Martha Stewart Cookies is a really good cookbook. As the name implies, it is all cookie recipes (including some bar "cookies" like brownies). I've always find Martha Stewart's recipes straight forward, well thought out, and precise; the recipes in this cookbook are no exception. Granted, some of them are pretty unrealistic for the average home baker. I mean come on Martha, who (other than you) has a springerle mold? I know I don't! Still, it is an really good book with 175 different cookies to make and color photos of each one (next to or, at their furthest, quite near the recipe). I like when cookbooks have photos of what you are making, there's something reassuring when you can actually visualize what you are making and see that it comes out right.
So far I've made about a dozen recipes from this cookbook and all of them have come out well. Some I've loved--the Earl Grey Cookies, the Orange Mocha Cookies (photo here), and the variations on Coconut Macaroons come to mind--while some I've merely liked--the Chocolate Nut Biscotti, for example, were nice but nothing special.
The coolest thing about this cookbook, though, isn't the clarity or simplicity of the recipes or the fact that I've loved almost everything I've made from it and still enjoyed the rest. Instead, it's the table of contents. I know what you're thinking, "the table of contents...that's something I usually flip past without even noticing, how could that be cool?" Well, I promise you it is cool! The cookies are divided up into categories based on their texture (i.e. light and delicate, or rich and dense,) which is a novel and very-nearly-cool way of doing things. Under each category, there are names and page numbers of each cookie (as is typical). What is atypical and so very cool is that each of the cookie names is paired with a small, color photo of the cookie...in the table of contents. See, I told you, cool!
No comments:
Post a Comment