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C is for cookie, that’s good enough for me (+ a book giveaway)!

November 11, 2011

THE CONTEST IS OVER! Thanks so much to everyone who entered, I hope to have many more giveaways in the future, so make sure if/when I do, you enter. I wish I could give you all a book! But I can’t. So the comments are closed & I picked a number via random.org… ANNNNND THE WINNER of The Cookiepedia IS…

POLLY PERRY!

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Enjoy your new cookbook, Polly! I’ve sent your address to Quirk Books already!

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I received this book, The Cookiepedia, a few months ago. Quirk Books sent me a copy & it’s pretty awesome. So awesome, in fact, I’m willing to ignore that little comment about how “trendy cupcakes may come & go”… *wink* Because you see, I love me some cupcakes, I do. Hell, I named my site after ’em. But cookies are awesome. And they remind me of being a kid. Plus, cupcakes are portable cakes, yes, but cookies are the most portable of all! They’re the über-portable treat-type thing thats easiest to bring with you anywhere you go. You can ship ’em to somewhere like Abu Dhabi with minimal damage (for the most part) & they’re eaten in less than three bites, no napkin needed. So yah, I dig cookies.

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One of my favorite things about the book (aside from the pages & pages of delicious cookies, I mean) is this quote on one of the opening pages:

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So true. I could use a nap right now.

So in the book, Stacy really goes into detail on defining popular baking terms such as sifting, dusting, creaming, piping, etc. She also gives helpful tips on how to get the best possible results, making this book really good for beginner bakers. I don’t consider myself a beginner per se, however I really enjoyed reading it cover to cover. You can never know everything, or remember everything, & everyone can use a book filled with a few refreshers on “the basics.” The book is also, and more importantly, full of crazy-good sounding cookie recipes, from really simple ones to more exotic ones. From cornmeal cookies with rosemary to alfajores with dulce de leche filling, to green tea cookies & back to pignoli cookies. Being that it’s fall, the first cookie that jumped out at me was the frosted maple pecan cookie.

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I’m not gonna lie, any recipe that says ‘toast the nuts’ makes me giggle like a 13-year-old boy, and anything that makes me giggle is worth looking into further. Also, I might have mentioned before that Jay’s favorite cookie I ever made was the maple-iced fall leaf cookie. Well have I mentioned that he stalks me to make more of them? No? Well, he does. He drops hints, he talks about them all the time, etc, etc. If I make another kind of cookie, he gets almost offended. Same with the french toast cupcakes. If I make a chocolate cupcake, or lemon, or orange, or whatever… he pouts because it isn’t maple frosted French toast cupcake with crumbled bacon. So when I opened the book & saw these, I thought of him first. I knew he’d love them, & truth be told I haven’t baked anything for him in quite some time; rock star that he is will soon be off in Texas playing the Goregrowlers Ball so I might as well give him some homemade, home-baked goodness before he’s down there away from home, playing death metal with a bunch of sweaty men, eating (probably) fast food.

Anyway, making cookies is so much fun. I almost forgot how fun. It really is a totally different experience than cupcakes, or pie. My first attempt was a failure; I didn’t let the butter soften enough, then didn’t chill the dough enough either & so the cookies spread & were thin & crispy on the edges. Blah. My own fault, admittedly. Putting the dough in the fridge for 15 minutes on a night where it’s hot & humid isn’t smart, especially when it was supposed to have chilled for anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. However they tasted amazing! Great maple flavor. So I knew I had to try again, this time the right way. Also on a drier, much cooler day (whereas my previous attempt at making them was on a day we were having a heat spell in October; an unheard of 84° degrees!) since the weather the first time didn’t help my non-chilled dough any.

Yeah, they came out amazing the second time around.

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And whattaya know, the next time I made them, it was a very, very cool day (actually it was almost freezing out by the time I turned the oven on to bake), I followed all the directions exactly (including letting the dough chill for an hour), & they were a rollicking success. There’s a time & a place to be a baking rebel… cookies aren’t that time. There are some who’ll tell you there’s no room for rebellion in baking at all, but I don’t believe that. I’ve used all-purpose instead of cake flour like it’s nothing, substituted mayonnaise for eggs & made my own buttermilk like a champ. From now on though, I’ll keep the rebel yell for cupcakes. Cookies seem to be a bit more temperamental. But that’s okay, I love them anyway. And when done right… oh boy.

Like I said- the second time around, these babies were freakin’ AWESOMESAUCE. Instead of using Stacy’s exact vanilla frosting on them, I added a smidgen of maple extract to it (hence the mauve-y brownish color to the frosting). You could also add some maple syrup to it, or just keep it vanilla. I swear, this way it really was like eating pancakes!

