Cookies Unlimited

Cookbook

Cookies Unlimited

By Nick Malgieri

Cookies Unlimited
When bakers want advice, they turn to Nick Malgieri. They know that whether they're a beginner looking for the hands-on help to guide them confidently from pantry to cooling rack, or a seasoned pro in search of a new challenge, Nick will see them through. From How to Bake to Nick Malgieri's Perfect Pastry, Chocolate, and Great Italian Desserts, baker extraordinaire and veteran author Malgieri has set the standard by which other baking books are judged.

Now in Cookies Unlimited Malgieri gives us the ultimate how-to tome on America's favorite sweet treats. with more than 350 original and time-tested recipes for cookies for every occasion, extensive notes on ingredients, equipment, and techniques, a useful source guide, and cookie history and lore, Cookies Unlimited has something to offer novices and accomplished bakers alike. We all love cookies: the comfort food of comfort foods and the sweet of choice to soothe the savage spirit. and with a little help from Malgieri, we can all polish our cookie-baking repertoire to perfection.

Malgieri begins his survey with bar cookies, "perhaps the easiest to prepare," starting off with the likes of Bittersweet Chocolate Shortbread Squares and White Chocolate Chunk Brownies. His selection of drop cookies includes such simple standbys as Aunt Ida's Poppy Seed Cookies ("The aunt in this case is not mine," Malgieri says. "She belongs to those relentless cookbook, recipe, and kitchenware collectors, Marilynn and Sheila Brass of Cambridge, Massachusetts.") and Maida Heatter's Skinny Peanut Wafers (the cookie doyenne's self-proclaimed all-time favorite); he also includes a sampling of tuiles, the cookies shaped like the curved roofing tiles prevalent in the south of France.

Cookies Unlimited features a selection of refrigerator cookies, the original "mix up the dough now, freeze, and slice and bake later on a whim" type that we called icebox cookies when we were kids, ranging from Pistachio Thins ("Any recipe is always dressed up by the aromatic flavor and striking appearance of pistachios," Malgieri quips.) to Dark Chocolate Sablés (sablé means sandy in French) made with cocoa powder rather than melted chocolate to Sicilian Fig Pinwheels. In the way of filled cookies, "the aristocrats of the cookie world," our choices include down-home Chocolate Chocolate Sandwich Cookies and Lacy Chocolate Oatmeal Cookie Sandwiches, as well as more exotic offerings such as Infasciadedde (Sicilian twisted cookies, just like Nick's great aunt Elvira always made for the holidays) and Mamoul (Syrian and Lebanese date-filled cookies).

Malgieri goes on to cover the cookie gamut—macaroons and biscotti, piped cookies and molded cookies, fried cookies and even savory cookies. Sure to be a classic, Cookies Unlimited will make an indispensable addition to any baker's kitchen.

About the Author

Nick Malgieri is the author of four previous cookbooks, including How to Bake and Chocolate. The recipient of a James Beard Foundation cookbook award and named one of the 10 Best Pastry Chefs in the United States by Chocolatier and Pastry Art and Design, Malgieri is one of America's premier experts on baking. He directs the baking program at Peter Kump's Cooking School in New York, and his recipes and articles have been published in numerous periodicals, including The New York Times and Gourmet. He lives in New York City.

Buy the Book!

Cookies Unlimited
By Nick Malgieri
HarperCollins, October 2000
Hardcover, $35.00
Color photographs throughout
ISBN: 0-06-019285-2
Information provided by the publisher.