Dorie's Cookies

by Dorie Greenspan

Over the course of her baking career, Dorie Greenspan has created more than 300 cookie recipes. Yet she has never written a book about them—until now. To merit her “three purple stars of approval,” every cookie had to be so special that it begged to be made again and again. Cookies for every taste and occasion are here. There are company treats like Portofignos, with chocolate dough and port-soaked figs, and lunch-box Blueberry Buttermilk Pie Bars. They Might Be Breakfast Cookies are packed with goodies—raisins, dried apples, dried cranberries, and oats— while Almond Crackle Cookies have just three ingredients. There are dozens of choices for the Christmas cookie swaps, including Little Rascals (German jam sandwich cookies with walnuts), Italian Saucissons (chocolate log cookies studded with dried fruit), and Snowy-Topped Brownie Drops. And who but America’s favorite baker could devise a cookie as intriguing as Pink-Peppercorn Thumbprints or as popular as the World Peace Cookie, with its 59 million Internet fans?   

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Nonfiction, Culinary, Reference, Christmas

528 pages, Hardcover

First published October 25, 2016

About the author

Called a culinary guru by the New York Times, Dorie Greenspan is the author of the James Beard Awardwinning Baking: From My Home to Yours, which inspired the creation of the online baking community Tuesdays with Dorie. She has been passionately involved with French food for the last three decades. With Pierre Herm, she wrote Desserts by Pierre Herm, winner of an IACP Cookbook of the Year Award, and Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Herm, winner of the Gourmand prize for best cookbook in the English language. Greenspan won both an IACP and a James Beard Award for her Baking with Julia. She is also the author of Paris Sweets and The Caf Boulud Cookbook (with Daniel Boulud). Inducted into the Whos Who of Food and Beverage in America, she is a contributing editor to Parade magazine, writes regularly for Bon Apptit, and is a frequent guest on NPRs All Things Considered and The Splendid Table. Greenspan lives in New York City, Westbrook, Connecticut, and Paris."

Reviews

[Kim Kaso · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recently gave this as a gift to a friend who entertains frequently. I knew I thought it was a treasure of a cookbook, turns out she put it to immediate use as she makes cookies every month for a tea her non-profit holds for their clients. She said she got raves about the cookies, and then she made a variety of them for her Christmas Eve Open House. Fabulous!

[Mickey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book on making cookies: that I know of.

Sorry to "King Arthur Cookie Companion" a book that will no longer be in use.

[daemyra, the realm's delight · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this cookbook because I dreamed of perfect chocolate chip cookie recipes, and this kept popping up. This is a good cookie cookbook, but I'm not sure this is a keeper for me.

The chapters of Dorie's Cookies is organized thus: 1) brownies, bars and biscotti, 2) everyday cookies, 3) cookies for special occasions, 4) the sable cookies she sold at her cookie boutique in NYC, Beurre & Sel, 5) cocktail cookies and 6) cookie fillings, creams. etc. Not to mention an introduction to proper techniques and equipment.

It's nice to leaf through for inspiration - there's a recipe for Milano cookies! (named Biarritz in the book) - but I haven't been blown away by any of the recipes. I was very happy with both of the madeleine recipes and the macaroon recipe, but note these aren't the cookies... The macaroon recipe, by the way, is not her recipe but a recipe she's decided to pass down. If you read the stories behind the recipes, a few follow this theme, which is a bit amusing to me.

I also agree with some of the reviews that the recipe instructions aren't always the most accessible. Too much text but not the most helpful text. Design-wise, I also think they made a bad decision with the spine. There is a random image of Biarritz Cookies at the top and then an author photo. Both lovely but randomly placed, and the cookbook doesn't look good on display.

[Vicki · Rating 5 out of 5]

As we speak, I have a batch and a half of blackberry jammers in progress and already consider myself a devotee of this book. The stories attached to each cookie are the real treat, and I've adored Greenspan's techniques and style for years--both are in full force in this book. I guess what I mean to say is that her voice shines through everywhere in this book.

[Bronwyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't actually care for cookies that much. I think they're usually more trouble than they're worth, but they are very transportable and a thing you can grab from your freezer and pop in the oven in the case of a potluck or chocolate emergency. Which are real things that happen to me. But anyway.

