Customer Reviews

Rose's Christmas Cookies

5 star:		(51)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

`Rose's Christmas Cookies' by Rose Levy Beranbaum is a cookie baking book you should have if you enjoy baking cookies, even if you have one or a dozen other books on cookie baking. She gives the same lovingly detailed tutorial on virtually every aspect of cookie baking which you may want to know. I have reviewed two other major cookie books and have skimmed several other books I plan to review and Beranbaum's book stands alone in the amount of detail she gives on cookie baking technique.

Anyone familiar with her `Bibles' on bread, pastry, and cakes will be familiar with the depth to which she goes in explaining the secrets of this little corner of baking. There are several reasons that make this book stand out from the pack.

First, there is the detailed coverage of cookie baking ingredients and tools. The most important tool aside from the oven is the cookie sheet. I am chastised by reading that my pricy Calphalon jelly roll pans plus Silpat silicone lining is not the best platform for baking cookies. Also, there are great sections on how to deal with some of the more fussy nuts such as hazelnuts and how to tell the difference between unblanched, blanched, slivers, sliced, chopped, medium coarse chop, fine course chopped, and powdered nuts. Also, there is excellent coverage of virtually every other ingredient. Beranbaum, for example, explains the differences between butters and imitation butters and why the imitations simply don't work as well as the real thing. This treatment is especially good in giving formulas for substituting one combination of ingredients for another. The most useful is how to replace brown sugar with granulated sugar plus molasses. This is so easy, I wonder why I bother to stock brown sugar at all.

Second, there are the instructions on cookie decorating techniques including very careful pictorial demonstrations on how to use a standard piping bag, an improvised zip top plastic bag piping bag, and a parchment cone piping tool.

Third, all recipe amounts are given in both English and Metric units. This may seem unimportant until you get the urge to contribute cookies to a Boy Scout bake sale and want to multiply a recipe by four. As long as you have the proper measuring devices, this is much, much easier to do with metric units.

Fourth, almost all recipe procedures are described for both a food processor and a stand mixer. I am genuinely surprised that professional baker Beranbaum prefers the food processor, as the stand mixer technique is very easy to multiply using commercial sized Hobart mixers. But then, this book is about Miss Rose's family recipes, and, while Beranbaum is a professional, her speciality is in writing, teaching, and trying out new ideas rather than grinding out thousands of cookies for a posh Manhattan patisserie. The author is very careful to point out that the two techniques do not give identical results. The food processor will give better results in creating a `Bakers sugar' size from standard granulated sugar and it saves one the trouble of bringing the butter to room temperature. But, there is the danger that your food processor will turn a batch of nuts into nut butter if you run it for too long.

Fifth, Miss Beranbaum reserves her precious space for some of the more difficult types of cookies, up to and including a gingerbread replica of the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. No, I am not kidding. It is really in the book with templates and everything. Most of the other recipes in the book are also just a bit less common than average. Where the author does touch on a standard that you will find in other books such as the very thin Moravian spice cookies, you will find tips about handling these extremely delicate cutouts.

Sixth, the book gives excellent advice on how to store dough before baking, how to store baked cookies, and how to get cookies through the US Postal Service or your carrier of choice without excessive breakage. I was especially tickled when she said many of these lessons came from her experiences shipping mercury thermometers here and there. Having had an up close and professional relation with precision thermometers as a chemist, I can really appreciate how Miss B learned her lessons.

Seventh, the book is divided into unusual but very useful categories such as:

Tree and Mantelpiece Cookies
Cookies for Giving
Cookies to Make for or With Kids
Cookies for an Open House
Cookies for Sending
Cookies for Holiday Dinner Parties (including the scale model of the Notre Dame cathedral).

Eighth, in spite of all the professional technical advice, this is still a very personal book with lots of endearing stories about how Miss Rose came upon many of these recipes.

Since this book does not cover many of the simpler traditional cookie types, you will actually gain by combining this book with other volumes whose main strength is coverage of the standards. In fact, as good as this book is, it does not preclude a high rating to other cookie books, even other Christmas cookie books, as they may be more suitable for a person who is simply too busy to walk through all the material here and simply wants a reliable Toll House cookie recipe or spice cookie cutout recipe.