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Why does my handwriting always come out so bad on labels when I know they’ll be in pictures? Ugh.

Anyway, I was really pleased with these cookies, and the book, and it made more than I had anticipated. So packing some of ’em up for Jay (he took them to band practice, and let me just say- HUGE HIT) & other lucky folk, I came across a great idea. I decided to use some of my jars to pack the cookies in. I used two of my flip-top lid jars (the ones I’ve used previously for pickles & blueberry jam) and for the third batch I used a 16 ounce wide-mouth Ball® jar. So cute. Imagine the lid covered with a square of plaid fabric, or even just the way I did it: a cute label (thanks to this post for that idea) & some twine… it’s just the cutest idea ever for sending someone home with a bunch of cookies. Way cuter than Tupperware, anyway.

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So now that I’ve shared my cookies & cookie-packaging ideas with you, I’m going to share something else: I’m giving away an actual copy of The Cookiepedia, Stacy’s book, so you can make these cookies too!

Exciting, I know. What do you have to do to win? Easy. Leave me a comment telling me what your favorite cookie of all time is. Not only that, but tell me why. Do you love gingersnaps because your grandma taught you to make them? Do you adore chocolate chip cookies because you made the Toll House kind with your mom at Christmas? Or maybe you love oatmeal cookies because they remind you of a happy moment including wacky tobaccy & your college life. Whatever it is, tell me. I’ll choose the winner via random.org one week from today. U.S. residents only, please. I know, I suck. But I’m cute.

And for bonus entries (bonus entries are not mandatory):

  • Follow me on Twitter! After that, comment here telling me you’re a follower (I have to accept you, so give me some time, but you can comment after you make the request- you don’t have to wait until I accept!). Make sure you also tweet @ me telling me you commented here first.
  • Then, tweet about the giveaway! Copy & paste the following (or write up your own tweet, just make sure you link back to this post)!

    @CupcakeRehab is giving away @TheCookiepedia by Stacy Adimando thanks to @QuirkBooks! I entered to win, so can you: http://cupcakerehab.com/2011/11/c-is-for-cookie-thats-good-enough-for-me-a-book-giveaway/

  • Become a Facebook fan of Cupcake Rehab! Then come back here and comment again letting me know.
  • Share this post on your Facebook page (either personal or blog, whichever) and then comment telling me you did! (This one is honor system)
  • Follow Stacy herself at @TheCookiepedia… then come back here & let me know.
  • Follow @quirkbooks on Twitter, then guess what? That’s right, comment here again telling me you did.
  • Become a fan of Quirk Books on Facebook… and you know the drill.
And remember, if you’re already following me on Twitter or you’re already a Facebook fan, then you can still comment for each. Each one of those is an extra entry! So in total you can enter 8 times each. Eight times! That’s a lot of chances to win. And by commenting I mean HERE, not on Facebook! And at 12 a.m. (midnight) EST on November 18th I will close the comments & pick a winner. Just please make sure you leave a valid e-mail address! That is, after all, how I’ll be contacting the winner. I can’t promise you’ll have it by Thanksgiving, but remember Christmas is coming. I guarantee you’ll want to be makin’ up some of these delicious cookies for your Christmas baking (I definitely will be). So come on, get on it- ENTER! Everyone has a shot, it might be you.
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  1. I love Pampered Chef’s Pumpkin Whoopie Pies – they are so delicious (although time consuming), but I got so many compliments, it actually made me feel like a rock star baker (baking is by far, NOT one of my strong skills)!

  2. My all time favorite would have to be Snickerdoodles for the simple fact that the smell of the cinnamon & nutmeg is so comforting & warm.

  3. I adore made from scratch Snickerdoodle cookies. My mom has the best recipe in the world for these-not too crispy, not too chewy, just right. They are the cookie I remember her making as I grew up, and all my friends were like “what are these?? are there chocolate chips??” but I knew how great they really were!

  4. My favorite cookies are gingerbread men cookies, because they remind me of Christmas season with my maternal grandparents, which were the best X-mas EVER, and because it’s so much fun to water-board them in a big glass of milk! 😉

  5. Favorite cookie of all time has to be… this one chocolate chip cookie recipe that’s called “Big Fat Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies”. They are amazing when you make them right, and if you substitute half the butter for crisco, they’re even better. They’re perfectly chewy and crunchy on the outside, and amazing when still melty from the oven. I made them one night with my older sibling and they came out rancid because of one of the ingredients – we ate like 5 of them before deciding they had to be trashed. Really really funny experience. The second batch was phenomenal though. <3 Here's the recipe, they're amazing. (Courtesy of Tyler Florence)

    2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
    1 teaspoon baking soda
    1 teaspoon salt
    1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
    1/2 cup white sugar
    3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
    1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
    2 large eggs
    1 (8-ounce) block dark chocolate, coarsely chopped

    Directions

    Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

    Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.

