Summary
Overview
Gilbert Cruz hosts New York Times food experts Melissa Clark and Vaughn Vreeland to discuss Cookie Week, the Times' annual celebration of holiday cookies. The conversation covers everything from cookie varieties and testing techniques to holiday entertaining tips, batch cocktails, and make-ahead meals. The episode features tastings, reader questions, and concludes with a festive food-themed game show.
Introduction to Cookie Week and Its Origins
Cookie Week began in 2020 as a virtual cookie exchange to bring people together during isolation. What started as a small operation with contributors filming themselves at home evolved into an annual celebration featuring seven highlighted cookies and extensive holiday coverage. Vaughn Vreeland, as the MC of Cookie Week, orchestrates the planning, themes, and live events that have made this an anticipated tradition.
- Cookie Week started in 2020 as a virtual cookie exchange during pandemic isolation
- The event has grown from small handheld videos to studio productions with reader engagement
- Seven specific cookies are highlighted each day during Cookie Week
- This year's theme was 'but make it a cookie' - transforming drinks and other flavors into cookie form
" Cookies are a volume business. "
The Great Brownie Debate: What Defines a Cookie?
A spirited philosophical debate emerges about whether brownies qualify as cookies. Melissa Clark champions an expansive definition that includes brownies, blondies, and bar cookies in the cookie category, particularly for holiday cookie boxes. The discussion reveals how definitions in food culture evolve and expand to maximize joy and options for bakers.
- Melissa argues brownies are absolutely cookies, wanting a broad definition especially for holiday cookie boxes
- Bar cookies like blondies and lemon bars are included in the cookie category
- Opening a cookie tin with varied shapes like brownies and bars adds visual interest
" If you're going to call, if you want to have cookie week and you want to include brownies, it's going to make more people happy. Therefore it is a cookie. "
" If Melissa says it's so, it is so. That's the real answer. "
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