Book Nook: Fabulous Modern Cookies

My daughter recently developed an interest in baking cookies, so it was perfect timing to review Fabulous Modern Cookies: Lessons in Better Baking for Next Generation Treats. Their previous best-selling book, The New Pie: Modern Techniques for the Classic American Dessert, showcased their inventive recipes and techniques. This one follows up with recipes full of creative tastes, textures, and designs.

Cookies are nearly universally loved - but there is a lot more variation than people realize. The book explains the ingredients, equipment, and other information needed to create fabulous cookies. The recipes were clear-cut enough (no pun intended) for my tween and teen daughters to follow, and there were tons of recipes that look absolutely delicious. My kids also really loved the "cookie bytes" that help explain some of the techniques behind the successful cookies. 

“We are always asked ‘why a book on cookies?’ For one, we love cookies— but that’s not the only reason. To us, cookies are the most approachable of all desserts,” Chris and Paul state.  “For this book we took the vast universe of cookies and tried to expand it even further. We brought a scientific approach using innovative techniques to ensure success in baking regardless of whether you are new to baking or have been elbow-deep in cookie dough for decades. The cookies will still seem familiar (brownies, bars, drop cookies, cookie- cutter cookies, and the like) but with new and exciting flavors.”

 

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

Chris Taylor and Paul Arguin are scientists who used their backgrounds to develop logical and reliable recipes that transform what they consider to be the most approachable baked goods. 

 

The couple met through a mutual friend in 2009. They were states apart at the time, so the two picked a recipe from Rose Levy Beranbaum’s Cake Bible to bake together over the phone for their first date. Taylor selected the complex but stunning Scarlet Empress, and the blue-ribbon baking duo was born. They married in 2014.

 

Chris Taylor (right) is a full-time epidemiologist but is also a pie master and talented pastry decorator. His Peanut Butter Checkerboard pie won Best of Show in the 2017 amateur division of the National Pie Championships. Paul Arguin (left) is a double-board certified MD. Both are self-taught bakers with a passion for pies, cookies, and competitive baking, and run a boutique baking business, Flour Sugar Butter, LLC.   Their previous baking book is The New Pie: Modern Techniques for the Classic American Dessert.  They live in Atlanta, Georgia and can be found on social media @floursugarbutter.