Foodie culture can sometimes take a simple, really delicious thing and make it a total pain in the neck. You know, sometimes you don’t need to construct an entire edible Santa’s village to enjoy the holidays. Sometimes, you just want a good cookie.

It’s in this spirit that Stacy Adimando has given us “The Cookiepedia: Mixing, Baking, and Reinventing the Classics” (Quirk Books, $18.95). A quote from Robert Fulghum in the front of the book sets the tone: “Think what a better world it would be if we all, the whole world, had cookies and milk about three o’clock every afternoon and then lay down on our blankets for a nap.”

In Adimando’s book you’ll find all the classics you enjoyed as a kid, and fairly basic recipes: chocolate chip cookies, snickerdoodles, pecan sandies, thumbprints, oatmeal raisin cookies, shortbread, gingersnaps. She’s tweaked a recipe here and there – the blondies are made with browned butter and sprinkled with a touch of coarse salt – but not enough to make them annoyingly difficult.

This would be a great reference to have on hand when you want to bake a batch of warm cookies with your kids. Just don’t forget the blankets.


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