READ THIS: The Joy of Cookies by Janet Keeler

Gathered from more than 5,000 recipes submitted by readers and carefully tasted and tested by award-winning St. Petersburg Times Food & Travel editor Janet K. Keeler, the recipes in Cookielicious are a tribute to our love for the cookie. Simple to bake and a pleasure to share, homemade cookies bring us warmth and cheer.

Nothing says comfort and kindness quite like the scent of a fresh batch in the oven. A box of cookies from the store will do in a pinch, but everyone knows the homemade kind is best. With the cookie-filled winter holiday season fast-approaching, Food & Travel Editor and cookie connoisseur Janet K. Keeler’s essential cookbookCOOKIELICIOUS: 150 Fabulous Recipes to Bake and Share (Seaside Publishing; October 2010;Paperback/$19.95; ISBN: 978-0942084344), with a foreword by seasoned food writer John Mariani, will fill your home and heart with the magic of cookies.

Janet K. Keeler has assembled a collection of 150 cookie recipes from the St. Petersburg Times archives. These tried and true favorites came to Janet through handwritten notes and emails from readers, with a few of her own recipes sprinkled in for good measure.  “I have tasted every single one of the book’s recipes and can personally vouch for their wow factor,” says Janet. Her diligent collecting and testing of recipes is sure to inspire your holiday baking this year.

Whether you prefer cookies with dried fruit or chocolate cookies, cookies with candy or cookies with nuts, COOKIELICIOUS has a recipe for you. With easy-to-find ingredients and commonplace cooking tools, these recipes are geared towards home cooks. If you like to bake in advance (especially useful during the holiday season) each recipe includes a note on whether or not a cookie can be frozen and how to best store. Tempting photographs accompany each recipe. The book is divided into easy-to-navigate sections according to cravings and occasions:

-       Anytime Cookies

-       Sharing Cookies

-       Chocolate Cookies

-       Kids Cookies

-       Holiday Cookies

Use COOKIELICIOUS as a guide and inspiration throughout this holiday season, and many more to come. Recipes like Oatmeal Bourbon Cookies, Candy Cane Gingersnaps, and Joyful Almond Blondies are sure to win a place in your cookie repertoire. Nothing can bring people together quite like a big plate of warm cookies.

The Whom You Know Panel states:

I'm obsessed with food! I love cooking it, eating it and watching it being made into my favorite dishes. So when I got the Cookielicious cookie book, I was thrilled! Its filled with 150 recipes for all kinds of cookies and it is super easy to follow. It has instructions that cover all skill levels from the beginner cookie maker to the experienced cookie savant looking for some fun. What I enjoyed most about this cookie book is that it includes perfect illustrations of what you're making! Its really helpful if you are making cookies for the first time. You don't go into it blindfolded, not knowing how the product should come out looking. Here, you can actually see what it's supposed to look like. On top of that, it is separated into different types of cookies . For example, there is a chapter on types of chocolate cookies, kids cookies and holiday cookies. How great is that?! I absolutely love this book, and am really happy to share it with my friends and family.

I come from a family who loves to bake!  Even my three year old son has a passion for baking (and for wearing more flour than he puts in the cookies, but that's another story)!  I was thrilled to receive Cookielicious and even more thrilled once I took a peek inside.  There is so much to love about this cookbook, I don't know where to begin!  Initially, just flipping through, the color photos caught my eye immediately.  I like to have a visual of what I am about to bake, so this was a definite plus in my book!  The division of the chapters is very user friendly ("Anytime Cookies", "Kids Cookies" & "Holiday Cookies" are my top three favs).  Once a recipe is chosen, you will find on the left hand side of the page, the cookie you are about to make, the page number of where you can locate a drool-worthy photo, a "Freezeworthy" note (I find this to be quite helpful) and perhaps my favorite part, a section for your own notes!  How wonderful!!  Above each recipe is a little tidbit of information (suggestions on who may enjoy this particular cookie or an appropriate occasion to serve this cookie or just plain old practical information), this is a nice supplement to the recipe itself.  Under many of the recipes, you'll find a "Tip!".  Additional information to make your baking experience all the more enjoyable! Cookielicious is a fabulous cookbook and I am very much looking forward to making all of those Holiday Cookies!  Let the baking begin!  

I was so ecstatic when I saw this book!  I absolutely love that I can go to one place to find awesome recipe's for not only cookies, but other yummy treats.  I've already marked a few pages of recipe's I want to try.  Every year, my work does a sweets cook off and I already have a recipe from this book I want to make.  I also appreciated that in the middle of the book, there are pictures that show you what each treat is supposed to look like.  Being a visual person, that really helped me out.  I also liked the fact that it tells you whether or not the cookies could be frozen.  I know I usually give many of my favorite cookies away, or I throw them away because they've gone stale.  The helpful hints at the top of the page will come in handy as well.  I cannot wait to try them all!  So far, I've tried the Rolo Brownies and love them.  This would make a perfect gift for anyone with a sweet tooth.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Janet K. Keeler is the award-winning food and travel editor at the St. Petersburg Times in St. Petersburg, Florida. She recently won a 2009 Green Eyeshade award for Travel Writing. Her work has been recognized by the Association of Food Journalists, the Society of American Travel Writers, the Society of Newspaper Design, the Society of Professional Journalists and the American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors. Her story, The Crock-Pot That Saved Dinner Time, appears in the collection of Best Food Writing 2001, an anthology of work by American writers. She learned much about competitive cooking as a judge of the Pillsbury Bake-Off in 2004. She has been a working newspaper journalist since 1980, holding a variety of editing positions and covering several beats, including education and government. Janet and her husband, Scott, a Times photographer, have one son. Their St. Petersburg kitchen is the testing ground and photo studio for much of her work.