Hello and Welcome

Good morning and welcome to my first posting! My name is Alissa and I am a full-time teacher and part-time baker. I love baking and do my best to bake something at least once a week (but it usually turns into more). I am currently working my way through baking every cookie recipe in Martha Stewart's Cookie Book. I decided it would be fun to journal my trials and tribulations through this so far wonderful cookbook. I will post pictures (hopefully) of each batch I bake with comments on how I made the cookies and of course how they turned out. When and if I bake something other than a cookie, I will, of course, add that to the blog as well. I hope everyone enjoys what is to come.
To start off, I will be posting a list of the cookies I have baked so far from the book with the comments I have gathered. If there are any questions about any of the recipes, feel free to email me.

Cookies I've Baked So Far From Martha's Book: (in the order they appear in the book)

- Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies: these were delicious and decadent, one of the best recipes for choc. chip cookies I've seen (and i've made a lot). I used this recipe for ice cream sandwiches I made using Tovolo Icon Ice Cream Sandwich Molds. Instead of baking the cookies as drop cookies, I cooked them as a bar/sheet cookie in order to use the molds to cut shapes. They were great!

- Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars: While these cookies were surprisingly too decadent for my own tastes (which rarely happens) everyone else loved these and I ended up baking a second batch only a few days later.

- Coconut Macaroons: I double the recipe for this cookie and split it into thirds in order to make the three variations Martha suggests. While I do not like coconut (I abhor it) my father was visiting from Miami and these are his favorite. The vote was that the cookies were delicious.

- Chocolate Crackles: These were the first cookies I came across in this book that did not turn out as expected (or as pictured). While the cookies tasted okay, they did not fit into the soft and chewy category they were placed. I would say they were closer to a light and delicate, being that they almost melted in your mouth. The appearance of these cookies is what bothered me most. The cookies flattened and the confectioner's sugar was not crackled, it appeared as bumps. I attempted to refrigerate the dough to see if the butter was too soft but this did not change the results. One day I will attempt the recipe again to see if it was just a fluke.

- Iced Oatmeal Applesauce Cookies: I was out of raisins so I replaced them with chopped dried apricots. Again, the taste was great, but the appearance did not match that of the picture. The cookies were thin and resembled a floury Florentine. I did not make the icing because of time issues, but the cookies were enjoyed at the dinner I brought them to.

- Milk Chocolate Cookies: These cookies were delicious, and a nice change from the normal dark or semisweet versions. The cookies were chewy and decadent, but still tame enough to eat more than one in a single sitting.

- Cream-Filled Chocolate Sandwiches: YUM! At first taste I did not like these cookies and thought they were achingly sweet. However, after I refrigerated them overnight they were absolutely delicious. I have baked icebox sandwich cookies in the past hoping to get an at home oreo, but nothing has come close. These cookies were the closest to homemade oreo's than I have ever had. YUM!

- Dark Chocolate Cookies with Sour Cherries: Another big winner. The balance between the bitter dark chocolate and the sweet/sour cherries was unbelievable. If I wasn't so adamant about only making each recipe once (with an exception or two) I'd be baking these cookies once a week.

- Fig Pinwheels: Yet another delicious batch. The fig filling went wonderfully with the slightly salty base. The only trouble I had, and always have, is having the cookies remain circular while refrigerating.

- Iced Hermits: I was on the fence on these cookies and I only think it's because my taste buds are unfamiliar with candied ginger. While I love gingerbread and other spice cookies, the addition of candied ginger was overpowering for my tastes. However, the person whom the cookies were intended for loved and raved about them. There are a lot of ginger based recipes in this collection, so I'm sure as I bake I will become more familiar.

- Almond Horns: A great combination of salty and sweet. Crumbly and delicious and very easy to make these cookies top the list.

- Chocolate Charms: What a great little cookie. The only change I made was not dusting with cocoa powder. I tasted one with the dusted powder and it made the texture odd and added slightly too much bitterness. I left the cookies without a dusting, but I am positive they would be delicious with powdered sugar on top.

- Icebox Spirals and Bull's-Eyes: Delicious and fun, I think I ate all the cookies myself! The recipe didn't specify what to do with the excess dough, so I just made more cookies!

- Pecan Mandelbrot: Just an ordinary biscotti type cookie until that delicious cinnamon sugar topping is added. What a difference, and so delicious as a combination!

- Rocky Ledge Bars: My most recent endeavor which are still sitting on the counter. The dark brown sugar molasses-y base really compliments all the other sweet additions. The only change that I would make is keeping the remaining 1/2 cup of marshmallows for the last chunk of the baking time so that they do not brown or burn.

- Chocolate Chip Cookies for Passover: Passsover dessert is rarely an event to look forward to due to dry and stale tasting options. These cookies changed that so much so that I don't think they should be reserved only for Passover.

- Banana-Walnut Chocolate-Chunk Cookies: I omitted the walnuts because of a friend who does not like nuts but the cookies were still delicious. The taste was so close to chocolate chip cookies that the extra boost of banana only made the texture and taste jump out of the box.

- Chunky Peanut, Chocolate, and Cinnamon Cookies: These cookies were a delicious combination of peanuty goodness. Next time I would add slightly more cinnamon to bring out that flavor and slightly overpower the peanuts and peanut butter.

- Gingerbread-White Chocolate Blondies: This was one of the first recipes that I tried. I made them in a 9x13 inch baking dish instead of the rimmed tray they suggested. I also only had about half of the white chocolate suggested (next time I'll read the ingredients more carefully). The smaller amount of white chocolate may have even been a great misstep because it prevented the cookies from becoming sickeningly sweet.

- Surprise Cookies: While I had a few problems with this recipe, they turned out the be the ones my boyfriend keeps talking about. The 1/2 a large marshmallow the recipe suggests is slightly more than necessary so I quartered each marshmallow for a more appropriate combination. I had a lot of difficulty with the icing and could not get it to match the consistency of the picture. I dipped the cookies in the icing and let it refrigerate to set.

- Carrot Cake Cookies: Wow! Delicious! Like a slice of carrot cake in a small bite. Instead of sandwiching the cookies with the icing, I drizzled each individual cookie with some of the icing. I thought everyone would be happier eating a single cookie at a time, and I was right.

- Chocolate Waffles: What an interesting take on cookies. Everyone loved these. I kept these in an airtight container (as I always do) and they were still good over a week later.

- Cream Cheese Swirl Blondies: Another cookie I think I ate entirely by myself. The blondie is very, very cake-like and I have a hard time even calling it a cookie. However, the tangy cheesecake topping mixed with the cakey slightly salty blondie was unbeatable.

- Chocolate-Ginger Brownies: This was another recipe I had to adjust due to a lack of on hand ingredients. I used milk chocolate instead of bittersweet and omitted the fresh ginger. The brownies were slightly greasy, I think due to the extra milk fat in the chocolate, and tasted like a chocolatey gingerbread spice brownie.

- Double Chocolate Brownies: An easy to bake, easy to double, simple and typical brownie recipe. Yum!


Whew! That was long winded, I hadn't realized I'd made so many so far...keep checking back for updates, hopefully they will come often.

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