The Gourmet Cookie Book : The Single Best Recipe from Each Year 1941-2009

For this stunning collection, the editors of Gourmet delved deep into their archives and selected the most delicious cookie for each year of the magazines sixty-eight-year existence. After marathon testing sessions and winnowing from thousands of recipesmany sent in by readersthey chose an amazing array, from the almond-scented French-style Cajun Macaroons, from the magazines beginnings in 1941, through Mocha Toffee Bars (1971), to the contemporary Glittering Lemon Sandwich Cookies. The enticing assortment includes

Cookies of every type and description, from the homey (Aunt Siss Strawberry Tart Cookies) to the exotic (Grand Marnier-Glazed Pain dEpice Cookies), including balls, bars, refrigerator cookies, drop cookies, even deep-fried cookie confections.

Cookies from around the world: from Dutch Jan Hagels to Irish oatmeal sandwich cookies filled with cream and Irish whiskey, to Scandinavian Rosettes.

Dozens of Christmas cookies: Old-Fashioned Christmas Butter Cookies, star-shaped Moravian White Cookies, Chocolate Peppermint Bar Cookies.

Printed exactly as they originally appeared in the magazine, with abundant tips and recipe notes from Gourmets test kitchen, and with headnotes describing their cultural context, the recipes present a fascinating bite-by-bite history of how our appetites evolved.