Cookies & Beer

As the author says at the start: “this is a big, silly, wonderful idea”. You may try to snigger and dismiss this book, but just look at some of the recipes, and, like me, you will be won over. Primarily, this is a great biscuit (cookie) cookbook. And if you happen to like beer too, then it you get an added bonus. There is something for everyone in this book – even for teetotallers. Each recipe is paired with a particular American beer. But don’t panic if you don’t have a source of American craft beers on your doorstep, because the recipe also gives a description of the type of beer required, so you can always find a suitable substitute if you wish.
However, most of the time, I just baked (and ate) the biscuits, and left the beer alone. There were two biscuits though I did try to pair up with beer: the Man Bars and the Rich Butter Cookies with Fennel Seed and Sea Salt. The Man Bars just shouldn’t work. Ingredients include stout, bacon and crushed Kettle Chips (crisps) – really, really silly, but they tasted wonderful and had a lovely crispy texture on top, and soft in the middle. The Rich Butter Cookies we smuggled into the local pub, as my husband had noticed that they sold beer by the suggested brewery. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the right one, but we surreptitiously nibbled the biscuits with glasses of three other beers from that brewery. Not sure that the beers add a lot to the biscuits, but it is fun trying. So far I have baked six different cookies from the book, and have a lot more planned. But I need a break now as my waist-line is expanding too fast. In the tasting I have had to rope in my husband, the neighbours, the cleaner, and my mother-in-law as the volume of biscuits produced was too large. All the recipes seem to make more than they state. Luckily, you can freeze the dough for some of them, for use at a later date. All the tasters have been very assiduous in giving feedback. My 8 year old neighbour even wrote me her own review on the Vanilla Basil Shortie (reproduced verbatim): “it was crumbely, sweet and delicous and the basil and butter cream it tasted delicious the butter cream was the best!”. Her parents and I disagreed with her about the butter cream – we found it too sweet, and thought the shortbread (lovely taste of basil) would have been perfect without it.
Actually, many of the recipes I tried would have been excessively sweet (for me) if I hadn’t decreased the amount of sugar I put in. Luckily, tinkering with the sugar content did not seem to damage the biscuits. The recipes are easy and readily adaptable. When I next make the Chai Spice biscuits, I probably won’t cover the dough in extra brown sugar before baking, as well as having reduced the sugar content in the dough. The Olive Oil Almond Biscotti biscuits were perfect as the recipe stood.
I have learned to take note of the spacing given for the biscuits on the baking tray. My first batch of Oatmeal Cookies with Chocolate and Cranberries covered the entire tray in one seamless sheet. I took the second batch (nice thin, crisp circles) over to the neighbours (other side) for dessert, and they went down a real treat.
All measurements in the recipes are American, but there is a convenient page of metric conversions and equivalents at the back.
The book doesn’t just provide scrumptious recipes, it is also a great read. The biscuit descriptions are almost poetic: the Vanilla Basil Shortie “tastes like you trapped spring in a cookie”. “The salty first bite (of the Valrhona Chocolate Chip Cookie) opens the door for the dark chocolate, and the two find each other in the chewy center”. The Rich Butter Cookies with Fennel Seeds are “what grown-up princesses serve at tea parties”. The Mocha Chocolate Cake Cookie “is what bubble bath commercials have always promised: rich, deep and sensual”
The book ends with a “Dear John” letter to milk: “Beer and I are going public with what we have. ... We just can’t be exclusive anymore.”
I had promised my husband that I wouldn’t buy any more cookbooks (no room!), but I am afraid I really need a hard copy of this one. The recipes I have tried, will be done again (and again), and there are so many more pleading for tasting. This is a biscuit (and beer) book par excellence.

A unique and fun twist on a cook book. For all ages and preferences, because even children and non-drinkers will get a kick out of these recipes. Great idea, fabulous photography. A must-buy Christmas or Birthday gift.

With the prevalence of online cooking sites and recipes these days, it takes a unique perspective for a cookbook to catch my interest. [book:Cookies & Beer: Bake, Pair, Enjoy|25205338] not only captured my attention, but delivered on the promise.

This distinctive tome of tastiness combines delicious sounding recipes, craft beer pairings for said recipes, and fascinating beer and cookie related tidbits that are sure to capture the heart of any fan of the unlikely duo of cookies and beer. The book is laid out nicely for ease of use and features outstanding images that are sure to fuel your cravings.

This book would make the perfect gift for any craft beer lover with a sweet tooth in your life. While you are at it, pick up a copy for yourself. It should serve as a great conversation starter, if not the inspiration for own beer and cookie party.

**Disclaimer: I was provided a digital advance review copy at no cost by the publisher via Net Galley.

There is something disturbing about the title. It grabs for attention. Cookies go with milk. Beer goes with curry. Cookies and beer is fundamentally twisted. Furthermore, the first chapter in the book is "breakfast", followed by what appears to be an oreo being dunked into a pint of Guinness.

The sense of satire deepens when the book goes on to say "The forty recipes in Cookies & Beer call for somewhere between thirty and three million sticks of butter." It should also mention the half a pig's worth of bacon that end up in the cookies, too. Confused...? Don't be. Read, bake, dunk in beer and eat.