    Place the butter, sugar, and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer; cream together on medium speed until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Beat in the vanilla and eggs. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and continue to mix until a smooth batter forms. Turn off the mixer and fold in the chocolate chunks using the spatula.

    To form the cookies, scoop about 1/4 cup of cookie dough into your hands and roll it around into a ball; place them about 3-inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets; you should get about 4 cookies on each pan. Press down the tops of the dough slightly and bake until the cookies are light brown, 12 minutes for chewy cookies, or about 15 minutes for crispy cookies.

    Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough/cookie sheets.

  6. Chocolate chip cookies – also my boys’ favorite while growing up and still is. I would chill the dough in the frig before I baked them, and they would be eating the uncooked dough. I tried to tell them about eating raw eggs but that didn’t seem to deter them. They thought the dough was better than the baked cookied but that didn’t seem to stop them from eating the baked cookies!

  7. I make these cookies called Montana Buffalo Chip Cookies and they are SO good! I occasionally switch up what kinda “chips” I use in it. I especially love them made with toffee chips.

  9. My favorite cookies are oatmeal raisin. Have been since I was a little girl. My great grandmother was the baker in our family, and everything she made was fantastic. However, she always had a batch of these on hand, and they were gone by the time I left her house. I made a batch with her help once for my first grade class, and all the kids stuck their noses up at them because they were oatmeal, not chocolate chip. Once they tried them though they were asking for seconds. Great Grandma Leona is gone now, but I can’t so much as see an oatmeal cookie without thinking of her.

    I am a fan of you on Facebook., shared this post, and added Quirkbooks. Sadly I don’t tweet, but thats just me. 🙂 I can’t wait to make these cookies!

  10. My favorite cookie of all time is my Aunt Cathy’s Chocolate Chip cookies. I honestly don’t remember a holiday without them. She has always made them the size of a child’s face and they taste freaking amazing! They are almost cake like in texture, not greasy, soft, but not too soft and the flavor of the cookie dough is the best in the world in my opinion. But I’m biased. 😉 One of our “unspoken” family holiday traditions is that we know dessert is on the table when my Uncle comes out of a hidden corner trying to hide the fact that there’s half of a large cookie dancing in his mouth. It’s awesome.

  17. The Chocolate Drop cookies my mom always makes at Christmas because they were chocolate with chocolate frosting and that was the only time she would make them.

    I did everything needed for the 8 entries although I already was a fan/follower of Quirk books which is how I found you. Thanks for the chance to win!

  18. My all time favorite cookie is Peanut Blossoms- I can get peanut butter AND chocolate in the same cookie and they are sooo easy to make.

  21. Peanut Butter is my favorite cookie. It’s the one I cannot pass up. Ever.

    Why do I love it? I dunno. Oddly enough I love it more than a cookie with both peanut butter and chocolate. And I adore chocolate.

  22. All time favorite cookie would be Molasses Cookies! No clue where the recipe came from, but my family has been making them for years. The best part is rolling the dough into little balls and tossing them in sugar before baking. Love the little sugar lined crackles on top!

  24. My husband loves a pecan crisp cookie I make… I love almost all cookies, one of my new favorites is a lemonhead cookie. And can’t go wrong with a chocolate chip cookie with coconut and pecans!

  28. Now for my favorite cookie of all time. It would have to be my late (only passed a few weeks ago) mother-in-law’s sugar cookies. They are so moist with a simple lemon glaze. They are different than normal sugar cookies, they have sour cream and nutmeg in them. I can’t get enough of them when she or I make them. We would get a plate, a big cup of coffee and talk and eat them. I’m going to miss that this year.

  29. My favorite cookies to eat are chocolate chip but my favorite cookies to make are Lemon Jumbles because they are my family’s FAVORITE cookie ever. Their faces when they take a bit would make you think they had just eaten a piece of heaven!

