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Cookies
seem to be everyone's favorite. In fact, they are the number one dessert
eaten in the US, some $3.6 billion per year. That's a lot of cookies!(
Nielsen survey of supermarket sales. In the 52 weeks ending March 11,
1997).
But
wouldn't it be nice to make your own? In fact, here I show you how to
make them in a step-by-step fashion at home. There are even
photographs to
guide you through all the cookie making steps. There's loads of help if
you're having a problem, including the
Ask Sarah Message Board
where you can post your questions.
A cookie is
described as a thin, sweet, usually small cake.
They can be prepared in myriad shapes, flavors and textures and are
usually categorized by the way they are formed. Their
dominant ingredient, such as nuts, fruit or chocolate chips, can also
classify them. Whether gourmet, soft or bite-sized cookies, new
categories are always cropping up; no one book could hold the recipes
for all of the various types.
Note that some cookie types are subtypes of others and there may be a
fine line between certain categories of cookies; for example the same
dough can either be hand shaped into a ball or dropped from a spoon.
There are also
specialty and holiday
cookies made up from all of the categories below.
Happy Baking, Sarah |
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COOKIE INDEX:
Cookie dough ranges from those soft enough to drop
to those stiff enough to shape into a roll an slice for baking. Between
these extremes is dough which is spread in the pan and cut after baking,
dough just stiff enough to roll and those which are molded with a cookie
press or mold. |
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Bars and Squares:
Bar cookies are an
easy cookie to make. Ingredients are spread or layered in a pan --
usually an 8x8x2-inch baking pan, a 13x9-inch baking pan, or
14x10-inch jellyroll pan, depending on what the recipe specifies.
They
are baked in sheets and then cut into squares or bars. The most
popular bar cookie is the
Brownie, plus there's
lots of other
recipes,
too. Many
bar cookies use the "baking blind" technique, popular for making
tarts. After preparing the crust in the pan, the rust is baked
without filling to avoid the bottom from being soggy and
undercooked. The filling is then placed on top of the hot crust
and returned to the oven for additional baking. |
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Drop cookies:
some of the most popular cookies are made
from dough that is simply
dropped from a spoon onto the baking sheet. Drop cookies can also
be piped from
pastry bag
into swirls and other desired shapes. One of the most popular type
is the
Chocolate Chip Cookie.
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Filled &
Sandwich cookies:
cookies that may be baked with a filling in the dough or
sandwiched together by assorted pastry fillings, jams etc. Well
known filled cookies are Linzer cookies. |
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Rolled cookies:
are made from chilled cookie
dough rolled out with a rolling pin. The cookies are then cut in
shapes with various cookie cutters, bottoms of drinking glasses,
etc. I have included all of my favorite recipes, from the
Blue Ribbon Sugar Cookies
to traditional
gingerbread
and
shortbread |
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Spritz or
molded, stamped, piped & pressed
cookies:
Spritz cookies are made from
dough that is forced through a cookie press. Molded
cookies can either be shaped by hand, stamped with a pattern
before baking or baked directly in a mold. Bagged or piped cookies
are shaped with a pastry bag or a cookie gun.
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No Bake Cookies are those that
do not require an oven. Some resemble candies. They are a nice, easy
way to make a sweet treat or top off a cookie tray. |
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Fried cookies: Some cookies
are cooked by frying in vegetable oil. They are best when served
immediately. |
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Mixes in a Jar:
For gift giving, cookie mixes in a
jar, are so popular. What you do is layer all of the dry
ingredients in the recipe and attach baking instructions. It
includes combining the ingredients in the jar with perishable ones
found at home, such as eggs, milk, etc to bake cookies. |
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Cookies Made From a Baking Mix:
With a baking mix as the base, all
sorts of cookies can be made. The real benefit is that they are so
easy to make, along with being simply delicious. |
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Specialty cookies.
These cookies get their distinct, well-defined shapes from
special tools. French Madeleines are baked in Madeleine
plaques; spicy Dutch speculaas are pressed into carved
wooden molds; Swedish spritz cookies are formed into
wreaths, ribbons, rosettes and other shapes using a cookie press
fitted with a decorative template; German springerle
are formed using a special carved rolling pin. The dough is
stamped with the design, cut out and then allowed to dry overnight
to set the design before the cookies are baked.
Holiday cookies. Holidays are
often celebrated with special cookies of their own. The
Greek Easter cookies, koulourakia, for example, are one of
the traditional foods used to break the Easter fast. Haman's
Pockets (also known as Hamantaschen) are the traditional
sweets of the festive Jewish holiday, Purim. In addition, as would
be expected, the baking and sharing of Christmas cookies is an
age-old custom in many countries through the world. |
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GO TO
TIPS for Making the Best Cookies |
Some information from:
http://www.mad.scientist.org/features/cookies.html,
www.joyofbaking.com/cookies.html
and http://www.allrecipes.com
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