All of the recipes are paired with beer, and some of them also include it as an ingredient. I don't know how popular the beers are, but there is not a single one that I recognise, giving this book a somewhat limited shelf life, although it does also give a description of the beer too, so that a substitute beer can be found. Without reading the label of every single artisan beer on offer, I would have difficulty actually following through with this.

That said, apart from the attention-grabbing novelty of beer and cookies, the recipes are clear and well laid out. The intriguing description of each cookie recipe definitely leads into temptation and the array of cookies are in itself a feat of novelty and interest. There is even a recipe for dog biscuits, although it looks perfectly suitable for human consumption, too. Who would have thought you could put kettle chips (crisps) into a cookie?

Overall, this has the appearance of a novelty recipe book, but delve deeper than that, and I suspect it might end up being hauled off the shelf more times than expected, purely due to the fascinating array of cookies. The beer is, after all, an optional accompaniment.

Move over cupcakes and cake pops - cookies and beer should take the baking world by storm. I was initially drawn to this book by the title alone and the content and the wonderful color photos only increased my enthusiasm for this intriguing pairing. I have not yet tried any of the recipes but did order a copy for my daughter who loves both beer and cookies. I'm hoping she will take the hint and bake a few dozen for me!

Have always enjoyed eating Kettle Cooked Potato Chips with my cold beer. So hence why I'd be interested in reading this one. It's a likable book, has a bunch of neat cookie recipes in it but I'm sticking with the Chips and will have to try some of the recipes though. Bet they'll be mighty tasty dunked in my Coffee.

A unique, fun recipe book that pairs cookies with beer!! Bravo!! I loved this book. I have not tried too many beers, but I have to say after reading and trying out some of the recipes in this book, that could very well change. I give this 5 stars!! I thoroughly enjoyed it!

I am not sure where to begin...I did love the pictures..and seeing the cookies, how seeing people causally doing both. It made me think that this would be a good girls night or friends getting together to have a fun evening. You could either wait for them to start cooking the cookies, ask them to bring one of the cookies with them for a "pot luck" type thing and of course bring the beer / drink that was suggested with it. Here are a sampling of two recipes that caught my eye: Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies, Bacon Chip Sugar Bombs. I will say if you are looking for a cookbook with beer/alcohol used in the recipe then there are a some but not all of them. This book is more of giving you a recipe and pairing it with the alcohol beverage to drink with it. I am really happy to have this book for an honest review from NetGalley. I truly hope you enjoy this book too and try to do some get together with friends and have fun with this cookbook. Or better yet...those cold winter nights to come..nice treat to have.

Nonfiction Adult Move over, milk. Cookies have grown up and found themselves a new drinking partner. And it looks like a lot of us are ready to give it a try. Whenever I mention this title, people break into a grin of anticipation – finally! Two of our favourite things at the same time! Bender (I know) and 34 others collaborated to create a compendium of cookie recipes, each with a suggested beer pairing and what notes to look for in the beer. The book opens with a handshake – an introduction of craft beer for experienced bakers, and of baking for beer drinkers. But it’s a short intro, getting right into the good stuff. Bender provides 40 recipes for cookies that will surely satisfy any occasion or taste desire, organized into six chapters: Breakfast, Chocolate, Fruit, Savory, Holiday, and Beer. While some of the earlier recipes include beer as an ingredient, all 7 in the final chapter do. We start with Man Bars for breakfast (p. 3), described as having a taste similar to thick baked pretzels, thanks to the combination of beer, bacon, and crushed kettle chips. Pair with Samuel Smith’s Oatmeal Stout and look for coffee and caramel notes. Okay, maybe not just for breakfast. The Bacon Shortbread Cookies a few pages later (p. 8) are quite literally too rich for my blood – they call for 1 1/2 cups of bacon fat, PLUS the same amount in butter! Granted, it makes 48 cookies. Not for me, but I am definitely going to try the pumpkin chocolate chip cookies (p. 46) and Nana’s Molasses Cookies (p. 84). It will be hard to resist Mocha Chocolate Cake Cookies made with smoked porter (p. 100), though I’m not sure about the Curry Coconut Macaroons (p. 66). Luscious photos of happy people enjoying cookies and beer tempt you into organizing a tasting with your friends for next weekend. The book includes some awesome sidebars too – from a primer on beer glasses to a tutorial on spent grain – the leftovers from the beermaking process. For those who make their own beer, or have friends who do, Bender provides three recipes calling for spent grain, including one for tasty dog treats. For those short on time or talent, Bender suggests pairings for packaged cookies (p. 19). You know you want to, so pick up a package of Oreos and try them with something called a milk stout. Seriously. And Bender provides another page of pairings for Americans who get so many choices in Girl Scout Cookies (p. 40). He wraps up this great package with brief bios on the 40 or so people, bakeries, and breweries who contributed to the book, a helpful chart of metric conversions, and a terrific index in which you can look up recipes by title, contributor, ingredient, or paired beer. This is a great book that is an early choice for holiday gift-giving, or just curling up on a chilly fall day. My thanks to the publisher for the advance reading copy through NetGalley.
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