Baggett (International Cookie Cookbook) has spent the last few years searching this country for great cookie recipes, and enthusiasm over the results (such as Fudge Brownies Supreme) characterizes every page of Baggett's wonderful new cookie compendium. Her first chapter covers the basics, though other useful how-to's emerge throughout the book, such as shaping cookie dough in a loaf pan for Cranberry-Cherry Icebox Ribbons. The next nine chapters, mostly divided into flavors (chocolate, fruit, spices, etc.), reveal America's wide-ranging cookie bounty, from Vermont's Maple Sugar cut-outs and Kentucky's Bourbon Fruitcake Cookies to Coffee-Pecan Crunch Bars from Texas and Hazelnut-Chocolate Chip Cookies from Oregon. Enlivened by quotes from old cookbooks, each straightforward recipe tells the story of its heritage, whether it's a simple Mrs. Porter's Improved Jumbles from the 1800s or a contemporary "Chubby" weighing in with one pound of chocolate. (Oct.)
Forecast:As a selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club, these cookies will reach the hands of many an American.
