Cooking
If you’ve been reading my regular Mondays with Maida series, you know I’ve been bringing cookies into my office nearly every week. I decided to enlist the help of a few of my coworkers in evaluating the cookies each week. That way you’ll get several points of view. I’ve asked that each week they rate the cookie on a scale from 1 to 5 (5 being the best possible score) and give me some brief comments. After collecting their ratings and remarks for the first cookie (to be posted tomorrow), I think I can say they won’t be afraid to tell it like it is!
I asked each panelist to jot down what they like in a cookie. Here are their responses:
Suzanne: “1. Anything chocolate or with chocolate chips; 2. Anything with nuts; and 3. I prefer a crunchy cookie rather than a cake textured cookie.”
Denny: “I am honored to be on the CCC (Cathy’s Cookie Committee). I generally like Chocolate & Nuts or Nutty.”
Laura: “Depending on my mood and taste at the moment, I like all kinds of cookies (crunchy, chewy, thin, thick, with nuts, without nuts, etc…).”
Phil: “Willing to try just about any type of cookie with the exception of the really unconventional (e.g. cicada cookies or anything with bugs in them). Generally biased in favor of cookies that aren’t dry. Favorite ingredients include: chocolate, most nuts, cranberry, prune, or a noticeable hint of interesting spices.”
Lest you think that Phil has been watching too much “Fear Factor”, I should explain his remark about cicada cookies. During last spring’s Brood X cicada emergence, another coworker actually baked some cicada cookies. I didn’t hear about these until after the fact, but I’m with Phil on this one. I like cookies, but you’ve got to draw the line somewhere!
- Mondays With Maida - Butterscotch Thins
Page 138 in the old book / page 173 in the new book These cookies were exceedingly thin and very crunchy. They were fairly average cookies, but even so, they were hard to stop eating. It's sort of like potato chips - there's so little to each...
- Mondays With Maida - German Oatmeal Cookies
Page 60 in the old book / page 94 in the new book These are soft, slightly spicy oatmeal cookies loaded with raisins, dates, pecans, and chocolate chips. Making these cookies was easy and uneventful. Maida Heatter's note that accompanies the recipe...
- Mondays With Maida - Date-nut Rocks
Page 57 in the old book / page 87 in the new book The last (and possibly best) of the rocks. This is a plainer and simpler cookie than the other rocks - no icing and only one spice - but very, very good. These are soft cookies stuffed with dates and...
- Mondays With Maida - 24-karat Cookies
Page 50 in the old book / page 83 in the new book I swear it was an honest mistake. I forgot to give Phil his cookies this week. It had nothing to do with the fact that these were the worst cookies I've ever made from this book - bland and not at...
- Mondays With Maida - Route 7 Raisin-nut Cookies
Page 48 in the old book / page 81 in the new book You know, a year or so from now, I'll be wishing for the good old days when all I had to do was mix up some dough and drop it on a cookie sheet. Making cookies every Sunday evening has become my routine...
Cooking
Meet the Cookie Panel
If you’ve been reading my regular Mondays with Maida series, you know I’ve been bringing cookies into my office nearly every week. I decided to enlist the help of a few of my coworkers in evaluating the cookies each week. That way you’ll get several points of view. I’ve asked that each week they rate the cookie on a scale from 1 to 5 (5 being the best possible score) and give me some brief comments. After collecting their ratings and remarks for the first cookie (to be posted tomorrow), I think I can say they won’t be afraid to tell it like it is!
I asked each panelist to jot down what they like in a cookie. Here are their responses:
Suzanne: “1. Anything chocolate or with chocolate chips; 2. Anything with nuts; and 3. I prefer a crunchy cookie rather than a cake textured cookie.”
Denny: “I am honored to be on the CCC (Cathy’s Cookie Committee). I generally like Chocolate & Nuts or Nutty.”
Laura: “Depending on my mood and taste at the moment, I like all kinds of cookies (crunchy, chewy, thin, thick, with nuts, without nuts, etc…).”
Phil: “Willing to try just about any type of cookie with the exception of the really unconventional (e.g. cicada cookies or anything with bugs in them). Generally biased in favor of cookies that aren’t dry. Favorite ingredients include: chocolate, most nuts, cranberry, prune, or a noticeable hint of interesting spices.”
Lest you think that Phil has been watching too much “Fear Factor”, I should explain his remark about cicada cookies. During last spring’s Brood X cicada emergence, another coworker actually baked some cicada cookies. I didn’t hear about these until after the fact, but I’m with Phil on this one. I like cookies, but you’ve got to draw the line somewhere!
- Mondays With Maida - Butterscotch Thins
Page 138 in the old book / page 173 in the new book These cookies were exceedingly thin and very crunchy. They were fairly average cookies, but even so, they were hard to stop eating. It's sort of like potato chips - there's so little to each...
- Mondays With Maida - German Oatmeal Cookies
Page 60 in the old book / page 94 in the new book These are soft, slightly spicy oatmeal cookies loaded with raisins, dates, pecans, and chocolate chips. Making these cookies was easy and uneventful. Maida Heatter's note that accompanies the recipe...
- Mondays With Maida - Date-nut Rocks
Page 57 in the old book / page 87 in the new book The last (and possibly best) of the rocks. This is a plainer and simpler cookie than the other rocks - no icing and only one spice - but very, very good. These are soft cookies stuffed with dates and...
- Mondays With Maida - 24-karat Cookies
Page 50 in the old book / page 83 in the new book I swear it was an honest mistake. I forgot to give Phil his cookies this week. It had nothing to do with the fact that these were the worst cookies I've ever made from this book - bland and not at...
- Mondays With Maida - Route 7 Raisin-nut Cookies
Page 48 in the old book / page 81 in the new book You know, a year or so from now, I'll be wishing for the good old days when all I had to do was mix up some dough and drop it on a cookie sheet. Making cookies every Sunday evening has become my routine...