The Cooky Book: Mary's Sugar Cookies

The Recipe: Mary's Sugar Cookies from Betty Crocker's The Cooky Book

The Substitutions: To prevent boredom, I threw in a package of Skor bits.

The Verdict: And the battle of the sugar cookies in ON! Okay, not really, but since the Betty Crocker peeps felt the need to put in two back to back sugar cookie recipes, I can't help but compare. This recipe, provided by a lady named Mary Herman (who, a Google search reveals, worked in the Betty Crocker offices, answering fan mail as Betty Crocker herself!), uses icing sugar instead of regular sugar and also has some almond extract in it (though the Skor bits pretty much canceled it out). Now that I've tasted Mary's Sugar Cookies and Ethel's Sugar Cookies, I have to proclaim Ethel the winner.

Not that Mary's cookies aren't tasty. They're less substantial though (Ethel's are more like a shortbread), and kind of greasy, though that might be a result of the Skor bits. Though, that doesn't mean I can stop eating them though. Because I, know, like cookies.

The Cooky Book: Ethel's Sugar Cookies

The Recipe: Ethel's Sugar Cookies from Betty Crocker's The Cooky Book

The Substitutions: Butter for shortening. I used vanilla instead of lemon flavouring and added a bag of mini chocolate chips so that my family wouldn't abandon me.

The Verdict: Hooray, I've moved onto the "Rolled Cookies" section of the Cooky Primer chapter. I've kind of been dreading this point. First off, I am not a good roller. This is why I refuse to make pie crusts. But, the Cooky show must go on, so I'm committed to rolling for the time being. Secondly, the Betty Crocker people have included TWO sugar cookie recipes IN A ROW! In a row! I am not a fan of sugar cookies at all, and now I have to make two batches in a row? Oh right, you're not necessarily supposed to be baking through the entire book in order...

Anyway, Ethel's sugar cookies are nothing like the kind of sugar cookies I remember as a kid. They're basically made of the same drop cookie dough that most of the cookies in this book are made out of, only rolled out. This makes them a great candidate for the addition of chocolate chips. I really loaded them up, and as a result these are totally delicious cookies.

Would these have worked without the chocolate? Probably, but I'm not willing to ever find out.

Salisbury Steak with Mushrooms

Recipe: Salisbury Steak with Mushrooms from the March 2011 issue of Chatelaine. Recipe online here.

The Substitutions: None

The Verdict: Super Yum! Truth be told, I've only ever had Salisbury steak as part of a TV dinner. I had no idea how delicious they could be homemade. This recipe is really easy (it's essentially a hamburger patty simmered in some beef stock), but the taste really packs some punch.

This recipe contains a load of dried sage and I think I'd go easier on it next time because the taste is pretty overpowering. But all in all this recipe is a total keeper.

The Cooky Book: Refrigerator Filled Cookies

The Recipe: Refrigerator Filled Cookies from Betty Crocker's The Cooky Book.

The Substitutions: butter instead of shortening.

The Verdict: These are essentially vanilla refrigerator cookies filled with some fruit and nuts. Betty Crocker tells us that they have an "island shape," which is true, but they look a little less seamless than the ones pictured in the book. Still, these guys were pretty tasty and actually disappeared quite quickly.

I chose to make the fruit filling with dried apricots. I figured that would decrease the gross-out potential substantially, since the other options were mincemeat (ick!), dates, figs or raisins (all also icky). The apricot filling was actually pretty delicious, but I was a little afraid of overfilling the cookies and having some kind of sticky oven disaster, so I held back. This was my mistake. I think they could have taken more filling, which would have contributed to their deliciousness greatly.

The cookies themselves are a little on the boring side, which wouldn't have mattered if I had filled them properly. Either way, this is a pretty good recipe, providing you avoid the mincemeat.

The Cooky Book: Peanut Butter Honey Cookies

The Recipe: Peanut Butter Honey Cookies from Betty Crocker's The Cooky Book

The Substitutions: Butter for shortening. I also ran out of honey, so there was about 1/3 cup of honey topped up with maple syrup.

The Verdict: So painfully boring. I thought these guys would be tasty, what with the peanut butter and the honey. But no, they're just really really boring. Absolutely no one in my family has been eating these and I can't even send them to school because of the high peanut butter content. They're so simple and should be so great, but they're just a snooze. Boo, Betty Crocker. Boo.

The Cooky Book: Shamrock Cookies

The Recipe: Shamrock Cookies from Betty Crocker's The Cooky Book

The Substitutions: butter for shortening

The Verdict: I was truly expecting these little nuggets of Irish-ness to be the Shamrock Shake of cookies. Then I remembered that Shamrock Shakes are too sweet and never quite minty enough. With that said, these little green mounds are indeed the Shamrock Shake of cookies.

I made these a week early for St. Patrick's Day so that the Irish-y anticipation could build. They were so boring in taste thought that I ended up sticking all five dozen of them in the freezer so that they could just be taken to work on the day itself (all cookies are appreciated in offices, even boring, barely minty ones). I put in the maximum required amount of peppermint extract and the mint factor barely registers. Also, it should be noted that they're made with icing sugar rather than regular granulated sugar, which makes the texture really soft and flaky. My final complaint is that they're just a pain to make, with each cooking having to be individually molded. Pot of gold at the end of the rainbow? Not even close.

The Cooky Book: Oatmeal Coconut Crispies

The Recipe: Oatmeal Coconut Crispies from Betty Crocker's The Cooky Book

The Substitutions: Butter for shortening

The Verdict: Surprisingly awesome. I was afraid that these were going to be another exercise in dullness, but they're really really good. The texture and consistency (and for the most part, the taste) is reminiscent of Dad's brand oatmeal cookies, or at least that's what my tastebud memory is telling me (obviously, I don't buy a lot of store-bought cookies). Which means that they're crunchy and hard, rather than soft and tender. And this is just fine with me, because that extra crunch translates into coconutty deliciousness.