Dorie Greenspan is much beloved by a certain set of cookbook watchers, but I haven't used one of her books before. This one drew me in with the design and with a big chapter on savory cookies. The design may not age well, but I love the bright, saturated colors and gorgeous photographs that make me interested in a recipe if the title didn't grab me.

I've made 4 recipes so far: lemon sugar cookies, chocolate brownie drops, blue cheese and honey madeleines, and Old Bay cheddar crackers. The first two were phenomenal, the latter two good with caveats.

Most of the recipes look like they would be fine for novice bakers, but others require a savvy eye. The initial dough for the Old Bay crackers was far, far too crumbly, and I ended up adding an extra half stick of butter to bring it together. I think it actually needed an egg or two, which I will try next time. There are both weight and volume measures for the ingredients, but without experience, that doesn't save a recipe if your flour is thirsty or if the baking gods are against you that day. In some of the recipes she gives those key instructions that help you know that you're on the right track (the dough looking "silky", for example) but in others she doesn't.

Besides the chapter on savory cookies, I really appreciated that she divided other chapters up by "everyday" cookies and "project" cookies. Sometimes you just want to spend 15 minutes throwing things together, and sometimes you're up for a multi-day adventure. It's nice to be able to browse with those aims.

Anyway... so far I'm really liking it! It will be my go-to for portable desserts in the near future.

[Lesli · Rating 2 out of 5]

Underwhelmed and disappointed.

[Adrianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dorie Greenspan opens the door to a whole new world of sweet and savory possibilities. In her new cookbook, Dorie shares her personal and professional cookie secrets: recipes, techniques, and gear only a true cookie perfectionist would know to employ. For instance, how many of us pop in whatever we are baking as soon as the oven reaches temperature? I know I am guilty. But, do you know why you should not do this?

With Dorie’s wisdom in your Kindle library, or her cookbook at your fingertips, you will have an encyclopedia of cookies—no more searching the internet or cookbook dessert sections because everything Cookies is included in Dorie’s Cookies. The Kindle version of this book does not support Page Flip (an e-book feature I really like) but, overall, it scales nicely for all my devices, a picture follows each recipe, and the link below the pic takes you back to the beginning of the recipe. Much as I love hard-bound books, more and more I am appreciating e-books that I can access right in the grocery store to check the ingredients I will need to try a new recipe.

I would usually recommend a collection of international and gourmet recipes like “Mulled Wine Jammers” to an experienced baker. However, with the special how-to and how-come sections, I think this is a great buy or gift for anyone who loves and wants to make delicious cookies regardless of prior baking experience. I especially appreciated the “Storing” instructions included with each recipe. Read the techniques, start with the easy ones, and by this time next year you, too, will be making gourmet cookies. Enjoy!

[Louise Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been an admirer of Dorie Greenspan's work ever since Baking with Julia was published, and my favorite thing to bake is cookies! So I've been looking forward to this cookbook for months. It does not disappoint! Gorgeously designed and photographed, it's a treasury of mouth-watering cookie and bar recipes. I will happily bake my way through this entire book. This is the perfect gift for your baking friends!

[Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mindbogglingly thorough and mouthwateringly delicious - a true and loving testament to the artistry of cookie baking with 500+ pages of inspiration to elevate one's cookie game to sophisticated but achievable heights. The World Peace Cookies are no joke and I'd happily eat a Jammer with an ice cold glass of milk every night for the rest of time. Yummmmm.

[Doris · Rating 2 out of 5]

How do you make cookies boring? I don't understand how, but Greenspan managed it. Ordinarily I like her books, but this one left me cold.

[Bridget · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this book. Every cookie I've made out of it so far is wonderful, and I really like the photos of each recipe. I highly recommend the Cardamom Coffee cookies (Nick eats those, not me) and the Oreo-esque sandwich cookies, but make them tiny so they're bite size because they are EXTRA delicious that way.

[Sophie Brookover · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one I know I'll return to repeatedly for both the technique suggestions & the flavor possibilities.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

You’ve heard of Julie and Julia? I might need to do the spin-off . . . Lori and Dorie.

[Parisa Soraya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic recipes and full of excellent tips to make baking a breeze (how did I not know parchment paper pre-sized sheets existed??)

[Lisa Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gonna have to buy my own copy. Tons of new ideas in here!

