The Great Big Cookie Book: Over 200 Recipes for Cookies, Brownies, Scones, Bars and Biscuits [Hardcover]

Hilaire Walden (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1998

Home baking is never so easy or enjoyable as when making your own cookies, and one of the greatest pleasures of life must be sampling them warm from the oven, crumbling with goodness and taste. Infinitely varied, simple to make and delicious to consume, homemade cookies will always be a treat. This is the complete book of cookie recipes with confections for every occasion and taste.

The first chapter is devoted to traditional cookies, recipes handed down and enjoyed by generations: Granola Cookies, Melting Moments, Apple Sauce Cookies, Peanut Butter Cookies, Buttermilk Biscuits and Double Chocolate Cookies. Festive occasions include an international element with Baklava, Jewish Cinnamon Balls, Tuiles d'Amandes and Mocha Viennese Swirls. With chapters on savory cookies, brownies and bars, and scones and muffins, together with a special selection of recipes for kids to enjoy, this book covers every kind of cookie imaginable.

A comprehensive introduction to the recipes gives valuable hints and tips on storage, equipment, weighing and measuring ingredients, together with all the basic baking techniques used in the book.

Illustrated throughout with photographs of every recipe, together with step-by-step instructions and pictures, this irresistible compendium is the only cookie book you will ever need in your kitchen.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Lorenz Books; 1 ed. edition (April 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 189663916X
• ISBN-13: 978-1840384086
• ASIN: 1840384085
• Product Dimensions: 11.8 x 8.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,855,311 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Pretty But Disappointing, September 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Great Big Cookie Book: The Ultimate Book of Cookies, Brownies, Bars and Biscuits (Paperback)

I selected this very attractive book as a gift for a baker friend; before wrapping, I browsed through it and was so intrigued I bought another copy for myself. Unfortunately, everything I have made from it has been disappointing. The 'Cheddar Pennies' (p. 120) were oily and lacy, and although I don't consider myself an expert baker, it would appear that there is probably an error in the quantity of flour. The 'Blueberry Muffins' (p. 200) were also oily in texture and somewhat bland in flavor. My friend made the 'Chocolate and Nut Refrigerator Cookies' (p. 57): The cookies were good, but she had trouble getting them to come out the way they were supposed to. On page 112, there is a recipe for 'Decorated Chocolate Lebkuchen'. It calls for 'one recipe of Lebkuchen mixture', but when turning to page 14 (where the index indicates Lebkuchen will be found), there is a photo tutorial on measuring ingredients. It is a beautiful book, but it would appear more appropriate for the coffee table than the kitchen.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars very disappointing, December 17, 1999

By 

Eugene Mah "physics geek" (Charleston, SC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Great Big Cookie Book: Over 200 Recipes for Cookies, Brownies, Scones, Bars and Biscuits (Hardcover)

I received this book as a gift from my mother-in-law, who knows I enjoy cooking and baking. I consider myself a fairly accomplished baker and cook, although I'm not a professional. Nevertheless, all of the recipes in this book that I tried were complete flops. It made me wonder if any of the recipes had been kitchen tested at all. None of the recipes I selected were terribly complicated. The Chocolate Chip Hazelnut cookies I tried looked all right to start, but they came out resembling something more like a puff pastry, but not nearly as appetizing. The chocolate macaroons were soggy and gooey, not at all like the picture in the book. The gingerbread squares came out dense, heavy and pretty much inedible. The pictures are very nice to look at, but I fear that's all this book may be good for.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not sure if it's me or the book..., October 11, 2002

By 

Jennifer Wallin (Long Beach, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Great Big Cookie Book: Over 200 Recipes for Cookies, Brownies, Scones, Bars and Biscuits (Hardcover)

Every recipe I have tried from The Great Big Cookie Book has been an utter failure. It's not obvious if I did something wrong, or if they are just bad recipes. I made snickerdoodles, and they came out like little scones. My mom pointed out later that their recipe is missing a key snickerdoodle ingredient - cream of tartar. In fact, all of the cookies I have tried from this book have the consistency of cake rather than what I consider cookie texture. And they are very bland - whatever you do don't make the peanut butter cookies if you are craving a sweet treat! I have had much better results with other baking books, so keep searching!