An Introduction

He's really sweet- which is, no doubt, somewhat related to his daily sugar intake. My husband Scott has a cookie capacity that most only dream of. I've seen him polish off a whole carton of cookies in a sitting without so much as a stretch and yawn. He is also magically immune to love handles, spare tires and the like...must be nice.

I don't know if his Christmas gift of Martha Stewart's Book of Cookies was motivated by a subconscious dissatisfaction with my baking skills or what, but hey, if the man wants cookies, cookies he's going to get.

I can't lie, I much prefer cooking your standard roast or ragu- there's just more of a relationship there. You get to know your meat and veggies; the different personalities, who can take the heat, who needs to rest or simmer a bit longer. All the measuring and precise timing of baking has always left me cold. My baking endeavers are the only times I feel uncomfortable in the kitchen- and that's going to change this year.

I don't know if I'll get through them all, but I'm going to do my best to exhaust Martha's Cookie Bible- and hopefully in the end I'll own the art of cookie creation and not the other way around.