Friday, January 28, 2011

Welcome to Carly's Cookies!

This blog will chronicle my attempt to bake my way through Betty Crocker's Cooky Book.

Why the Cooky Book, you wonder?

When I was a kid, my family had a copy of the Cooky Book (original 1963 version!) which we used for virtually all of our cookie recipes.  Chocolate chip, molasses crinkles, peanut butter, Russian teacakes, spritz, sugar cookies... To this day, chocolate chip cookies really only taste right if made the Betty way!


I have so many fond memories of baking cookies (and eating them). I remember placing a single gold ball on top of a Christmas tree cookie, sneaking chocolate chips before they were mixed into the dough, and Dad letting us eat chunks of brown sugar.  I remember the common practice of eating one cookie from every pan as they came out of the oven, which, when quadrupling a recipe, makes for quite a few cookies. (I might still do this... :) ) I remember homemade cookies being the best part of any bag lunch I've ever had.

Boxed lunch, Betty Crocker style.

There is a story my family likes to tell about a younger Carly's attempt at cookie-making. My big sisters and I were helping to roll out balls of cookie dough, and mine were all too small.  Despite warnings that I would not be allowed to help if I couldn't make the cookies the right size, I kept making tiny balls of dough.  When I was then told that I would only be able to eat the cookies that I made, I started making them way too big! (Obviously, even as a young child I showed aptitude in cookie consumption maximization.) I have since started making my cookies an appropriate (and uniform) size, but a tiny cookie is still sometimes referred to as a "Carly cookie" in my family.

Cookie-baking troublemaker!

This Christmas, I received my very own copy of Betty Crocker's Cooky Book (2002 Facsimile Edition!).  It looks exactly the same as the old family copy, except that the binding is still intact and there are no stains on the most-used pages. Oh, and pages 15-18 are upside-down and backwards in my copy! (hahaha)  Now that I have my own copy, my goal is to try all of the recipes, including the old stand-bys, those I have always been curious about and especially those that just sound weird.  Please check back for recipes, reviews, and plenty of pictures!

The Cooky House! Can't wait to get to page 64!

Here's to new recipes and new cookie memories!
Carly