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Celebrating Cookies (Leisure Arts)
Leisure Arts
ISBN 978-1-60140-551-7
Published September 2009 - Softcover - 144 pages - $14.95

I'm going to make a concerted effort to learn to make cookies properly.  Not that my thighs need cookies!  In fact, they don't!  I'll look for healthy cookies—a compromise.  Another thing, I don't like drinking plain milk, so you'll never catch me having milk and cookies.  Besides, drinking milk with Mocha-Nut Balls or Marzipan Apple cookies doesn't sound right.  In this book we get a few of your usual kinds of cookies, but you'll also get a huge variety of beautifully decorated ones and some very festive and celebratory cookies.  Fun ones like the Tasty Christmas Wreaths or Peanut Butter and Jelly Creams, or the Ice Cream Cone Cookies or Carrot Cookies will appeal to most people, especially the kids.  I've never seen so many innovative ideas (watermelon slices, or cookies that look like champagne glasses) in one book.  Templates are given for the more unusual shapes, but perhaps a few Internet resources would have been really helpful as there are a zillion cookie cutter shapes out there.  Some of the most delicious-sounding (to me) cookies include: Scottish Shortbread; Honey-Do Bars; Candy Bar Pizzas; Chocolate-Nut Sundae Squares, and Pumpkin Spice Bars (I'd use fresh pumpkin).  A lot of sugar and butter in nearly every recipe.
Do read "Success with Cookies" at the beginning of the book especially if you're new to baking.  Knowing good tips is very helpful.  Some cookies look like they took so much trouble to make that it seems criminal to eat works of art!
Yummy illustrations.  No nutritional guides, except the last six recipes under "Healthy Choices".  Nowhere is there a recipe using whole-wheat flour or suggestions on how much to use as a substitute.  Pity.
Conclusion - New ideas for the cookie bakers out there.  Beautifully presented at an affordable price.