Talk Cookie To Me - cookie repertoire P2

OK part two of Cookie Talks, I also need to learn principals of cookie making - what makes different types work, why do we do things like chill, how does one know how far apart to space them, flours, leaveners, sugars, etc. I would like to eventually be able to makee up cookie recipes, so I need to know All Of The Cookie Things. Discuss.

aargersi
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6 Comments

AntoniaJames December 13, 2016
Abbie, you'd really enjoy this magnum opus of cookie wizardry, from none other than the supremely intelligent and articulate Alice Medrich: "Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies." One of my favorite cookbooks, on any subject. ;o)
P.S. Her "Seriously Bittersweet" is also noteworthy.
 
BerryBaby December 4, 2016
I agree! When it comes to baking there's no eyeballing anything! Measure,measure, and measure again !
 
SKK December 3, 2016
The book that had me really start baking well was Shirley O. Corriher Cookwise. Bakewise was even better. My other go to baking book is Tom Douglas' The Dahlia Bakery Cookbook - Sweetness in Seattle. My daughter (who is now an attorney) was working there at the time and home tested many of the recipes. The other thing to remember about baking is it is exact and people who like chemistry are very good bakers.
 
drbabs December 3, 2016
Didn't you review The Baking Bible? I bet some of the info you want is in there. Or you could try Shirley Corriher's Bakewise for some cookie science. (I have Cookwise and there's some stuff in there if you want to borrow it.). Cooks Illustrated also covers those topics. It might be worth getting an on line subscription so you can search there.
 
aargersi December 3, 2016
I did review baking bible, just got it back out! I would love to have a look at Cookwise as well. Let the edumacation begin!!!
 
Smaug December 3, 2016
This seems a little beyond the scope of this section- Food52 had a "Cookies of the World" section that covered a lot of ground and is probably still on here somewhere- everything from Brazilian "Brigadeiros", a dolce de leche relative through rugelach- like Polish Christmas cookies and on. Maida Heatter's "Book of Great Cookies" or "Maida Heatter's Cookies" are great sources, of course. Rose Levy Beranbaum's "Baking Bible" contains tons of information on this and other subjects and uses about every technique under the sun as far as chilling, resting etc.- she also has a Christmas cookies book that I haven't seedn, but it can be counted on for plenty of info.
 
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