Elinor Klivans - Big Fat Cookies

To Jeffrey, Laura, Michael, Kate, and Peter, and our new generation of cookie bakers, Madison, Charlie, and Max Jeffrey, who share my cookies and make it all sweeter

Judith Weber, my agent, who makes it all happen.

An exceedingly large thank you to the brilliant publishing group at Chronicle Books, especially:

Bill LeBlond, my editor, who steered this book from its exciting beginnings to its first-class finish.

Amy Treadwell, assistant editor, who took such care with this book at each step of the way.

Judith Sutton, my copy editor, who did such a great job checking everything, and I mean everything, so carefully.

Antonis Achilleos, whose photography captured the spirit of these cookies.

Alison Attenbrough, food stylist, and Joe Maer, prop stylist, who baked the cookies so perfectly and made them look exactly right.

My husband, Jeff, who lived with these cookies, tried every cookie, and never tired of helping me make them better.

My daughter, Laura, who proofread every recipe, made her gleeful corrections, and kept me hanging in there with her enthusiastic notes; and my son-in-law, Michael, who gave his thoughtful support, especially about the lemon cookies.

My son, Peter, who despite raising a family, and exams, and moving (several times), somehow kept up with correcting and proofreading every recipe; and my daughter-in-law, Kate, who really loves my cookies.

My mother, who filled my childhood with cookies, and my father, who encouraged it all.

Thank you to the cookie testers who tested many of the recipes: Abby Fitzgerald, Melissa McDaniel, Sue Plaskas, Susan Rockefeller, Dawn Ryan, Louise Shames, Joe Siewers, Kathy Stiefel, and Laura Williams.

A big thank you to my circle of supporters and encouragers: Melanie Barnard, Flo Braker, Sue Chase, Susan Derecskey, Susan Dunning, Natalie and Harvey Dworken, Carole and Woody Emanuel, Barbara Fairchild, Betty and Joe Fleming, Mutzi Frankel, Karen and Michael Good, Kat and Howard Grossman, Helen and Reg Hall, Carolyn and Ted Hoffman, Pam Jensen and Stephen Ross, Kristine Kidd, Alice and Norman Klivans, Dad Klivans, Susan Lasky, Robert Laurence, Rosie and Larry Levitan, Jeanne McManus, Gordon Paine, Joan and Graham Phaup, Janet and Alan Roberts, Louise and Erv Shames, Barbara and Max Steinheimer, Kathy Stiefel, Gail Venuto, Elaine and Wil Wolfson, and Jeffrey Young.

Big cookies have always been a part of our family. They have been there to help celebrate our happy times and endure our stressful ones. An Old-Fashioned Iced Molasses Cookie tucked into a lunch box brought a bit of comfort from home on that first day of school. On hectic mornings there were Morning Glory Breakfast Cookies to grab on the way out the door. I have lost count of the boxes of cookies that followed the kids to college. I think baking and sending those cookies soothed my empty-nest blues as much as the children enjoyed getting them. When my husband was teaching our son how to drive, he came home to unwind with his favorite Gingerbread Giants. And when our daughter rented her first apartment, we baked Totally Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies. Now that my cookie-baking mother has retired from baking, I send her and dad Vanilla Butter Rounds and Jumbo Almond Elephant Ears. When our son, Peter, married Kate, every guest left with a bag of Big-Hearted Butter Shortbread. The Happy Birthday Oatmeal Cookie became a baby-welcoming cookie when our grandchildren were born.

Measuring milestones, making us feel better, and spreading happiness take very big cookies.

These cookies cover the cookie jar worldin a big way. A brief Taming the Cookie Monster chapter includes basic cookie making, baking, and storing information. Three recipe chapters follow, which arrange the cookies into chewy, crisp, and sandwich groups. Planning-ahead information is given at the bottom of each recipe, so it is easy to choose the cookies that fit into your time schedule. A quick glance shows the number of cookies that the recipe makes, the time it takes to prepare each batch of cookies, and the baking temperature and approximate baking time. Chocolate Chunk Mountains, Super Smore Crisps, Oatmeal Trailblazers, Chocolate Peppermint Crunch Cookie Bark, Lemon Whoopie Piesthey are all here, ready for lunch bags, after-school snacks, sunny picnics, challenging hikes, soothing of bruises, and making life a whole lot sweeter.

When I told people I was writing a book called Big Fat Cookies, every single person had the same reaction. First they smiled, then the smile became a big grin, and then they laughed, quite a bit. If just the thought of a big cookie does that, you can imagine the pure pleasure that baking and eating these cookies brings. I thought that writing this book would be fun. It was. But, somewhere between the Chocolate ChipStuffed Cookies and the Super-Fudge Brownie-Drop Ice Cream Sandwiches, I realized that baking the cookies was fun, sharing the cookies was fun, and eating them, of course, was the best part of all. And then, I too smiled, and laughed, and took another bite.

Cookie making is comfortable and worry free. Mixing, baking, storingit is all easy. Below are the practical, time-saving ideas and tips that I have found make good cookie after good cookie.

COOKIE INGREDIENTS are basic supermarket items, but I have some preferences that work best for me. For example, I use unbleached all-purpose flour. After all, why use a flour that has been bleached to make it whiter? Un-bleached flour has an appealing soft, creamy color and it produces great cookies. To control the amount of salt that is added to cookies, use unsalted butter and then add the quantity of salt called for in the recipe. Eggs that are graded large produce a consistent result. For flavorings, use pure vanilla extract, made from vanilla beans, and pure almond extract, which contains oil of bitter almond. I use molasses that is labeled unsulphured; the flavor is less strong than sulphured molasses.

ZEST, LEMON, LIME, OR ORANGE , is the rind of the fruit without any of the bitter white pith. Before grating zest, wash the fruit with warm water and dry it. A handy measure to know is that an average-size lemon yields about 3 tablespoons of juice and 2 teaspoons of zest.

THE BASIC RULE FOR CHOCOLATE is to choose a chocolate that tastes good. The ingredients listed on the package for white chocolate should include cocoa butter and those listed for dark chocolate should include chocolate liquor or chocolate: I am not kidding about the listing of chocolatea poor-quality brand may not include it.

STORE SPICES TIGHTLY COVERED and check that they are fresh by smelling and tasting them. As with chocolate, if a spice tastes good, it will add to the good taste of your cookies.

TASTE NUTS BEFORE USING THEM to check that they are fresh. To toast nuts spread them in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake them in a preheated 325-degree oven. Walnuts and pecans take about 8 minutes; sliced or slivered blanched almonds about 12 minutes, until they become golden; and blanched whole almonds about 15 minutes. Just before the nuts are ready, there will be a pleasant aroma of toasting nuts. Cashew and macadamia nuts are normally sold roasted.