Linda J. Amendt

Written by
Linda J. Amendt

One of America's Best Home Bakers

Imagine the tantalizing aroma of fresh-baked, homemade cookies wafting through your kitchen and the wonderful sensation of biting into a sumptuous, chewy, flavor-packed morsel, still warm from the oven. Cookie Heaven!

Cordon d'Or - Gold Ribbon
Academy of the Culinary Arts

The Culinary Accolade of the 21st Century

Best Baking Book

Honoring excellence in family-friendly media, products and services

Gold Medal Award
Cooking, Food & Wine

Cordon d' Or - Gold Ribbon
International Culinary Academy Awards
Winner - Best Baking Book

Mom's Choice Awards
Gold Medal Award Winner - Cooking, Food & Wine

International Book Awards
Best Baking/Bread Book
Best Desserts Book

National Best Books Awards
Best Baking/Bread Book
Best Desserts Book

London Book Festival
Winner - Best Cookbook

New York Book Festival
Winner - Best Cookbook

Los Angeles Book Festival
Winner - Best Cookbook

San Francisco Book Festival
Winner - Best Cookbook

400 Sensational Cookies focuses on creating great cookies with great flavor. Blue ribbon baker Linda J. Amendt shares her years of baking experience and her techniques for making exceptional cookies. She reveals the secrets to using the right ingredients and preparation methods to bake the best cookies. Layers of flavor give these cookies that extra-special taste to please cookie enthusiasts of any age. From the butter, to the sugar, to the extracts, to the chocolate and nuts and fruit, each flavor builds on and enhances the others to create tantalizing cookies.

Filled with 400 delicious, delightful cookies for every occasion, this book has recipes sure to please cookie fans everywhere.

   •  Drop Cookies
   •  Hand-Shaped Cookies
   •  Chocolate Chip Heaven
   •  Oatmeal Cookie Delights
   •  Dream Cookies
   •  Rolled Cutout Cookies
   •  Refrigerator Slice-and-Bake Cookies
   •  Bars and Squares
   •  Brownies, Brownies and More Brownies
   •  Biscotti
   •  Shortbreads
   •  Extra-Special Cookies

All of the cookies have a strong emphasis on flavor. No bland, boring or overly complicated cookies here. These are recipes designed for cookie lovers and contain all the information home bakers need to create great-tasting cookies. And these cookies look as good as they taste.

The recipes in this book are specifically designed for home bakers of all skill levels, perfect for anyone from novice to experienced bakers. 400 Sensational Cookies not only discusses which ingredients are best to use in making different types of cookies, but also explains how ingredients interact with each other. Using the right ingredients, in the right amounts, can determine the success or failure of the cookie.

   •  Features foolproof recipes, clear instructions and essential baking information so both novice and experienced bakers can become great cookie bakers

   •  400 great-tasting cookie recipes that anyone can bake

   •  Recipes range from special versions of traditional favorites and modern classics to hundreds of new and tempting original creations

   •  Detailed chapters on equipment, ingredients and baking great cookies provide a solid foundation for success.

   •  Explanations and definitions of the terms used in cookie baking

   •  Expert advice, helpful tips and insight from an award-winning baker

Many of the recipes can be prepared quickly and without a lot of fuss, making it easy to whip up a batch of fresh homemade cookies for an after-school treat, a family dessert or a special occasion.

As a highly successful and knowledgeable award-winning baker, Linda Amendt has filled these pages with lots of helpful information, an extensive collection of tantalizing recipes, and expert tips on all aspects of cookie baking. There are also many suggestions for decorating and serving your cookies, along with helpful information on hosting cookie parties and holding bake sale fundraisers.

The wide variety of cookie recipes and extensive baking information in 400 Sensational Cookies are presented from the practical, realistic perspective of a knowledgeable and experienced home baker. Information is conveyed in a friendly, neighborly style designed to set the reader at ease and to make bakers feel like the author is right there alongside them in the kitchen guiding them through the process.

Using the information, techniques and recipes in 400 Sensational Cookies anyone anywhere can become a great cookie baker.