Maida Heatter - Cookies Are Magic

Copyright 2020 by the Estate of Maida Heatter

Foreword copyright 2020 by Deb Perelman

Illustrations by Alice Oehr

Cover design by Lauren Harms

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First ebook edition: April 2020

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The recipes in Cookies Are Magic have been assembled from Maida Heatters previously published books, including Happiness Is Baking, Maida Heatters Cakes, Maida Heatters Cookies, Maida Heatters Book of Great Chocolate Desserts, Maida Heatters Book of Great Desserts, Maida Heatters New Book of Great Desserts, and Maida Heatters Book of Great Cookies. They have been occasionally updated or modernized from their original forms for consistency, for ease of use, and in instances where the authors personal notes on her books have improved a recipe after its original publication.

The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.

Design by Toni Tajima

ISBN 978-0-316-46017-0

E3-20200304-JV-NF-ORI

I heard a doctor talking on television about the dangers of stress. The doctor listed ways of coping with stress. Exercise. Diet. Yoga. Take a walk. I yelled, Bake cookies.

If you ask a home baker, or perhaps a million of them on the internet, about their favorite Maida Heatter recipe, almost all of them will name a cake, a fitting response to a query about the woman known as the Queen of Cake. But despite my affection for her Blueberry Crumb Cake (youll never need another), Ive always had a soft spot for her cookies. They were my first introduction to Maida, twenty years ago on Christmas Eve at my best friends moms house. My friends mother is an excellent baker, and her medley of holiday cookies always included a couple of selections from Maidas repertoiresomething featherlight and buttery, something deeply spiced. When I gushed over them and she realized I didnt know who Maida was, she was (politely) appalled. At the time, I was just a baking enthusiast who had no inkling of my future career, but still it would be like not knowing who Dorie Greenspan is today.

Along with a lot of America, my friends mom learned about Maida in 1968 when she read Craig Claibornes article about her in the New York Times, and she went on to buy all of her cookbooks as they were released. In Maida she found someone who could really explain bakingwhat to look for, which oven rack to use, and even which cookies are too fragile to ship well (see: Old-Fashioned Jumbo Lemon Wafers) and which arent (Chocolate Scotch Shortbread)in a way that few cookbooks did at the time. Maidas recipes make you feel as though shes in the kitchen with you, coaching you along, encouraging you.

Ive been making up for lost time with Maida ever since, baking in particular her Florida Lemon Squares and Johnny Appleseed Squares, a kid favorite. To tune in to Maida Heatters cookies in the year 2020, some forty-six years after she published her first cookbook, is to instantly notice a few things: She loves walnuts in a way that few contemporary bakers do, where almonds and pecans reign supreme. Her recipes are precise but friendly, and you feel certain shes having fun in the kitchenhow else would a recipe get the title Positively-the-Absolutely-Best-Chocolate-Chip Cookies (shes not wrong). She has a knack for naming recipes, from 24-Karat Cookies to Sour-Cream and Pecan Dreams. Many of my favorites evoke placesEast 62nd Street, Savannah, or Palm Beachones that were as important to her as theyve since become to us.

Maidas recipes feel lighthearted and modern even now. Stuffing candy bars inside baked goods seems straight out of Pinterest, yet it goes straight back to Maida. After you share her thick, craggy, chewy-centered Palm Beach Brownies with your friends, they will never allow you to make anything else.

But above all else, I love Maidas cookie philosophy: Pot roast is mandatory; cookies are not. You make them because theyre pure, simple fun. I hope this book brings her baking enthusiasm into a new generation of kitchens. Mine has become unquestionably more delicious since I welcomed Maida into it.

Deb Perelman

Baking is a great escape. Its fun. Its happiness. Its creative. Its good for your health. It reduces stress.

If you are reading this book, chances are you know what I mean. You have probably baked cookies. You could probably tell me a thing or two about what fun it is. But if you have not baked cookies, then let me tell you. Bake cookies! Happiness is baking cookies.

People often ask me how I started to bake, and Im startled. It was so natural, part of life. That was because of my mother, a most unusual woman. She could do almost anything and did everything well. She was a great cook and a true gourmet. Every meal was an occasion the menu planned with care, the table set beautifully and arranged with an artists eye. Whether or not she had help, she did most of the cooking herself because she loved it. And she imparted that love to me.

Cookies are very special to me. All cooking and baking can be great fun and a wonderful escape, but cookies are in a class by themselves. I feel that one can be especially creative with cookies, actually handling the doughkneading, shaping, building, designing.

I was talking to a friend who is an excellent cook and I was shocked when she said, I havent baked cookies since I was a little girl. Too badwhat fun shes missing.

My philosophy is that cookies are funpure, simple fun. You dont make cookies if youre hassled. Its not like pot roastyou dont have to make cookies.

Cookies are love, the love of making them and the love of sharing them. (It is so much looser and easier to bring someone a few cookies than a layer cake or chocolate mousse.) Many of the recipes in this book will keep well, travel even better, and are perfect straight out of the freezer when a guest comes around unexpectedly. I keep many cookies on hand in my freezer, individually wrapped in wax paper or plastic, for company. And nothing makes a better gift than some cookies, elegantly packaged in a beautiful box.