Martha Stewart Living Magazine - Martha Stewarts Cookies

Copyright 2008 by Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. Some photographs and recipes originally appeared in Martha Stewart Living publications.

All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

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Clarkson N. Potter is a trademark and Potter and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Martha Stewarts cookies: the very best treats to bake and to share / the editors of Martha Stewart Living.
1. Cookies. I. Stewart, Martha. II. Martha Stewart Living. III. Title: Cookies.
TX772.M29 2007
641.8654dc22 2007014927

Cover design: William Van Roden

eISBN: 978-0-307-88569-2

Many people contributed to the creation of this wonderful book, including editors Ellen Morrissey, Amy Conway, and Christine Cyr; art directors William van Roden, Barbara de Wilde, and Eric A. Pike; food editor Jennifer Aaronson; and photographer Victor Schrager and his assistant Addie Juell. Others who provided ideas, guidance, and support include:

THE TALENTED TEAM AT MARTHA STEWART LIVING OMNIMEDIA
Isabel Abdai
Andrea Bakacs
Monita Buchwald
Alison Vanek Devine
James Dunlinson
Heloise Goodman
Elizabeth Gottfried
Allison Hedges
Pamela Morris
Lucinda Scala Quinn
Robb Riedel
Margaret Roach

OUR PARTNERS AT CLARKSON POTTER
Rica Allannic
Amy Boorstein
Doris Cooper
Jenny Frost
Derek Gullino
Sibylle Kazeroid
Craig Libman
Mark McCauslin
Lauren Shakely
Jane Treuhaft

v3.1

, I knew I had to bake them that night. Cookies often spark a strong reaction in people, and you probably have your own favorites. Are they light and delicate, like classic meringues, rich and dense, like the lemon bars that I love, or crisp and crunchy, like the chocolate chip cookies that my daughter, Alexis, is partial to? At Martha Stewart Living, when we talk about cookieswhich is often!and invent new recipes for them, weve found that its usually a certain texture, whether chunky or sandy or soft, that we crave, even before a particular flavor or ingredient. So when we gathered all of our best recipes into a book, thats how we decided to organize them.

Youll find 175 recipes here; most likely theres a version of those favorites of yours, along with dozens of others youve never imagined. Cookies, after all, are wonderfully versatile things. Depending on how you mix, form, and bake a few simple ingredients, you can create cookies that make the perfect anytime snack, an elegant dessert, or a lunch-box treat. They can be wholesome, indulgent, or anywhere in between. They can be familiar or surprising. And most of them are even easy to make. So go ahead and choose a recipe from these pagestry a new one each week, and youll be baking for years! What could be better than that?

The ingredients list for most cookies includes butter, sugar, flour, and eggs, and usually a leavener such as baking soda or powder. Any number of mix-ins can alter flavors and texturesthink spices, extracts, zests, nuts, chocolate chips, and such. To produce cookies that are light and delicate, however, the key is often in taking away ingredients, not adding. The meringue is a prime example: It consists almost entirely of sugar and egg whitesno butter, flour, or leavenersthat are whipped into cloudlike puffs before baking. Similarly, the batters for tuiles and brandy snaps rely on very little flour and no leavener, and our hazelnut cookies achieve their ethe-real texture from a complete absence of butter. Each of the delightful cookies in this chapter is proof that less can indeed add up to more.

We spread apricot preserves between these meringues, but another filling, such as raspberry jam, would be delicious, too. The meringues should be baked no more than one day before sandwiching them. (see )

MAKES 1 DOZEN

Swiss Meringue (recipe follows)

cup heavy cream

1 drop pure almond extract

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons best-quality apricot preserves

Preheat oven to 200F. Line two baking sheets with parchment.

Scoop a spoonful of meringue onto a large oval soupspoon, and use another soupspoon to form meringue into the shape of a small egg. Use second spoon to push meringue oval off first spoon and onto parchment. Spoon 12 ovals onto each prepared baking sheet. Using a small offset spatula, pull out spikes of meringue, creating a porcupine effect.

Bake cookies until they are crisp on outside but have marshmallow consistency inside, about 1 hour. Reduce oven to 175F if meringue starts to brown. Remove from oven, and gently press bottom of each meringue so that it caves in and can be filled. Turn off oven, and return meringues to oven to dry, about 20 minutes. Let cool completely on parchment on wire racks before filling.