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It’s a good thing there isn’t a Magnolia Bakery in my neighborhood—only…
This post contains products independently chosen (and loved) by our editors and writers. Food52 earns an affiliate commission on qualifying purchases of the products we link to.
It's a good thing there isn't a Magnolia Bakery in my neighborhood—only because I simply cannot pass one without stopping in and picking up at least one container of their classic banana pudding.
Sadly, I never got to be a Girl Scout, but boy did I dream of being a walking fudge brownie, passing out Tagalongs in exchange for cold, hard cash with total strangers outside my hometown Walmart. What’s that smell? Freshly baked shortbread mixed with …
Sadly, I never got to be a Girl Scout, but boy did I dream of being a walking fudge brownie, passing out Tagalongs in exchange for cold, hard cash with total strangers outside my hometown Walmart. What’s that smell? Freshly baked shortbread mixed with a little bit of capitalism? I thought so. There are only a few short weeks each year when elementary school-aged girls descend on public spaces selling boxes and boxes of S’mores and Samoas; madness ensues as the demand for the latest flavor skyrockets.
So, Daisies and Brownies, listen up: there’s a new flavor in the cookie jar for you to hawk—Raspberry Rally. Girl Scouts of the USA recently announced their latest addition to the 2023 cookie lineup, which is described as a “sister” to the beloved Thin Mints—it’s a thin, crispy cookie infused with raspberry and dipped in the classic hard-shell chocolate coating. But if you’re expecting to pick up a box or two on your way out from the grocery store, think again; Raspberry Rally cookies will be the first in the Girl Scout Cookie lineup to be sold online only. This amendment to the Girl Scouts' usual sales approach (chasing you down in a parking lot until you crack) is aimed at “enhancing girls’ e-commerce sales and entrepreneurial skills.” Like Thin Mints, Raspberry Rally is totally vegan, which is only the second Girl Scout cookie to be declared dairy-free in the 100-plus years of cookie sales.
I don’t trust anyone who doesn’t like lemon curd. You, in turn, might choose not to trust anyone who makes bold, sweeping, and questionably necessary proclamations, but if I were to pick a completely superfluous soapbox to stand on…
Bake It Up a Notch is a column by Resident Baking BFF Erin Jeanne McDowell. Each month, she’ll help take our baking game to the next level, teaching us all the need-to-know tips and techniques and showing us all the mistakes we might make along the way…
Bake It Up a Notch is a column by Resident Baking BFF Erin Jeanne McDowell. Each month, she'll help take our baking game to the next level, teaching us all the need-to-know tips and techniques and showing us all the mistakes we might make along the way.
Baking and decorating sugar cookies is often associated with wintertime holidays, but in my family, this is a springtime tradition. My mom would usually whip up cookies and pastel-colored icing as a fun way to welcome some bright colors into our kitchen as the seasons changed outside. The truth is, baking sugar cookies is a wonderful baking project for any time of year: perfect for a solo weekend meditation, or for a group activity where you can enlist the help of family and friends.
Every so often, I try to do responsible things like Plan Ahead to reap the rewards that should come with it like A Calm and Unfrazzled Week and I fail almost 100% of the time in the service of Something More Fun I Just Thought Of. Crispy salad…
I’m just going to get straight to the point: coconut macaroons (two o’s) and French macarons (one o) are not the same cookie. Sure, they’re both meringue-based, gluten-free, and sweet as a candy store, but that’s about where the similarities end. To st…
I’m just going to get straight to the point: coconut macaroons (two o’s) and French macarons (one o) are not the same cookie. Sure, they’re both meringue-based, gluten-free, and sweet as a candy store, but that’s about where the similarities end. To start, we need to talk basics: French macarons (pronounced MACK-uh-rons) are essentially the chicest sandwich cookies in the schoolyard. Two thin meringue cookies no wider than an inch or two are layered with a ganache, buttercream, or jam filling. Macaroons (pronounced mack-uh-REWNS), on the other hand, are made with flaked coconut, whipped egg whites, sugar, and vanilla extract.