  33. My favorite is dark chocolate-covered coconut macaroons. I love the snap of the chocolate against the chewy coconut.

  34. I love the $250 Neiman Marcus cookie because when I make these, people go crazy. I’ve had brothers get into fights about who got more than the other. I’ve had work colleagues steal them from the buffet table by the boxful and hide them in their lockers to take home to their kids. I also love this cookie because the recipe makes a huge batch of 12 dozen and so I don’t have to make it that often in order for friends and family to get their fix. I also enjoy eating them. But truly, my all-time favorite cookie is the humble snickerdoodle because my husband has an aftershave (Angel for Men) that makes him smell like one and I love my husband. I’ll have a fondness of this cookie forever more.

  35. Pizzelles! My nana & mother would make hundreds on a little one-at-a-time iron (til they gave in to modern technology and got a 2-cookie electric). They made them for Christmas, of course, and they made chocolate ones as well as the black walnut anise originals. When I was little I loved ‘helping’ by chopping the walnuts in one of those little churn jars. Love you, continued success! Hope I win!!

  38. My favorite cookie to eat are my grandma’s oatmeal raisin cookies. They were my grandpa’s favorite cookies, and I always think of him and smile when I eat one. My favorite cookies to bake, however, are coconut lime sugar cookies. It’s not the same when I try and make Mamaw’s oatmeal cookies, so I’ve found and perfected something completely different.

  41. Santa’s Whiskers cookies are my absolute favorite. Perfect blend of cherries, pecans and coconut, and the way the sugar carmelizes on the edges. Yummy!!! I know they are mostly a christmas cookie but there is no law that says you can’t enjoy them all year long. Nothing is better than a little reminder of christmas any time of the year. If you haven’t tried them, I highly recommend it. If you have, then you know what I am talking about!!

  42. And I am already a Facebook fan, and follower of your blog. Have tried several of your recipes with fantastic reviews and results!!

  43. Mmmm, you mean I have to choose a favorite cookie? They are all my favorite, really they are! Ok, I will pick just one because you say so…and because I really NEED that cook book. So here it is: Snickerdoodle Sandwich Cookies. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.

  44. Mujer I’m all over your Twitter & Facebook 🙂

    Fav cookie is persimmon cookie that we’ve made forever. Its soft and chewy and has a very distinct taste. I think I like it for two reasons: 1 its a funky looking cookie that doesnt visually match up to the look and I like that 2) it was my Abuela’s recipe and its the first thing I can remember her teaching me to bake.

  45. My favorite cookies our called “Old Fashion Sugar Cookies”.
    Because the recipe is from my great gram and not only are they delish and awesome! It’s the first cookie I ever remember making with my mom, and a lot! great for holidays with some sprinkles on top! but any time of the year. I used to enter them into baking competitions as a kid and always win! they are that good!
    they are almost cake like. mmmmmmm
    now I want to go make some! hehe

  46. Facebook done, but I don’t have twitter.
    My favorite of all time in Chocolate Chip Cookies. These were the first ones my mom taught me how to make and I can remember being on a chair by her side learning how to make them (and just waiting for the cookie dough). We do things a little differently when it comes to the butter by doing a certain amount of butter and then crisco, and they always taste great; it’s how my mom does it and it was how my grandma did it as well. My best friend can never get them made the same way we can and I end up giving them to her for her birthday or Christmas. Of course my mom has taught me how to make many cookies since then, but this will always be the best.

  47. Great cookbook – I had no idea it existed, but it looks sweet!
    My fave cookie is brown butter chocolate chip. Nothing fancy. It’s just plain satisfying, and tastes like home.

  50. My favorite cookie has got to be the good old fashion Quaker oatmeal cookie. I add, pecans, cranberries and white chocolate to change it up. Mmmmmm…..Gotta try those frosted maple pecan. They look delish! Hugs!

  53. BTW, captcha is annoying as helllllll. I have to use it @work on a lot of the sites we use for verification. :/

  55. My favorite cookie has got to be my mom’s sour cream cut out cookie. It is several generations old and we had to translate it into English. I have several memories of making dozens every Christmas.

  56. My favorite cookies are old fashion sugar cookies with lemon in them. As a kid, I used to bake them all the time with my grandma before we went camping, and then sitting around the camp fire eating them days later.

  57. My favorite cookies are the three layered cookies. Everybody has a different name for them and I can never find them anywhere. They have a thin layer of chocolate, then like green, pink and yellow layers of cake. They are soooooooooooooooooooo yummy. I love them. I just call them the rainbow cookies. Lol. I love them because my grandfather brought them from New York from and upstate bakery every time he went and came back when I was small. They remind of my childhood. Best thing ever.

  58. My favorite cookies would have to be chocolate chip straight out of the oven. They’re the first thing I learned how to bake and there have definitely been lots of burned tongues since I started baking, but that first bite of warm melty chocolate makes it all worth it!

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