With all the cultural exports the U.S. floods the world with, it's hard to imagine the iconic Oreo is only now making a splash in England. But, sources tell me, drinking a glass of milk, let alone dunking cookies in it, is an alien concept in Europe. I love the subhead on the Christian Science Monitor story on the phenomenon: "What fresh vulgarity have the Yanks brought now? Milk dunking!"
These clever Mother's Day tattoo cookies [Warning: Music player auto-plays loudly] are the perfect gift for a mom who rocks, though they might be a little hard to make without some edible pens such as Wilton's FoodWriter markers.
Still, it's less of an investment than a real tattoo, and chances are your mom would prefer the cookies. [via craftzine.com]
From April 13 to 19, I traveled around Chile with two other American food journalists on a culinary media trip. Here's another snapshot from that week. —Robyn Lee
While I was delayed at Newark Airport on my way to Chile (curse American Airlines...curse), I killed some time by calling my friend Diana and asking what she'd like for me to bring back for her and her Chilean boyfriend, Ian.
"Negritas! Get Negritas! They're really good!"
"Get a what?"
"It's a type of biscuit. Ian's mom just brought a few bags back from Chile. ...And we ate a bag."
I wrote down the name in my notebook and made it my major goal of the trip to return back to America with a luggage's worth of this coveted cookie, not just for Ian and Diana but for other food-loving friends. And with a 10-pack bag only costing about $2, I could've filled a luggage without going broke.
Nah, I didn't go that crazy; I only bought ten bags.
In order to gain more customers in China, Kraft reformulated their Oreo in different ways, including lowering the sugar content of the round sandwich cookies and making a new Oreo snack in the form of wafer sticks, now the best-selling biscuit in China.
The Cookie Monster searches deep within himself and wonders if he's a monster: "Me too hard on self. Me no have unhealthy obsession. Me love cookies, but it no hurt anyone. Me just enthusiast. Everyone has something they like most, something they get excited about. Why not me? Me perfectly normal. Me like cookies. So what? Cookies delicious." [via kottke]
When Amanda showed her Horlicks cookies to her friends and family, no one could agree on what animal they actually looked like. Piggies? Bears? Mice? I think they look most like dogs, as the title of the recipe says. [via TasteSpotting]
Ceramic cookie stamps
Making sweets for your sweet this Valentine’s Day? Consider cookie stamps.
As their name suggests, cookie stamps are usually employed to make imprinted cookies. However, they can also be used with marzipan, firm fondants (think peppermint patty-type filling or wedding cake covering), edible modeling chocolate, even tootsie rolls—anything plastic enough to take and hold an impression—turning simple sweets into beautifully filigreed mignons with the barest commitment of time and effort.
For those less inclined to make their gifts, the stamps, which make lovely kitchen display objects as much as useful decorating tools, make for thoughtful gifts in their own right.
Available in a staggering array of designs and motifs—from florid hearts to fire breathing dragons, austere initials to heraldic shields, teddy bears to leaping stags—there’s sure to be a stamp suited to the passions of that special someone.
Cookie stamps are made from a range of materials, all of which have their own characteristics.
Going on the 81st year of cookie sales, the Girl Scouts and their rainbow-colored boxes don’t need much explainin’.
Except this year, when the pigtail-wearing munchkins—who started pre-orders last Thursday—decided you should ease up on the Thin Mints. Yes, you. Because, they don’t make you thin, it turns out. For the first time, girl scouts are selling 100-calorie packs in a flavor they've baptized Cinna-Spins.
Make your own pixel-art cookies so you can not only play Tetris but eat it too. [via BoingBoing]
Of course you're going to want to leave some cookies for Santa tonight. If you don't already have a recipe in mind, here are some of our favorites from the Serious Eats Recipes archives.
Instead of making traditional cutout cookies, try Elise Bauer's recipe for stained glass cookies whose centers are filled with melted hard candies.
International ocean environmental advocacy group Oceana has teamed up with Washington D.C.–based bakery Cakelove for their Adopt-A-Creature Campaign. With each marine creature adopted, you will receive an animal-shaped cookie cutter and a sugar cookie recipe from Cakelove, in addition to help protect coral reefs, fight global warming, protect sea creatures and eliminate unsustainable fishing.
