The Cookie Book: Decadent Bites for Every Occasion Kindle Edition

All hype and pretty pictures. I was not at all impressed by this book. For example I did not find that her brown butter chocolate chip cookies were ‘chewy’ and the combination of bread flour, AP flour and baking powder gave the cookies a biscuit consistency. The brown butter nutty, caramel flavor was not noticeable. I just can’t see taking the extra steps (e.g. browning butter) if you cannot notice a significant difference. A few extra ingredients such as brown butter or cold brew absolutely does not produce an original cookie. I found most of the recipes to be basic with extra ingredients that do NOT make a difference. There is a huge difference between what impresses an experienced baker and someone who occasionally bakes once in a while. If you’re an experienced baker this book is not for you.

I came to Amazon to buy another cookie book I've been looking at for some time (Sally's Cookie Addiction) and Amazon recommended this book to me as well, so I picked it up because the price point was reasonable and some of the recipes sounded amazing. To top it off, the reviews were glowing, so it sounded like a winner!When I received the book, I was delighted by the gorgeous photos. I spent some time glancing through the reviews to see if any recommendations were made on recipes and noticed a few people labeling themselves as "experienced bakers" calling the book out for being terrible. Next to all the other reviews, I felt sure these people must be full of themselves, because surely such a great looking book would produce great looking cookies!To test the theory, I made two varieties of cookies: the Cold Brew Cookies and the Dark Rye Midnight Cookies. After all, how can you mess up a coffee/chocolate cookies or a cookie with bourbon-soaked cherries in it?!Now, the truth is that the cookies that resulted were... Fine. No one would complain about eating them if I brought them to a potluck or family function. However, both felt like they were lacking something and the ingredient ratios did seem a little off. As I was eating a cold brew cookie from the first batch I thought; "I understand what the 'experienced bakers' were talking about."The cold brew cookies have only a very faint coffee taste. Because they are completely loaded with two varieties of chocolate plus the chocolate from the espresso beans, you really only taste chocolate in them. On top of that, they really spread a lot! Even after refrigerating for 20 minutes (as the recipe calls for) and rolling the balls taller than they are wide, they still turned into relatively flat cookies with soft centers and slightly crisp edges. They taste fine, but again -- I honestly wouldn't make them twice. There are much better recipes out there that I could modify to get a similar taste profile out of a better cookie base.I've made (and fallen in love with) Tartine No. 3's Dark Chocolate Rye cookies, so I expected the "Dark Rye Midnight" cookies to be similar in taste. I noticed right away that the recipe was wildly different. I've had a bag of dark rye flour for a few months now and used it in several recipes, but I've never seen a recipe that called exclusively for dark rye flour and didn't pair it with an all purpose flour. I found the dough for these cookies to be some of the richest dough I've ever had -- overpoweringly chocolatey and more than a bit crumbly. Between the added dark chocolate and exorbitant amount of cherries, the cookies barely held together because of how much "stuffing" each cookie had.Thankfully, the flavors for the Midnight cookies mellowed (a bit) after baking, but they are still almost too much for me. Sprinkling with sea salt helps, but I can't help but feel like there are way better uses for bourbon soaked cherries than these powdery, crumbly cookies -- like maybe Tartine's recipe?Overall, this is a nice book. If you are just getting started baking, you are a fan of the author's blog to begin with, or you are not a perfectionist... It's great. If previously the only homemade cookies you've made were from a tube or a poorly written family recipe, this book will ABSOLUTELY up your cookie game. And no one will complain about the results!However, if you're already an adventurous baker, if you have baking experience, or if you simply know what you are looking for in a cookie... This book is probably not for you.

So far I have used three recipes from the book, all of them were very bland. I don't think I will try anymore. I am very disappointed since the other reviews were so glowing. I used the reviews to decide on a cookie cookbook.

This is SUCH a great book, a must-have in your cookbook library! First off, a whole chapter on chocolate chip cookies, are you kidding me!? I LOVE chocolate chip and how small changes can make a totally different cookie and Rebecca gives us a beautiful variety! Olive oil, brown butter, thin & crispy, bars...all chocolate chip, I love it! The book then goes on a voyage from there, getting into classics like snickerdoodles, drop cookies with a little something extra, sandwich cookies stuffed with ice cream or marshmallow, and even bar cookies - I’m looking forward to trying the Pumpkin Spice Bars with Toasted Meringue. There’s so much more, including a holiday chapter and cookies that really dazzle in the “Jazz hands” chapter. The descriptions before the recipes are so spot on - I could read through them and really get a sense of what the cookie would be like. I’m familiar with her recipes from her blog and have made a few of her cookies so I trust her recipes 100%. She gives lots of hints in the beginning of the book and along the way as well. This will me my go-to for a long time!

Sometimes, I wonder if new cookbook authors are just taking existing recipes, changing one or 2 ingredients, and calling it good...which seems to be the case here.These recipes are awful. I follow Rebecca on IG and enjoy the content; so I bought The Cookie Book. I'm an experienced baker (formerly, a professional one) and didn't think to do any recon on her blog recipes -- I was just going off the gorgeous photography and great content. BUT. A cookie, made with bread flour and vegetable oil is BAD. Really bad. Cakey, bland, odd texture. Nothing that a good cookie is or wants to be. Every cookie recipe in the book I double-check against other recipes I know to see if the amount of oil could possibly be right?Don't waste your time, money, or ingredients. Each recipe I've tried has been the same - disappointing.

I follow the author on Instagram and pre-ordered her cookie recipe book as soon as it was available. I'm slowly making my way through all the recipes (easy to follow, include metric measurements) but every single one I've tried so far has been a big hit. I wanted to make all the different chocolate chip cookies (there is a whole chapter just for them!) but I got stuck making the "Everything CCC" because friends and colleagues keep requesting them - best CCC I've ever made! The photography is gorgeous, the recipes super varied (not just cookies but brownies/blondies, bars and truffles too) with techniques that I haven't tried before. Love it!

All book about cookies? Can it get any better? Yes it can - that is if every single cookie from this book is drool worthy! We baked 60 or 70% of cookies from this book and all were a hit. For recipes which are classic like chocolate chip cookie this book offers new take (interesting ingredients and ratios). Money well spend. Waiting for second book please!

Some really excellent cookies here that you don't find in a normal cookie book. Everything made so far has been first class in both taste and recipe instruction.

Great book nice interesting Cookie recipes that are a bit different from the norm

My daughter in law was pleased with book as it had been on her wish list.