end of it to make a new version of it. In the Cookie Basics and Go-Alongs section she explains how to make your own Mixed Citrus Curd, Candied Orange Peel, Ice Cream, Marshmallows, Salted Caramel Filling, Fauxtella (Faux Nutella), Dulce de Leche to mention a few…There is a cookie for literally every occasion in Dorie's Cookies, the good part is that the instructions are simple as easy to follow as ‘Techniques, Tricks, and Tips’ are already well explained in the book.

And that’s the way the cookie crumbles… For all my fellow cookie aficionados, this book is definitely a must-have addition for your cookbook collection. (Although one minor disappointment is the book's colour scheme used for pictures.)

Someone said “STRESSED is DESSERTS spelled backwards. So when you're stressed, just grab a few cookies. Everything in the world feels right, when the delicious smelling, buttery soft, sweet melts into each corner of your mouth... Oh, and the crunch of the chocolate chips -- pure heaven!!”
Nov 12th, 2016, 6:22 pm
Nov 28th, 2016, 7:52 pm
My friend has tried the Lemon Sugar Cookies from the book, she liked it a lot as she likes Lemon, sadly I couldn't try an even though I am a Cookie Monster... my oven needs to be replaced :(
Nov 28th, 2016, 7:52 pm

If you want to be happy, be... Happiness depends upon ourselves. :wave:

Cheers,
Diva ♥ x
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