One-Pot Cookies: 50 Recipes for Making Cookies from Scratch Using a Pot, a Spoon, and a Pan

I owned this book for years and lost it in Katrina. I had to get another one. This book is, by far, the best cookie book I've ever owned. I can't even name the best recipe in the book, but if I had to choose a few to never do without, I would go with the Pecan Pie Bars, Ugly Duckling Brownies, and the Walnut Coffee Dunkers. Any one of those three is worth the price of the book alone, but all three, coupled with many, many others, make this book priceless. This has to be the easiest book to use. A pot, a spoon, a pan and a couple of measuring cups is really all you will need. You can have a batch of the most delicious brownies, warm from the oven, in about 35 minutes. The dunking cookies, a.k.a. BISCOTTI!!!, are done, start to finish, in less than an hour with the majority of that just cooking time and not actual work. If you've never had real, homemade biscotti, you have no idea what you are missing. None of that hard, brittle, flavorless cracker tasting stuff; this is crisp, with a slight yielding texture, and so full of nuts and flavor that you will never want the packaged stuff again. As an aside, over the years of making these brownies (which, btw, always come out perfect) I have found that using foil makes them even easier. I form the foil to the outside of the pan and then put it inside, contoured perfectly to fit. Release foil is great, but a little Baker's Joy does the trick, too. You let the brownies cool for a few then lift the whole batch, foil and all, out of the pan. Then you can cut them without ruining the edge ones trying to get them out.