[jeanmarie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really nice cookbook. I’ve made five recipes from it: a chocolate chip, mint chocolate sable, vanilla sable, garam masala graham cracker, and a gin biscuit cookie. They’re all solid (the gin biscuit is weird but I like it sort of).

I think if you really love cookies and/or don’t have a lot of good baking books in your arsenal, it’s worth it. Since I have her other baking book, I won’t buy it. But I’m totally copying the mint chocolate sables and graham cracker recipes!

Pros: has metric weights, good variety of recipes that are sorted by kind and difficulty (‘project cookies’ are clearly identified!), instructions are clear, most recipes not too difficult, some unusual (but not forced) combinations.

Cons: the physical size of the book is adorable (more square), but most recipes then need to span multiple pages, lots of partial egg recipes (just yolk, etc, which I don’t love even though I could save the whites for macarons etc), overlap with her ‘baking from my home to yours’ cookbook.

I think this would be the perfect book for someone who entertains, or a cookie lover. I’ll probably check it out from the library again though!

[Amy Crawford · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I was a little girl, I would read just about any book that I could get my hands on. There was one book, however, that I would come back to again and again: Betty Crocker's "Cooky Book." Well-worn and always easily accessible in my mother's kitchen, there was something about the pages upon pages of possibility,: the fascinating swirls and variations and colorful pictures and flavors would absolutely thrill me.

Dorie Greenspan's "Dorie's Cookies" is perhaps the first cookbook I have picked up that sent that same thrill through my heart. The possibilities! The variations! The charming names like "French Snacklettes"! How could I NOT make the cocoa-tahini cookies, which promises to remind me of those little sesame crunch candies my grandmother used to keep around? As always, Dorie is impeccable in providing clear instructions while remaining down-to-earth and accessible. I picked this up as a library book, but ended up buying it!

[Lisa Shoreman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a remarkable book. The recipes are clear and easy to follow. The author explains the ‘why’ of her instructions. Alternative steps are offered for a slightly different result in some cases. Ingredients are specified as in butter and different chocolates. I would certainly suggest to skeptics that they check the book out of the library and really read through it. The recipes really give you an opportunity to expand your repertoire as well as your knowledge about cookie baking, and baking in general. The book will also lead you to her other books. Cakes, tarts, pastry, as well as entrees, salads... i am so happy to have become familiar with Dorie Greenspan’s body of work.

[Lucy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yay! I didn't realize we could review cookbooks!
This book weighs about the number of pounds I would gain if I baked all the delicious looking recipes. I know from experience that Ms. Greenspan's recipes work. I grabbed this book and lugged it home from the library as soon as I spied it beckoning me from the shelf. The photo illustrations are so clear and enticing could be scratch and sniff.
Here is my plea to all leaders of nations, please make and eat World Peace Cookies. No one could possibly want to take the time to wage a war when they could be eating those chocolate masterpieces.

[Susan]

Very clear instructions, plus excellent intro on the hows, whys, and whats of successful baking. The short history/ anecdote with each recipe makes this a highly enjoyable read, even if you don't bake. I have tried two recipes, both worked well, and were gobbled up by the crew.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love Dorie!!!

[Silke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect for the start of Christmas time!

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

To Read: Yes. Each recipe has a good story and valuable baking tips you won’t want to miss.

To Look At: Yes, the photography is by Davide Luciano, and he does a good job of highlighting these cookies. Each recipe has a photo, which I really appreciate. Although the descriptions of the the cookies are well-written, if you are just flipping through and trying to pick out a cookie you wanted to make, the photos will really help.

To Cook From: Yes! Each recipe is really well-detailed, with extra tips regarding ingredients and cooking methods. I think if you closely follow all the tips (which I didn’t very well with the Strawberry Shortcake Cookies), you will have success every time.

While, I did really love this cookbook, I had a couple of minor critiques. First, a lot of these cookie recipes were what I would call old-fashioned. There are a lot of nuts, dried fruit, ginger, and other ingredients that might not go over great with kids. They sound yummy to me, but probably wouldn’t be a big hit with the family. Second, her categories, which I mentioned in my overview of the book, were a little random. But there is a good index, which would help you find the recipe you are looking for.

