Krystina Castella - Crazy About Cookies: 300 Scrumptious Recipes for Every Occasion & Craving

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cookies300 Scrumptious Recipes for Every Occasion & CravingKrystina Castella STERLING and the distinctive Sterling logo are registered trademarks of Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Castella, Krystina. Crazy about cookies : 300 scrumptious recipes for every occasion & craving / Krystina Castella. p. cm. Includes index. paper) 1. Cookies. I. Title. Title.

TX772.C385 2010 641.8654dc22 2009051115 2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1 Published by Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. 387 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016 2010 by Krystina Castella Distributed in Canada by Sterling Publishing c/o Canadian Manda Group, 165 Dufferin Street Toronto, Ontario, Canada M6K 3H6 Distributed in the United Kingdom by GMC Distribution Services Castle Place, 166 High Street, Lewes, East Sussex, England BN7 1XU Distributed in Australia by Capricorn Link (Australia) Pty. Ltd. P.O. Box 704, Windsor, NSW 2756, Australia
All rights reserved
Sterling ISBN 13: 978-1-4027-9011-9
For information about custom editions, special sales, premium and
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Photography by Teri Lyn Fisher For my parents, Marion and Michael Castella.
Thank you for all your support and encouragement. Acknowledgments Thank you to everyone whose help has crafted this book: Jennifer Williams, my editor, for seeing the potential of this book from the onset, and for all of her support and insight throughout the process The outstanding photographer Teri Lyn Fisher, for her professional demeanor and her commitment to bringing each cookies personality to life through her spectacular images Grace Cho, aka Amazing Grace, the pastry chef, for her impeccable recipe-testing and cookie-making skills Isaias Mendoza, the baker, for his creative enthusiasm Adam C.

Pearson, the food stylist, for his discerning eye and playful humor Liana Krissoff, line editor Rodman P. Neumann, project editor Rachel Maloney, designer Gavin Motnyk, for his help with the templates and other drawings Elizabeth Mihaltse, cover art director Eileen Chetti, copyeditor Barbara J. Greenberg, proofreader Jay Kreider, JS Editorial, LLC, indexer ContentsAuthors Note Throughout the book youll notice this icon . Each indicates a healthier (and equally delicious) option for a recipe, where there is less sugar (sweetened only with juices and honey), fruit and veggie (extra vitamins), energy cookies and bars (extra vitamins and full proteins), low fat (less fat and healthy fats), gluten-free (no wheat, barley, rye ), and vegan (no animal products). There was a 4-H commercial in the seventies that had a big impact on my perception of cookies as a kid. It took place inside a cookie factory where hundreds of cookies were shown coming off of conveyor belts.

The jingle went something like this: It takes a lot of work baking cookies, but you can buy them so easy in the store. My eight-year-old mind thought, Yeah, you know, theyre right. And since there was no song like that for cupcakes, cakes, or ice pops, I decided to focus my young love for kitchen time on them. Every time I considered making cookies I thought of the commercial and figured, Ill just buy them. I focused my cookie-related energy on supporting my mission as a Girl Scout. I spent months going door-to-door in my neighborhood in Staten Island, New York, selling Thin Mints, Samoas, Do-Si-Dos, and Tagalongs.

Each year when I would show up at the door, kids would tell their parents, The cookie girl is here again! I created ways of describing the tastes of each cookie, explaining why one is better for a particular time of day, snack, occasion, or holiday than another. Thin Mints were the Christmas cookie, Samoas were for summertime camping trips, and Tagalongs were the after-school cookie to enjoy with a tall glass of milk. When the cookies arrived I would package them nicely for each customer. Each year I topped my previous sales numbers, and I made people smile at the same time. I eventually got a badge for selling a thousand boxes of cookies. For decades, the only cookies I made from scratch were chocolate chip cookies and oatmeal raisin cookies.

As I got older I realized that, at least in those two cases, the commercials were wrong and homemade was better than store bought. I made those two recipes from the chocolate chip bag and the oatmeal canister over and over again. But I nursed a secret desire to venture further. I had amassed a huge collection of cookie cutters and decorating books but was not yet brave enough to take the leap into cookie decorating. I bought them because I liked the idea of it and thought maybe someday I could do it, but there was something about it that seemed intimidating. Even though I went to art school, drawing isnt my thing, so the idea of making perfect lines with icing seemed out of the question.

After the success of Crazy about Cupcakes and Pops! Icy Treats forEveryone, I was ready for a new challenge and decided it was time to give cookies a shot. I took out that big box of cookie cutters, collected recipes I loved from friends and family, played around in the kitchen, and changed them, tweaked them, and then started developing my own recipes and cookie ideas from scratch. As I got into it I realized that not only was I having fun; I was becoming downright obsessed. My years of fearing the cookie were overin a big way. COOKIES ARE STYLISH Cookies can be edible art. Flavor, form, and technique all work together to make a supremely satisfying cookie.

Shortbread and gingerbread are constructive building materials that allow shaping and decorating techniques that can be explored in no other medium. COOKIES ARE AUTHENTIC AND INNOVATIVE There is so much history surrounding cookies that sometimes a traditional cookie is just what is needed; other times a new cookie recipe and design are called for. Attention to the flavor can highlight a season or set a look or mood for a holiday occasion. COOKIES HAVE PERSONALITY As with cupcakes, a batch of cookies provides a multitude of blank slates for improvisation, with possibilities for incorporating many artistic styles. Each cookie can have a personality of its own, whether its through varying flavors within a batch or decorating each cookie in a unique way. COOKIES ARE SIMPLE AND FRIENDLY The fastest homemade baked treat to make if you are short on time? Cookies, of course. COOKIES ARE SIMPLE AND FRIENDLY The fastest homemade baked treat to make if you are short on time? Cookies, of course.

Kind of hip, kind of cooland extremely fun. Whether they are rustic melt-in-your-mouth after-school snacks or casual dinner-party desserts, presentation is easy: Put them in a box for gifting or on a plate for serving. If the cookies look and taste good, thats all thats needed. ABOUT THIS COOKBOOK Let me tell you a little about the