In Classic Cookies: 166 Favorite Recipes to Enjoy All Year, Kate Woodson (Beautiful Boards & Delicious Charcuterie for Every Occasion) offers tips for delicious treats to satisfy any sweet tooth, including old-fashioned favorites sure to stir up nostalgia for cookie-jar staples.
Veteran bakers will smile in recognition at the recipes they have long served their families, but this collection is also ideal for young newcomers to the kitchen. A number of "no bake" treats eliminate hot ovens, and kid-favorite ingredients abound, with crispy cereals, marshmallows, chocolate chips, peanut butter, and salty snacks among them. In sections with such titles as "Traditional," "Bars," and "Holiday," step-by-step instructions and large, full-color photos simplify the creation of these 166 goodies, including some gluten-free recipes. Woodson's spins on "classics" include four snickerdoodle variations, the most unique being a pumpkin-cookie doodle with a cheesecake filling. She updates the ever-reliable oatmeal cookie with intriguing creations like Chocolate Chipotle, Chocolate Cranberry, and gluten-free Oatmeal-Cocoa Macaroons. Traditional holiday favorites are here: Woodson dresses up pinwheel cookies as colorful Holiday Swirls, and gives divinity candy a kick with Red Hots. She treats readers to Pecan Snow Drops, Eggnog Biscotti, and Nutcracker Peanut Blossoms. Beloved thumbprints become "Snow People" with an easy Frosty-inspired decoration.
Classic Cookies: 166 Favorite Recipes to Enjoy All Year is the perfect addition to a cookbook collection for experienced or beginning bakers, offering traditional favorites as well as new twists on old-time goodies to enjoy in any season. --Cheryl McKeon, Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza, Albany, N.Y.