According to The Atlantic, French macarons aren’t exactly who they say they are. “The cookies were born in Italy, but made their way to France in the 1530s—by way of, some scholars believe, Catherine de’ Medici,” wrote staff writer Megan Garber in 2014. “They wouldn't become widespread outside of court, however, until 1792, when two Benedictine nuns, seeking asylum during the French Revolution, supported themselves by baking and selling treats made of ground almonds, egg whites, and sugar. The ad hoc pastry chefs came to be known as ‘the macaron sisters.’”
It’s the most wonderful time of the year—royal icing season! Royal icing is a thick icing that dries hard and has the shine of a model’s hair in a Pantene commercial. It’s made using powdered sugar, meringue powder or dried egg whites, which not only s…
It’s the most wonderful time of the year—royal icing season! Royal icing is a thick icing that dries hard and has the shine of a model’s hair in a Pantene commercial. It’s made using powdered sugar, meringue powder or dried egg whites, which not only stabilizes the icing, but allows it to have a glossy finish. Royal icing season rolls in with the tide of every major holiday, when home bakers suddenly bring out every festive cookie cutter they own to cut stars for Hanukkah, bells and trees for Christmas, eggs for Easter, and pumpkins for Halloween.
Royal icing is the key to making beautiful, intricately decorated sugar cookies. But we can’t have it all, right? Despite its beauty, royal icing can be extremely temperamental and finicky, which is why it’s so important to whip it up well and store it properly when not in use.
You’ve baked the dough, chilled it, rolled it and cut it into the shapes of stars and trees. You’ve baked a batch and then another, decorated each cookie carefully with piping bags filled with royal icing, eaten a few (and then a few more), and now it’…
You’ve baked the dough, chilled it, rolled it and cut it into the shapes of stars and trees. You’ve baked a batch and then another, decorated each cookie carefully with piping bags filled with royal icing, eaten a few (and then a few more), and now it’s time to store them. But what’s the best way to do that without ruining the icing and decorated sugar on frosted sugar cookies?
Once your sugar cookie recipe is fully baked and decorated, properly store them “in a tin or an airtight container, once they're cool,” says Food52 community member Brette W. ChefJune agrees with this method to help the cookies stay fresh and recommends “[separating] the rows with waxed paper to ensure they don't stick to the ones above and below.” (You can also use parchment if that’s what you have!)
Because I excel at timing, I decided long after most normal people had long wrapped up their holiday cookie baking last December to make the checkerboard cookies, Sara, who works with me behind the scenes, has been steadily requesting for abou…
From now through the end of December, there will be more cookies baked than any other time of the year. Okay, I don’t actually have the stats to back it up, but it makes sense right? From Emma Laperruque’s Latke Cookies to Dorie Greenspan’s World Peace…
From now through the end of December, there will be more cookies baked than any other time of the year. Okay, I don’t actually have the stats to back it up, but it makes sense right? From Emma Laperruque’s Latke Cookies to Dorie Greenspan’s World Peace Cookies to basic sugar cookies, Russian Tea Cakes, gingerbread boys and girls, and shortbread, there are so many—and I mean so many—cookie recipes to bake. But in the midst of the holiday hullabaloo, there are bound to be a few errors too. I turned to five pro bakers to find out what the most common cookie mistakes among home bakers are.
Are you thinking to yourself, “duh?” I know. I thought the same thing. But Sarah Kieffer, baking blogger and author of the recently published, 100 Cookies: The Baking Book for Every Kitchen, says that more bakers than you’d think (including the pros!) quickly skim a recipe—or don’t read it at all. “Cookies often seem like something simple or easy to bake, and often it is assumed that cookie recipe directions are all similar in nature. An example is what I myself did the other day—I glanced over the recipe, threw the butter in the stand mixer bowl and started mixing, only to then realize I was supposed to brown the butter, let it come to room temperature, and then mix it,” says Kieffer.
