Oh, how I love to bake (and, OK, eat) cookies. There is so much inspiration at this time of the year. Everywhere you turn there are family recipes being shared and beautiful new types to try. If you didn't catch the very super awesome compilation Gourmet.com put together of their favorite cookie recipes from each year the magazine has been in print (i.e. since 1941), head on over. It is really fun to look at the beautiful photos and see the array of recipes...especially how tastes changed through the years, yet are still appealing today (one of the true bits of genius behind the magazine, IMHO, is how it manages to stay relevant decades later).The only problem I can see with that menagerie of cookies is: Where? To? Start? I thought I might contact my favorite food editor at the magazine, Ian Knauer, and ask him which of the recipes were his favorites. I figured he had a hand in testing all those recipes, right? He reported that he loves the boubon balls (from 1980 -- doesn't that just seem like a recipe from 1980??), palets de dames (madeleine-type cookies with rum-soaked currants, from 1952), Dutch caramel cashew cookies (1972) and the Biscotti Quadrati al Miele e alle Nocce (a.k.a. honey nut squares....2003).
I personally have my eyes and heart set on those jam-filled Trios pictured above. So, there you have it. Get baking!
photo courtesy of gourmet.com.
p.s. Someday I will have to tell you about the time I got to meet Ian and his awesome wife Micheli when they came to town a couple of months back!
Those jam filled trios look almost too beautiful to eat. Almost.
ReplyDeleteI am so boring and tend to make the same cookies every year just because we have certain traditions. I always make almond crescents (similar to mexican wedding cookies), pecan balls, gingerbread, and melomakarona (traditional greek christmas cookies that are my absolute fave - I may post the recipe in the upcoming weeks). I might have to branch out and look at that page for inspiration.
mmm, those trios look exquisite. Does baking exist with a newborn? I really want to do *some* baking this season! My go-to favorites are family recipes: my mom's buttery madeleines, my grandpa's favorite pfefferneuse, my husband's lemony sugar cookies... might try some honey caramels this year, if I can!
ReplyDeleteWell, it's happened again: I found a new blog and I'm spending all evening going through the archives. You're the lucky blog today.
ReplyDeleteI made these jam trios for a cookie swap in 2007. They were definitely the prettiest cookies there, if I do say so myself. However, the Nutella cookies I brought last year were much more delicious (and coveted).
Oh, and now that it's warmer, you probably also need to know about Peanut Butter Pie. [Sorry for the blog pimping, but it would be wrong for me to keep PB Pie to myself.]