[Abbigail · Rating 5 out of 5]

*Vegan cookie critic

Rating cookbooks is always really hard because we all have different tastes and I never make all the recipes before I rate it which I think is sort of required if you're going to judge a cookbook (obviously only to some extent, like the format or style could be trash), BUT I'm cool with giving Dorie five stars. I have only made the lemon sugar cookies and world peace cookies, but they were both great. (I preferred the lemon ones best though.) I substituted the butter for Country Crock's vegan butter and the egg for a flax egg and they were both great. I was really surprised by the lemon cookies. They felt nostalgic somehow but I couldn't really figure out why... The best part is blending the lemon zest with the sugar and it filling up the whole kitchen with a lemony scent. I don't even like lemon stuff, but I figured I had everything to make these so let's try it, and they were AMAZING. The world peace cookies were kind of rich and gritty the first night but following days eating them they were great.

I can't WAIT to try to make the jammers. I also loved the chapter breakdown of cookies that are quick vs. a project. I am usually all about savory stuff, but none of the savory cookies were catching my eye.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of unique recipes and some interesting techniques. She provides some history to the cookie recipes, details on how to store them, suggestions on how to adapt them, and excellent instructions.

A few have ingredients that I don't normally have on hand, but none of the ingredients are so esoteric that I can't them at my local grocery store. Some call for equipment that I don't have on hand; not expensive equipment and more prolific bakers will likely already have them.

So far I've made the fudgy mocha bars and the leckerli and they are both delicious. I have about 25 book marks for cookies to make this holiday season, but there's not a single cookie recipe in here that I'm not interested in trying at some point.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once again, I have spent the past few weeks thumbing through another cookbook. Joy of joys, it is a cookie cookbook. I am a self assigned cookie monster and will not apologize for my condition.

Again, I have been enjoying Dorie Greenspan's craft. Such a talent. It baffles the mind. I do enjoy her writing style and organization. For some reason, I feel like she's copied the recipe with tips and suggestions for me and just dropped it off in my mailbox. It just has that personal vibe.

That being said, I had to give it 4 stars. It just didn't quite stretch out to 5 for me. I think it may have been some of the wonky recipes that put me off. Hate to say that b/c it's practically impossible to have 100% satisfaction. JMHO.

Still pretty dang good.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cookbook on how to make various kinds of cookies: bars, every day cookies, holiday cookies, Beurre & Sel cookies (from her former storefront), and savory cookies for cocktails.

Read this one for my new Cooking the Books bookclub. Overall, I would say this cookbook is just so-so. I made or tried 18 cookies overall. Of those, 6 were good and 12 were ok. There are maybe one or two other varieties I'd like to try and might or might not. My favorite variety that I made were the lemon poppyseed shortbread cookies. I liked that the author gave lots of ideas of how you could change the recipes with differing ingredients. And overall I found the recipes really easy to make; many involved use of the food processor, which I've not used for cookies before and found it to be really easy.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't made any of these cookies yet, and I'm not overly sure I will. The thing about cookies is that they already take time because batches. But these cookies are unique and extreme. I'm sure that if I followed all of Dorie's techniques it would take me a good weekend to finish up a few batches. This is not a knock on Dorie. She sounds like the cookie queen!

But I value my time A LOT and I don't want to spend a weekend and only get like 40 cookies out of it. So while the book didn't excite me, it is a wonderful collection of beautiful and unique cookies. (Besides it never said they were easy recipes...)

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

All the cookies I made from this book were excellent: They looked just like the photo, they tasted delicious, and the recipe was easy to follow.

Unfortunately, the book has not been assembled in a way that makes it easy for the baker to use: all the recipes I have cooked have required me to turn the page part way through, and back-and-forth flipping is required when searching for ingredient amounts. The pages of this book are enormous - 9 x 9 inches / 24 x 24 cm - it should be possible to fit an entire recipe on a double page, allowing the baker to leave the book untouched in a book stand for the duration of the recipe.

[Blake · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wanted this book for over a year, I've had it less than a month, and I've made 3 different recipes from it (one of them twice!) I LOVE this book. The steps for the recipes are laid out in a way that feels more logical than a lot of other recipes, and all of the recipes I've made have been delicious. I love that there are alternatives listed to mix up the recipes, and that she mentions how long a cookie will keep for and if the dough can be stored. All that being said, I really wish it had a comprehensive index since the table of contents isn't super useful. I wish it could give it 4.75 stars, but since I can't, I'll just round up to 5.