The Cookie Collection: Artisan Baking for the Cookie Enthusiast

Brian Hart Hoffman 83 Press (SEP 1) Hardcover $26.95 (200pp) 978-1-940772-63-9

Brian Hart Hoffman’s The Cookie Collection includes 128 recipes from the popular Bake from Scratch magazine that are focused on the “humble heroes of the bake sale.”

Recipes are organized into essential and entertaining categories, with elegant color photographs of the finished products included, as well as punchy essential tips for prep and storage. There are chapters for cookies that are all about the spice, including chai and five spice-flavored cookies, as well as cookies that utilize booze, with favorite cocktails transfigured via sugar and flour. A chocolate chip chapter highlights unusual variations of the luscious lunch box standard, including one that incorporates s’mores flavors and a sophisticated whiskey and rye cookie.

A great holiday spread wouldn’t be complete without a cookie tray, and this compilation includes traditional recipes from a variety of cultures, including Finnish pinwheel cookies dabbed with cranberry port preserves, mincemeat rum chocolate sandwich cookies, and tahini chocolate rugelach.

Recipes range in complexity in terms of both ingredients and baking acumen. Some involve common pantry items, while others call for more artisanal ingredients like vanilla bean paste and 66% cacao chocolate. A Stop, Drop, and Bake section features quick and easy cookie recipes, while others pull out the stops with fillings, glazes, and more lengthy and complicated techniques. A chapter featuring “internet-breaking cookies you won’t be able to resist” is more of the latter, with its alluring Red Velvet Peppermint Sammies and two-page spread on macarons, the pastel staples of Parisian bakeries. A concluding chapter on big cookies includes fun skillet cookies perfect for birthdays and parties.

The Cookie Collection is an inviting cookbook suited for enthusiastic occasional bakers and adventurous kitchen veterans alike.