Cave Cibum came across some unfortunate gingerbread men carnage. Why weren't they allowed to live? WHYYYYY? [via Tastespotting]
I've been an ardent cookie baker since I learned to reach the kitchen counter standing on a stool, and through the years I have accumulated a sizable collection of the tools of the trade. While most of these items are more likely to be found enjoying something like their tenth year of uninterrupted slumber in the bottom of a drawer than drying in my dish rack, there are a few that I turn to time and time again—particularly this time of year, when my cookie production spikes. Give these gizmos a try this cookie-baking season and you’ll be singing their praises, too. Prices do not include shipping unless otherwise specified.
You may not be able to fry an egg on the sidewalk, but you can bake cookies in a car. Nicole Weston of Baking Bites attempted to use her car as an oven after reading about a woman who bakes cookies on her Toyota's dashboard. After 2 1/2 hours of leaving her car out in 100°F weather, she was left with two dozen chocolate chip cookies and a delicious smelling car. If you have access to hellishly hot sunshine, try Weston's chocolate chip cookie recipe while following these rules for baking cookies in a car.
Oh, gooey cookie innards, how I bow down to thee. These are not the innards of just any cookie, but of Tina's Levain Bakery cookie, a heavenly 6-ounce boulder of sweet, buttery chocolate chip and walnut-laden underbaked cookie dough encased in a thin crispy shell. Tina says, "If you're a woman who's undergoing PMS, this will totally satiate that craving we all have during that time." I'm worried that I may have this craving all the time, no PMS required.
Karina Kappel, who has a degree in scientific illustration, put her knowledge to work creating anatomically accurate cookies that depict butterflies, bees, and ladybugs. She's $5,000 richer as a result, after winning a contest run by dessert-decorating supplier Wilton.
Photograph from wilton.com
I love Nosheteria's cute and delicious Cadbury Mini Egg nest cookies for Easter.
I found a recipe for thumbprint cookies here, used ground pecans rather than ground walnut pieces, and simply omitted the jam placing a Mini Egg or two into the center of each cookie. The cookies were dense, rich with butter, and not too sweet, the perfect compliment to the chocolatey candy of the Mini Eggs.
You may think you love cookies, but chances are Anna Ginsberg's passion for them far outstrips yours. I mean, her blog is called Cookie Madness. She bakes something every day and her combination of talent and persistence have paid off, big time: she won last year's Pillsbury Bake-Off!
I'm on the hunt for the best chocolate chip cookie over at Megnut. My promise: you give me a recipe, I'll bake it. And when I'm done with all the submissions, hopefully I'll have found a winner. Pop on over and add your favorite recipe to the discussion.
"chinese BBQ roast pork is one of my favorite foods because it’s delicious and so easily accessible in chinatown, as nearly every block will have a shop that has fresh roast meats in the window. i love anything made with it : roast pork buns, roast pork flaky pastry called “char siu so”, roast pork rice crepe, and scrumptous barbeque roast pork on its own, but i have never seen a flat roast pork cookie before." Jo Jo of Eat 2 Love discovered what sounds like may potentially be my new favorite savoury pastry treat.
I haven't made George Hart's Trilobite Cookies yet so I don't know what they taste like, but his write-up is hilarious: "Trilobites are extinct marine animals which lived gazillions of years ago. Real trilobites may or may not have tasted like chicken. (who knows?) These cookies are the result of my most recent research into what ancient trilobites would have tasted like if primitive biochemical processes were based on jam/chocolate/cookie molecules. Independent paleoconfectionary laboratories often ask for my formula, so I have placed it here for the world to enjoy."
I first noticed them at the JollyMart, a block away from my office. There they were, stacked neatly to the right of the register, next to the Japanese gum, the chocolate wafer cookies, the Mozart candies—a pile of what looked like large, plastic-wrapped Fig Newtons.
"What are those?" I asked the counterman as I paid for my yogurt.
"Date bars," he replied.
"Are they good?"
"Never had them; some people like them, though."
Who knew? Our officemate Marco is seriously into holiday butter cookies. After chatting with him about them just now, he sent us to his review of Royal Dansk butter cookies. His favorites:
The Pretzel Ones: These are always the first to go. It's not hard to see why - these have all of the benefits of a fused-sugar top, but with about two-thirds of the mass of the heavy Square Ones. These are the pinnacle of butter cookie development, and need to be kept exactly as they are.
The Swirly Ones: As far as I can tell, these are just the Round Ones with a more interesting shape that results in a better texture. The complex shape crumbles more smoothly for some reason, making these the most pleasant to eat. It seems like the flavor is slightly lighter as well, although this could simply be a psychological effect of the better shape. These are also a crucial element of the butter cookie lineup.
Click over for his take on the "Round Ones," the "Square Ones," and the "Crappy Ones."
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