Cookie Craft: From Baking to Luster Dust, Designs and Techniques for Creative Cookie Occasions

What a gem of a cookie decorating book! Many books have been written on this subject; some OK and others are great---add this to the "great" list! Bakers and writers Valerie Peterson and Janice Fryer have turned out quite the encyclopedia of cookie design and here's why..... Visually, the photography is sharp, clear, and very detailed; this is necessary in any instructional book that needs to show you how it's product is to turn out. And instead of one page and one cookie, the cookies are grouped into a category and photographed all together on that page. Each cookie stands out alone, but as a finished photo, each category of cookies is lovely. On the opposite page of each grouping of cookies, they have made a outlined, numbered chart that describes how each cookie was decorated, step-by-step, so that you can't make a mistake. How much more could a cookie baker ask for other than having Valerie and Janice make them for you? Peppered throughout the book are sidebars and hints on all the little things that you can do to make your cookies just that much more perfect, along with all the trials and errors they've had over their years of baking, to help you avoid the same problems. Then, to make your cookie experience even easier, they made cookie templates that you can zerox and enlarge in order to make the shapes and designs you see in the book. This is a wonderful part of their book, but for myself, I don't have the time and patience to do that, so in addition, they have listed some sources for cookie cutters. My personal suggestion for a great cookie cutter company would be "Fancy Flours" at "www.fancyflours.com". This company literally has hundreds of the most unusual and adorable cookie cutters, and they have every single one used in this book as well. As a little sidenote, in Chapter 7, they teach you how to make cookies for construction pieces like houses, sleighs, gift boxes, etc. It is an excellent chapter and is worth the price of the book all by itself. It details what type of dough to use to withstand the weight of the project, how to construct each piece, etc. The book is sectioned as such: CHAPTER ONE: COOKIE CRAFT INSPIRATIONS COOKIE CRAFTS for HOLIDAYS and SEASONS New Year's Winter Valentine's Day Winter Into Spring Easter and Spring Mother's Day Father's Day Halloween Thanksgiving and Autumn Christmas Hanukkah COOKIE CRAFT for CELEBRATIONS Showers and Weddings Milestones New Baby or Baby Shower Kid's Celebration and Sports Girlfriends Pets CHAPTER 2: INGREDIENTS, SUPPLIES, and EQUIPMENT Flours, icings (thickness, thinness, etc), cookie sheets, cookie cutters, color charts, how to use your supplies CHAPTER 3: COOKIE CRAFT PLANNING Designing cookes (it even has a suggested sheet to use and mark your notes), color palettes, organizing your work area, cleaning up CHAPTER 4: COOKIE RECIPES for CREATING BLANK CANVASES Rolled Sugar Cookies Coloring Dough Rolled Chocolate Cookies Rolled Nutty Cookies Rolled Gingerbread Cookies

I needed a special hostess gift for a friend who bakes and also loves to add creativity and fun to food presentation. I was so glad to find "Cookie Craft" as the perfect book to give her (very reasonably priced too considering all the recipes, photos, patterns and tips inside.) My friend was so excited to thumb through the pages. She immediately planned out numerous cookies she wants to bake for the Holidays (Hanukkah included which is a nice plus). My friend was also keen on making cookies for some grown-up occasions as shown in the book which I never would have thought of-- an upcoming bridal shower and a "girl's only night." As someone who will be a guest at these parties too, I can't wait to see how these cookies turn out and how the other people react. We tend to think of cookies as a child's treat, but as my friend pointed out--watch who eats the cookies at a party--it is definitely the grown-ups too! I highly recommend "Cookie Craft" for anyone who wants to entertain with special and unique cookies throughout the year.

I was lucky enough to see the authors demonstrate this book's cookie decorating techniques at a store in Brooklyn on Sunday, and I bought two copies--one for me and one for a friend who always does a holiday cookie swap. I read it the same night, and immediately bid on three lots of cookie cutters on Ebay! I'm hooked, and I can't wait to try all their tips for cookie decorating. One of the smartest makes your cookies come out evenly, which has been a problem in the past. You just use two thin pieces of wood and roll your rolling pin along them to produce a perfectly even dough for cutting. The book is full of resources and fun ideas, but what captured my imagination was all the gorgeous color photographs! I think this is an amazing gift for any baker on your list, and you could make it extra special by topping your package with a fun cookie cutter. This isn't just a holiday book, either--reading it makes you think of all kinds of cookie "occasions". I'm planning to make cookies with my niece over Thanksgiving, and I can't wait!

This is a beautifully bound book full of color pictures of beautifully decorated cookies. It's giving me tons of great ideas for the holidays. There are also a lot of helpful hints--(e.g., how to keep your cookie cutters from rusting, how to roll out the dough to a consistant thickness) as well as detailed instructions for really cool party favors, centerpieces -- all made from cookies. The instructions break it down really simply, so it looks doable too. This is going to be the holiday book of choice for this year!

I just saw this book in a store yesterday, and had to bring it home with me- wow! It's beautiful, the cookie designs are beyond adorable, and the directions are broken down in such an easy way that anyone can make the beautiful designs. I'm already plotting the various cookies I plan to bake up as holiday gifts. (I think even my impossible-to-impress Mother in Law is going to be bowled over with these designs.) I'd recommend this gorgeous book to bakers of any and all experience levels. And anyone who likes to bake will love to receive this as a gift to add to their collection, too! Happy cookie making.