Cookies for Grown-ups
Written by Kelly Cooper
Photos by Frank Anzalone
978-1-933176-42-0
Hardback 8 by 9 inches
136 pp., 100+ photos, $23.99
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Many of Kelly Cooper's most inspired cookies are built on memories. Her grandmother taught her to bake in California’s orchard-rich Santa Clara Valley, where apricots, figs, almonds and berries were abundant. Her sweet cookies brim with these and other fresh flavors, enhanced by surprise grown-up ingredients, such as Gruyère or Grand Marnier®. Unusual additions are carefully chosen to draw out the essential flavors of a cookie while adding another layer of pleasure to eating it.
Her savory cookies are also amazing. Indeed, a bite of her Antipasto cookie (featuring bits of Italian salami and cheese) or Redolent (in which specks of roasted red pepper dance with slivered almonds) will likely convince you to bake for your next cocktail party.
Ms. Cooper's whimsical cookies are for adults not only because each is carefully paired with a drink but because they’re deliciously suited for the discerning palette. We’re talking hearty breakfast cookies with dashes of maple syrup and bacon, manly game-time cookies that incorporate Slim Jims™ and late-late-night cookies to stir the senses. For any occasion, Kelly Cooper knows just how to mix beloved, familiar flavors with enlivening, new ones—and that’s the true secret of successful sophistication.
Let your tastebuds decide...
At The Diner
Yukon Gold potato, onion, sausage and chivePairing: Coffee
Inspired by a traditional diner breakfast of eggs, sausage, potatoes and a biscuit, At The Diner brings to mind the hearty meals served when big appetites wake up on a weekend morning. These savory cookies bake up with a soft interior from the sausage and potatoes and a nice exterior crust. Leftover sausage, potatoes or bacon will also work well in this recipe.
INGREDIENTS
1 cup breakfast sausage, crumbled patties or links, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup Yukon Gold potatoes, chopped into small cubes, unpeeled or peeled
¼ cup onion, finely chopped
1¾ cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup unsalted or salted butter, melted
1 cup milk or buttermilk
2 large eggs, slightly beaten
2 tablespoons chives, chopped medium
1. In a sauté pan over medium heat, fry sausage until it is cooked. Remove from pan and set aside. Drain oil from pan, leaving 2 tablespoons (or heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a fresh pan) and sauté potatoes and onion until cooked but not quite soft. Set aside to cool.
2. Preheat oven to 425° F. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Gently stir in melted butter. Use fingers to create consistent dough with as little handling as possible (it will be fluffier when not overworked). Gently fold milk into the dough, using fingers to mix. Once the milk is incorporated, fold in sausage, potatoes and onion.
3. Scoop or drop dough by 1 teaspoon portions and place 1 inch apart on a parchment-lined or nonstick baking sheet. Lightly brush tops of cookies with egg and sprinkle with a few chives. Bake for 15 minutes or until bottoms and edges are golden. Let sit for a few minutes and transfer to a cooling rack.
Yields about 5 dozen
A Sweet Moment And A Salty Tongue
Chocolate, caramel and coarse saltPairing: Tawny Port
The milk-chocolate, caramel and salt combination brings this dense cookie to a new level. Creamy caramel and coarse salt entice and entertain with each bite. This recipe never fails to evoke, “This is my most favorite cookie ever” comments which is why you’ll probably find yourself craving it at 2 a.m.
INGREDIENTS
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
¾ cup sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
½ cup chopped high-quality milk chocolate bar
2 tablespoons milk
30-36 caramels
3 tablespoons heavy cream
2 tablespoons coarse salt
1. Preheat oven to 325° F. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and cocoa powder in a medium bowl and add to butter mixture. Beat until just incorporated. Fold in chopped chocolate. Add milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until dense but not sticky.
3. Shape dough into 1-inch diameter balls and place 1½ inches apart on a parchment-lined or nonstick baking sheet. Bake for 5 minutes. Remove from oven, then using your thumb or a teaspoon, press a small indentation into each. (If you prefer a lot of caramel, deepen the thumbprint with the back of a teaspoon when the cookies come out of the oven.) Continue baking for an additional 10 minutes. The cookies do not brown; they are cake-like. Let sit for a few of minutes and transfer to a cooling rack.
