Great Cookies: Secrets to Sensational Sweets Book

Carole Walter’s fans know her as an award-winning author, teacher, and mentor, and her new book will keep them cheering, as she turns her attention to the most popular theme in home baking: cookies.

Packed with more than 200 delectable recipes and more than 150 tantalizing photographs, Great Cookies skillfully and joyfully answers the call for a colorful, all-inclusive cookie book. From traditional favorites like Snickerdoodles, Oatmeal Raisin, and Favorite Lemon Squares to future stars of the cookie jar like the trail mix–inspired Teton Trailers and chewy, chocolaty Midnight Macaroons, Great Cookies provides something to satisfy every taste and every occasion.

There’s even a section devoted to the quintessential American cookie—chocolate chip. With nuts or without? White chocolate or milk? Chocolate dough? Oatmeal in the dough? Carole provides a dozen chocolate chip recipes in all, plus definitive research on a crucial issue: “Not All Chocolate Chips Are Created Equal.”
Drop cookies. Bar cookies. Piped, pressed, and rolled. Great Cookies covers every conceivable method for baking these tasty confections. In the more than thirty years that she has studied and taught baking, Carole has cataloged a wealth of helpful tips and troubleshooting hints that for the first time are gathered in one collection.

With guidelines for measuring and substituting ingredients, storing and freezing, recapturing that fresh-from-the-oven flavor, decorating, even gift-wrapping and shipping, Great Cookies addresses all the basics and then some. And this ultimate guide is rounded out with authoritative information on ingredients, equipment, and the foolproof techniques for which Carole is known, including the essential “Secrets To” hints for every type of cookie.

With master baker Carole Walter by your side, you may never look at a glass of ice cold milk the same way again.

Publishers Weekly

If you want to know how to make a chocolate chip cookie that doesn't run or how to cut Lemon Squares so the edges are neat, Walter (Great Cakes, Great Pies and Tarts), winner of a James Beard Award, has just the careful advice. All of the classic American cookies are here-Hermits, Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, Carole's Best Brownies and Gingerbread People-as well as treats like Hamentaschen and Athena's Baklava that have been assimilated into the North American palate. Most recipes make three dozen (or more, as in Blondies), so unless you have five children, you'll be halving ingredients. Missing, too, are recipes that kids can make. However, directions are easy to follow-even on the first try, home cooks will enjoy attractive, predictable results for tidbits like Sesame Coins or Coconut Lemon-Lime Tassies. Special sections, like secrets for making Chocolate Chip Cookies, tell how to reheat cookies and explain how brown sugar provides a chewier texture. A glossary of ingredients and methods covers everything from the right temperature for ingredients to the difference between jelly roll pans and cookie sheets. Some recipes are time-consuming and require special ingredients, such as superfine sugar for Florentines or rice flour in Scotch Shortbread, and most require electric mixers or processors, resulting in more refined and reliable cookies, rather than homey creations. (Nov.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.