The most useful advice in a book loaded with advice is the permission to rework cookie doughs as much as you want. They are simply a lot more forgiving than, for example, pastry or biscuit doughs. Cookies are easy baking tasks and you don't really need Ms. Beranbaum's exacting treatment, but if you are not happy unless you know everything you need to know, this book is definitely for you.

Very highly recommended for all amateur cookie bakers.

Rose's Christmas Cookies is a beautiful and practical book. I, myself, found it more practical and useful than The Cake Bible since making a batch of exotic cookies is not quite so time-consuming as making an exotic cake. I also think the novice baker could get a lot of use out of this book, while I found The Cake Bible and The Pie and Pastry Bible more useful for advanced bakers. In this book, one will find recipes for every kind of cookie imaginable--to eat as well as for decorating. Rose also gives up tips on how to package cookies for sending through the mail, which cookies to send, etc. The directions are very complete and easy to follow--both for baking and for decorating. If Christmas is a big occasion in your home, as it is in mine, then this book will go a long way toward making it even better.

Rose Beranbaum, the author, must simply love what she does. All of her books just shine with enthusiasm and mirth. Couple that with her precision and good taste and you have wonderful recipes, every time. There are full-color photos accompanying every single recipe, and Beranbaum's comments are truly fun and memorable.

The cookies range from homespun to exotic. One of the exotic cookies that I love is the delicate snowflakes made out of meringue. She also has the BEST homemade dog biscuit recipe I have ever made. Dogs will do absolutely anything in their power to get these biscuits!!

The cookies in this book are ones that you would serve to your most exalted guests, but most are easy enough to make any time, so don't wait for Christmas, use it all year round.

Dear Reader, Thank you for the universal praise of this book of my heart! And thank you for your comment about the book binding problem--one that breaks my heart. My only consolation is to say that it is easier to work with recipes that are loose as you can put them up on the wall with a special clip and also that you can have the book rebound with a stitched binding. It is beautiful enough to warrant it. I also give you my word that my next book, which will be a comprehensive bread book, will be with a publisher who is willing to put in the contract that the book will have a stitched binding! This is a rare thing in the American publishing industry these days because it is expensive, but in my opinion, a book that is going to be laid flat and used again and again in the kitchen and not just read once in bed requires and deserves it! Needless to say, do not xrox from it as that further encourages the glued binding to snap.

This is such a great book for serious cookie bakers. I bake hundreds of cookies each holiday season, and I love all the extra info you get on how to store and how long the cookies stay good. I start baking the freezable cookies in october, then follow with cookies the book says will stay long at room temp, and so on and so on. The only negitive thing I can say is I have baked almost all the cookies in the book many times over, and would love a sequel to this book, so I can try some new ones!!!

Like many of you out there in review land, I bake a couple thousand or so cookies each Christmas to give as gifts. Usually round about September, friends and relatives start asking me if I'm going to bake the ones that are their particular favorites, whatever those might be. As a veteran cookie baker, I can't say enough good things about this book from Rose Levy Beranbaum. First of all, there is a large, full color glossy of every single cookie in the book. So you know exactly what they should look like. Secondly, she not only gives you very, very explicit measurements in both cups and grams, but her directions are quite thorough and well-explained. Then she tells you exactly how to store each kind of cookie, and how long it keeps. This is really helpful to me, since I bake about a dozen different kinds of cookies for gifts between Thanksgiving and Christmas. This way I can bake the cookies that keep the best first, and work my way toward the more fragile ones toward the end.

It's hard to imagine how anyone might have failed with any of these recipes. They're fabulous, and guaranteed to win you popularity, if not outright love.

Some of my favorite ones from this book have been the Swiss Lebkuchen, the Peanut Butter Jewels, the Lemon Bars, and the Melting Moments. The Lemon Bars are a lot more work than the usual version of this cookie -- you have to pre-bake the shortbread crust, cook the lemon curd, then combine the two and bake, but it's well worth it -- by far the best lemon bar I've ever made or eaten. The Melting Moments cookie, a fragile meltaway covered with high-quality dark chocolate is my personal favorite.