4. In a medium bowl, microwave caramels and heavy cream on high for 30 seconds. Stir, then microwave for an additional 15 seconds or until soft. Place a dollop of caramel into each cookie thumbprint. Sprinkle coarse salt on top of each as desired.
Yields about 3 dozen
Cookies for Grown-ups is also available as an e-book from Apple/ibooks and Amazon
The Best Little Book of Preserves and Pickles
by Judith Choate
9781933176376
Trade pape with.flaps, 6 by 8 inches
192 pp. $15.95
Inquiring minds will want to know: Was Shaker Lemon Sauce really so good that it substituted for sex? The answer is yes, although Shakers also enjoyed Blueberry Catsup and Green Tomato Marmalade.
These recipes and others for delectable versions of traditional jams and relishes give the reader benefit of newer, safer and easier jarring techniques. What comes from yore is the wisdom of starting with newly-picked organic produce to end with fresh-tasting results. Surprising, delicious notes enter conserves and dressings; urbane sauces and salsas will prove piquant accompaniments to entrees or give exquisite finesse to desserts. Treats include Gazpacho Sauce, Sichuan Pickles, Sambuca Romana Jam and White Chocolate Sauce.
The author doesn’t expect you to use kettles big enough to steam off the wallpaper or to have enough just-ripe figs on hand to put up dozens of pints of preserves. Rather, she guides you to making four to eight jars of a true gourmet delight, just enough for a couple of dinner or brunch parties, with a couple of jars left as gifts.
She will also tell you when you don’t even need the jars – that is when you can dispense with canning per se and refrigerate or freeze. Tuned to today, she considers what sugar substitutes work best and frankly advises when nothing but the genuine stuff will achieve the very best taste and color.
Judith Choate draws on a lifetime of experience to present her newly-tweaked versions of the very best preserves and pickles of all time. Her experience includes teaching at the French Culinary Institute, collaborations with chocolatier Jacques Torres and restaurateur Charlie Palmer among other internationally renown chefs, and preparing meals with four generations of her family.
A White House Garden Cookbook: Healthy Ideas from the First Family for Your Family.
SORRY, THIS BOOK HAS SOLD OUT.
by Clara Silverstein
Paperback $24.95
Only 2 dozen copies left, but this book is also available as an e-book from Apple/ibooks and Amazon
This highly-praised chronicle of the White House kitchen garden tracks it from
dream time to real time, from planning to picking to planting again.
It boasts a fitting four-score and seven recipes for the garden’s bounty and
for the honey made by White House bees. Recipes from Presidential households,
from George and Martha Washington’s through Barack and Michele Obama’s invite your
family to eat as well as heads of state. The book also includes star recipes—all
of them kid approved—from community gardens across America.
A Reader's Cookbook
by Judith Choate 
9781933176345
Trade paper with flaps
8½ by 10 ½ inches, 192pp.
160 color photos, $29.95
In this book, three-time James Beard award winner Judith Choate has distilled a
lifetime of professional cooking and reading into nearly 200 recipes and apt
literary quotes.
If you like to read alone with a nibble redolent of the book you’re enjoying,
or if you’re preparing a literary tea or have been tapped to bring a dish to
your book group potluck, this is the cookbook for you. No need to invest in a
Russian cookbook this month, a primer on Chinese cooking next month and so on, Judith
Choate has something here, as the world of literature and food goes round, for
your pleasure.
A Recipe Sampler
Around the World in Eighty Meals
9781933178338
by Nan Lyons 
Hardcover, 9 by 9 inches, 256 pp.
200 photos
$31.95
One of America’s most treasured food and travel writers follows Phileas Fogg’s
famous route with her fork at the ready and her wit at the fore.
Nan Lyons stops in each place Jules Verne sent his hurrying hero but she
lingers long enough to enjoy both its most special sites and its very best
meals. Her food adventures also lead her to some luscious detours.
This book, full of lush color photos of both luxurious or exotic places and
plate, looks as good as it reads. Do judge it by its dazzling cover with its
unique three-dimensional central image.
Before (or after) you visit the Taj Mahal in Agra, you'll want to make sure to dine at one of New Delhi's finest restaurants, Varq in the Taj Mahal, from which the following recipe comes.
Toques off to Varq and Nan Lyons!
