THE COOKBOOK TEST #0061: THE ULTIMATE MINNESOTA COOKIE BOOK, PART 1

INSTALLMENT #0061 (PAID) COOKIES AND THE GOPHER STATE / TRADITION… TRADITION! / AUTUMN! NOW IN A CONVENIENT COOKIE FORMAT

Dear Subscribers,

There are few states as small-d democratic as Minnesota. Our governor (Tim Walz) is now nationally known as a regular dude, the sort of guy who can and will help strangers troubleshoot their cars, and who has absolutely no problem walking into a bakery and ordering doughnuts like a normal human being. We suffer somewhat from tall poppy syndrome, but compensate by a general lack of fuss and dignified-but-casual vibe that probably (and not accidentally) most closely resembles the mood over in Scandinavia.

Therefore Minnesota is a fine state to serve as homebase for an ambitiously accessible tome focused on cookies, that most unassuming and low-key of scratch-made desserts. Pies and cakes feel like a production, or like the baker is trying to prove a point; a plate of cookies is always welcome, and about as intimidating as a squirrel.

The newly published ULTIMATE MINNESOTA COOKIE BOOK expands and updates a previous book, THE GREAT MINNESOTA COOKIE BOOK, which was published in 2018. It adds another 35 recipes and, to my outsiders' eyes, feels considerably more polished and majestic. (Its predecessor was quite nice, too, but Ultimate really does feel more thoughtful, beautifully produced, and deep than Great.)

Cookies may make just about everyone relax and feel "easy" from a baker's perspective, but the devil is always in the details, and Ultimate spends a great deal of time chasing down Old Nick.

It's a fun read, with brief but punchy introductions of the cooks who submitted the book's recipes and context that helps justify each cookie's existence. And this time of year, it serves a pretty vital function: helping us bake one another into a holiday spirit, making meetings, tea-times, and family visits a little more bearable. Or a lot more bearable, depending on the recipe and the company, to be perfectly honest.

at your service,

James

THE ULTIMATE MINNESOTA COOKIE BOOK
LEE SVITAK DEAN AND RICK NELSON
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA PRESS | 2024 | $30

Almost everyone I know has some kind of family cookie tradition - it feels pretty much inescapable here in America, or maybe in particular in the American Midwest. For my family, it was spritz cookies (classy, austere half butter/half shortening cookies decorated with sprinkles and red hots) and serious-business gingerbread cookies with royal icing and copious sprinkles, plus rumballs rolled in chocolate jimmies. 

For my wife's family, it was spritz cookies (loud, food-coloring bedecked all-butter cookies), Sicilian fried honey cookies called scalidi, and Danish klejner cookies. Now, because we live in bountiful times and have two small children, we tend to make 4-6 of these varieties every year for the holidays. We sometimes try some new ones, to boot. If we change it up this year, The Ultimate Minnesota Cookie Book will be our first stop for inspiration - there's a ridiculous whirlwind of 100 different battle-tested options in this tome, an embarrassment of sugary riches.

AUTUMN! NOW IN A CONVENIENT COOKIE FORMAT

I've never had any particular interest in pumpkin cookies - pumpkin lends itself to pies, curries, and puddings, not cakes or cookies. It's a soft-spoken flavor, and even though it's amplified and empowered by autumn spices, it can feel out of place in many baked goods. (Example: pumpkin muffins or doughnuts. Both generally seem to miss the point.)