Blog Giveaway - Cookiepedia by Stacy Adimando

Today we have a giveaway of Cookiepedia by Stacy Adimando published by Random House Australia. All you have to do is tell us what your favourite biscuit/cookie is. Winner will be drawn on 26th Oct at 10am Only open to Australian residents.

cook•ie: a small flat, baked cake which is either crisp or soft but firm (often with chocolate chips, candies, or nuts mixed in); insanely delicious.

If you miss the days when snacks were simple and handmade, you’ll love this homespun encyclopedia of cookies. Full of hand-drawn illustrations and gorgeous photographs, The Cookiepedia features 50 classic recipes for everything from Amaretti and Animal Cookies to Gingersnaps, Rugelach, Snickerdoodles, and dozens of other favorites—plus hundreds of ideas for adapting recipes and making them your own.

To whet your appertite here is a sample recipe from the book:

MINT THINS
Nobody you know will not come by when you say you’re baking homemade mint thins. (If they don’t so much as ask, consider defriending them immediately.) The question  is: Do you want to share? The baking and dunking takes no time (especially if you’re tasting as you go), but these bite-size treats do hold up best (and taste yummiest) once the mint chocolate has had ample time to set. If you’re protective of your stash, store them in the freezer. They’re best with a chill anyway.

Preheat oven to 350°F
Makes: 3 1/2 dozen cookies

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
12 ounces semisweet chocolate
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter
teaspoon peppermint flavor

1. Cream the butter until it’s light and fluffy.
add the powdered sugar and continue mixing, stopping to scrape the sides of the bowl as needed. Mix in the egg and vanilla extract. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Add the flour mixture by halves, beating to incorporate after each addition.
2. Turn out the dough onto a clean surface and form it into a disk with your hands. Split the disk in half and place them in the fridge to firm up for 1 hour. Tip: If you’re short on time, do 25 minutes in the freezer instead. 
3. Working on a floured surface (you’ll need a decent amount, since the dough is sticky), roll out the dough to O/8-inch thick. Shape the cookies using a 1.-inch round cutter and place them on a parchment-paper-lined baking sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, then let cool completely.
4. Break up the chocolate into a bowl and set it over a small pot of simmering water (make sure the bowl doesn’t touch the water). Add the butter and the peppermint flavor and stir the mixture steadily until it’s fully melted and looks glossy and smooth. Remove the bowl and let the chocolate cool slightly.
5. One by one, drop the cookies in the chocolate, then scoop them out with a fork to let the excess drip off. (Tap the cookies against the side of the bowl to help drain the extra chocolate.) Move them carefully to a wire rack or parchment-paperlined baking sheet. When they’re all coated, move the sheet to the refrigerator or freezer to set.

Mint-Thin-Stuffed Cookies
Prepare a batch of the mint thins and store them in the freezer. Then prepare a batch of the chocolate chip dough on page 43. When both are chilled, sandwich the mint cookie between 1 tablespoon each of the chocolate chip dough, then press the dough around the mint thin to cover it completely. Bake according to the chocolate chip directions.