The All-American Cookie Book

413 Pages·2001·19.04 MB·English

by  Nancy Baggett

The
A A
ll- merican
Cookie Book

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The
A A
l l
- merican
C
ookie
Book
Nancy Baggett
PHOTOGRAPHS BY ALAN RICHARDSON
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
BOSTON NEW YORK 2001
Text copyright © 2001 by Nancy Baggett
Photographs copyright © 2001 by Alan Richardson
All rights reserved
For information about permission to reproduce selections from
this book, write to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Company,
215 Park Avenue South, New York, New York 10003.
Visit our Web site: www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Baggett, Nancy, date.
The All-American cookie book / Nancy Baggett.
p. cm.
Includes index.
isbn0-395-91537-6
1. Cookies. 2. Cookery, American. I. Title.
tx772 .b25 2001
641.8'654—dc21 2001033667
Book design by Anne Chalmers
Typeface: Eidetic Neo Family © Emigré
Cover photograph: Chocolate Hearts (page 101), New York Black and
Whites (page 21), Fantastic Fudgewiches (page 112), Not Neiman
Marcus’s Chocolate Chip Cookies (page 62)
First page photograph: Joe Froggers (page 307)
Title page photograph: Raisin Pockets (page 223)
Food styling by Anne Disrude
Prop styling by Betty Alfenito
Printed in the United States of America
dow 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Acknowledgments
Many people had a hand in creating this book and enthusiastically supported my effort.
I am grateful to the following:
My editor, Rux Martin, gave me just the right blend of editorial guidance and artis-
tic freedom.
My agent, Linda Hayes, supported the project every step of the way and, as always,
attended to key details.
Photographer Alan Richardson, food stylist Anne Disrude, and prop stylist Betty
Alfenito captured the spirit of my text and recipes and created the many won-
derful photographs in the book.
My kitchen assistants worked cheerfully and diligently throughout. Dollene Targan
helped test and retest many recipes, offered suggestions, and gave editorial
support. Sandy Giangrande also tested extensively and offered helpful advice.
Thanks, too, to La Atwater, Debra Smith, and Brenda Gratton, who assisted with
testing.
Binnie Syril Braunstein helped research several subjects and provided editorial
support.
Judy Gardner-Flint generously shared examples from her vintage collection of pro-
motional cookbooks.
Drusilla Jones lent several copies of Godey’s Lady’s Book,as well as cookbooks from
her private collection and her Baltimore antiquarian bookshop, Drusilla’s
Books.
Wesley Wilson, Head of Business, Science, and Technology, Enoch Pratt Free Li-
brary, Baltimore, Maryland, provided assistance and access to the library’s non-
circulating historical cookbooks collection.
Nancy Magnuson, College Librarian, and Sydney Robey, Special Collections Librar-
ian, at the Julia Rogers Library, Goucher College, Towson, Maryland, offered
guidance and access to the library’s rare book collection. Ms. Robey was also
very generous with her time.
Rus Johanson, owner of Ravenna Rare Books, Seattle, Washington, generously of-
fered his expertise and time, as well as access to his antique cookbook collec-
tion.
Cookbook author Ronni Lundy provided both information and a number of regional
American cookbooks.
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Acknowledgments
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Beverly Price, of Apple Basket, Pottstown, Pennsylvania, lent me her entire per-
sonal collection of vintage cookbooks.
A number of culinary historians offered encouragement and provided information that
helped me fill in important blanks: Jan Longone, The Wine and Food Library, Ann Arbor,
Michigan; Sandra Oliver, editor of the newsletter Food History News; Linda Campbell
Franklin, author of 300 Years of Kitchen Collectibles;Bonnie Slotnick, of Bonnie Slot-
nick Cookbooks, New York City; Peter G. Rose, author of Foods of the Hudson; and
Jacqueline B. Williams, author of The Way We Ate.Ms. Williams also gave me access to
her collection of early Northwest cookbooks and materials.
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vi
acknowledgments
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Contents
ix
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1 Read This: How to Make Great Cookies Every Single Time 1
Sugar Cookies and Shortbreads 13
CHAPTER 2
Chocolate and White Chocolate Chip Cookies 57
CHAPTER 3
Chocolate and Mocha Cookies 97
CHAPTER 4
Brownies, Blondies, and Other Bar Cookies 125
CHAPTER 5
Fruit, Pumpkin, and Carrot Cookies 181
CHAPTER 6
Nut and Peanut Cookies 233
CHAPTER 7
Oat, Coconut, and Sesame Seed Cookies 269
CHAPTER 8
Ginger, Spice, and Molasses Cookies 299
CHAPTER 9
Cookie Decorating and Crafts 331
CHAPTER 10
384
BIBLIOGRAPHY
387
INDEX

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Introduction
For the last several years, I’ve been on an amazing culinary journey. I’ve trav-
eled throughout the Northwest, Southwest, Midwest, Northeast, and South—all in
search of cookies. I visited small-town sweet shops, farmers’ markets and county fairs,
country inns and bed-and-breakfasts, and chic urban cookie boutiques. I wheedled
recipes out of home cooks, chefs, innkeepers, and bakers, rummaged through file
boxes, and leafed through handwritten notebooks. I pored over community cookbooks
and combed through vintage cookbooks in rare book rooms and private collections.
Along the way, I baked between 25,000 and 30,000 cookies to come up with the best ver-
sions of our national favorites.
This is a wholly American repertoire. It includes more than 150 recipes gathered
during my journey: little-known regional gems, decadent modern creations, homespun
classics, rediscovered heirlooms, and some of my own favorite cookie inventions. There
are brownies and blondies, dozens of different chocolate chip and sugar cookies, peanut
and oatmeal cookies, monster and miniature cookies, drop cookies and rolled cookies,
icebox and sandwich cookies, cookies full of fruit, cookies full of nuts, cookies full of
candy—and more.
I’ve collected cookies from many corners of the nation: brandy-and-cinnamon-
scented anise cookies from New Mexico, whoopie pies from Pennsylvania, bourbon-
spiked fruitcake cookies from Kentucky, and Italian fig cookies from New Orleans. I’ve
managed to duplicate the hazelnut-chocolate sandwich cookies that were the closely
guarded secret of a hostess in Oregon’s hazelnut country and recreated a fabulous old-
fashioned gingerbread cookie from an 1880s notebook. This collection also includes
family favorites from the farmhouse kitchen in rural Maryland where I grew up, like my
grandmother’s spicy, chewy, soft date “rocks.” (Today, just the heady cinnamon and
clove fragrance of these cookies takes me back to the pleasure of baking at my grand-
mother’s side.) Reflecting the current lively interest in cookies as craft, I’ve devoted one
chapter to decorated cookies and cookie projects, including plans and instructions for
making a gingerbread house.
Besides the best-of-the-best cookies, this book also incorporates reminiscences,
bits of history, background information, and colorful lore. These give a sense of the
cooks and the stories behind the recipes as well as the evolution, art, and simple pleas-
ures of cookie baking in America.
Nearly every person who heard about my American cookie search immediately told
me about a memorable baking experience or a favorite recipe from childhood. The
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ix
Introduction