Union Square Cafe
— Newsweek
The quintessential luxury-food book, Gluttony: More is More also by Nan Lyons, famous for her food writing in books, magazines and movies. Its title doesn't quite say it all. This book is about fabulous meals and dishes, plus over-the-top eaters. It contains amazing recipes from the past slimmed-down for the contemporary cook by the newspaper food writing team of Sylvia Carter and E. Clarke Reilly
.
97809669573303
Hardback, 8½ by 7 ½ inches, 128 pp. $24.95
If you like the aromas of fresh breads, cookies and cakes, In My Father's Bakery by Marvin Korman is for you.The late Marvin Korman was a world-class storyteller and an accomplished home bread baker who has converted recipes for star bakery treats and rolls into ones home cooks can follow. Have a look. Have a taste. In a word, Enjoy!
9780971437241
Hardcover, 6 by 9 inches, 208 pp. $22.00The Homefront Butter Cookies
“After the war [World War II], the butter cookie remained one of the most
popular items in my father's bakery. It was the gift you brought someone when
you paid a visit, much the way a bottle of wine is used today. The fact is, in
the best of all possible worlds, the visitor should bring along both, because they
do go well together.
"Like most butter cookie recipes, this one is relatively simple. But you will
need a piping bag and a metal tip if you want to achieve the star-like shape of
the bakery cookies that wartime mothers and wives sent to their men serving far
from home.
"If you insist on cheating, you can adjust the recipe so you can use a cookie
cutter according to the direction in the note following this recipe. But you
never heard me say that, did you? — Marvin Korman
This recipe yields 50-60 cookies
Ingredients:
2 sticks softened butter
¼ cup confectioner’s sugar
2 eggs
¼ teaspoon of salt
1¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons milk
Toppings: maraschino cherries (cut in half) or sour cherries soaked in
kirsch, or the jam of your choice. Melted chocolate is a nice topping, too.
Special Equipment:
Medium-size piping bag
#826 piping tip (or similar star-shaped tip)
Parchment paper
2 cookie sheets
Preparation:
1. Blend all ingredients except the
flour and the milk.
2. Add the flour and, using your
fingers, blend everything together.
3. Add the milk and, with a hand-held mixer,
blend everything until the mixture is smooth, soft and pliable.
4. Pre-heat oven to 350°.
5. Cover a shallow baking pan or cookie
sheet with parchment paper.
6. Insert piping tip and fill piping bag
two thirds of the way full. Hold the bag straight, tip-down, barely touching
the parchment paper, and squeeze out star-shaped cookies. Cookies should be
about 1¼ to 1½ inches in diameter.
7. Dampen your pinkie with cold water
and make an indentation in the center of each cookie. Fill these centers with
the cherries or jam. If using jam, make a cone-shaped tube out of your
parchment paper, fill with as much jam as you think you will require, cut a
snip off the bottom, and squeeze gently. If you plan on chocolate as a center,
add a dollop of melted chocolate after the baking.
8. Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes (or
longer) until the bottoms of your cookies are a golden brown. You will probably
have to repeat the piping and the baking process twice to use up the cookie
mixture.
Note: If the piping bag is a problem, reduce the milk in the recipe to 2 tablespoons
to make a firmer dough. Form into a ball and wrap in wax paper. Refrigerate dough for approximately one hour, then roll out on a floured board
to ¼-inch thickness and cut with the cookie cutter of your choice.
The T.V. Sundae King is back with More than a Month of Sundaes, which adds to his initial book, an authoritative list of top ice cream parlors in the nation and some new sundae ideas. And this time, his book is in paperback so it costs even less. $1295 They Scream for this Ice Cream Sundae Book "Would that Christmas lasted a whole year as it ought." So wrote Charles Dickens in this, his first Christmas story. In 1835, he had the novel idea that Christmas should be a family celebration, including forgiveness, fun, girst and feasting. The book includes menus and Dickens-family recipes adapted by the well-known food writer Alice Ross, a distinguished culinary historian. The beautiful 19th-century kitchen of her Long Island home is a working museum. 9781033176109 Hardcover, 8 ½ by 8 ½ inches, 80 pp. 16 paintings, 16 recipes, $24.95
0780971437241
Trade Paper
— Los Angeles Daily News
— CBS Early Show
A Christmas Dinner; A Story by Charles Dickens
. —Andrew F. Smith
Editor of The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink
—John O. Jordan
Director of the Dickens project, University of California