The only thing in this book that didn't work for me was the gingerbread for the gingerbread house. I won't go into the lengthy and hilarious story of how my kitchen-challenged friend and I tried to make a gingerbread house with our friends the 6 musician-brothers (also not cooks) -- but it was an unqualified disaster! The whole thing just fell apart endlessly. However, considering the glory of all the other recipes in the book, I'm quite sure that we did something wrong, and that the fault does not lie in the recipe.

This is the only Christmas cookie book you need. This book is always pulled out at the start of the holiday season. Not only do the georgeous pictures put you in the holiday spirit but it also reminds me of the delicious memories of the wonderful cookies I have made from this book. I know that the binding may crack(7 years and still whole) but wouldn't you rather have a well-loved book that you use or a perfect binding of a book that never gets a second glance. Sequel Please.

I bought this book for myself this Christmas baking season and I am soooo glad I did. What a beautiful book. I made 4 types of cookies out of it this year and each of them were fantastic! I absolutely LOVE the lemon bars. And although other reviewers have said that the Magohany Buttercrunch didn't come out for them, I had no problems with it at all. Delicious! Aside from the tasty recipes, this book is very well written and organized and contains a wealth of information about cookie baking. Here is what you can expect to find with every recipe:

1)A beautiful picture accompanying it, so there is no question what the finished product is supposed to look like.
2)A detailed ingredient list, broken down in volume, ounces and grams, making it user friendly for every baker.
3)A detailed equipment list outlining exactly what you will need in order to make each recipe. This is a very nice feature, given that many recipes have the equipment needed buried inside the recipe descriptions. Nothing worse than being in the middle of a recipe and realizing you don't have that candy thermometer that you need!
4)Several different mixing methods when appropriate (ie/food processor method, electric mixer method or by hand). It's great to be able to choose the method!
5)Storage and longevity information about every recipe. Detailed information about how each cookie can be stored (if they can be frozen and/or if they can be kept at room temp or need to be refrigerated) and how long the cookies will keep with each storing method. This is VERY valuable information.
6)A "Smart Cookie" section providing hints and useful information about every recipe.
7)A personal introduction from the author about every recipe, giving a detailed description of the cookie, what you can expect if you make it and what the recipe means to the author (whether it was a cherished childhood recipe, a recipe shared by a friend or one that she tweaked herself to arrive at the best version, etc). This personal touch is a welcome addition to an already fabulous book.

Aside from all the detail provided with every recipe, there are other very useful sections with valuable information. The introduction, for example, has wonderful information about the best way to package cookies for shipping so that they arrive in one piece. (Thank you so much for that, Rose. I sent over 5 dozen cookies to my family in Florida and they all arrived intact!)There is also very detailed information in the back of the book about equipment, common baking ingredients, equivalencies and substitutions, techniques, etc. etc. etc. I cannot recommend this book enough for anyone who loves baking cookies, whether it's for the holidays or for any occasion throughout the year. Rose's knowledge and love of baking is expressed so beautifully in this wonderful book. I know it will always be a cherished book in my kitchen.

This book is designed for people who want to serve up the highest premium quality cookies imaginable. There are many recipes and each one is thorough and very concise. Each recipe offers background information and key points for the best success. Very helpful apendices that give information about a variety of tools to make processing of cookies easier along with professional explanations of ingredients. Many times the novice does not have an understanding of what specific terms mean and the author spends a great deal of attention with photos to terms such as the differences between coarse, medium, and finely chopped nuts displaying many varieties. I have had excellent results with my expectations being met. I have had this book for around two months and have produced many cookies, the book binding seems to be just fine. One additional note is that for a few recipes a highly accurate candy/deep fry themometer is required. Rose produces these fantastic thermometers and offers a list of sources where these can be purchased. Very fragile but extremely accurate.

Rose did an excellent job choosing the recipes for this book. Some recipes could be difficult to make if you are a beginner, but if you are an adventurous baker, I am sure you will be happy to get this book. The instructions are clear, every recipe has a picture of the final cookie, all in all it is a very beautiful book to have. I have collected all of her cookbooks, and this is one of my favorites.