Margaret Chen · June 6, 2026
What Does Stout Do in Baking? The Science Behind Beer in Cookie Recipes Fifteen years ago, a friend handed me a Guinness and said, “You should bake with this.” I laughed. I tested cookies with vanilla, spices, and extracts—not beer. But curiosity got the better of me, and on a rainy Tuesday afternoon, I cracked … Read more
Margaret Chen · June 5, 2026
Korean Cookies: The Recipes I Found After Falling Down a Very Delicious Rabbit Hole I discovered yakgwa—deep-fried honey cookies infused with sesame oil, ginger, and cinnamon—at a Korean bakery near my neighborhood. That single bite sparked six months of research into hangwa, the umbrella term for traditional Korean confections. “These are yakgwa,” the baker told … Read more
Margaret Chen · June 2, 2026
Chinese almond cookies are a beloved staple at dim sum restaurants and family celebrations across Asia and beyond. But what makes them so special? After 30 batches of experimenting, tweaking, and occasionally throwing my hands up in frustration, I’ve discovered that the magic lies in understanding their history, appreciating their symbolism, and mastering the surprisingly … Read more
Margaret Chen · May 31, 2026
Brown Butter Cardamom Cookies: The Recipe I Make When I Want to Sound Like a Professional Baker I’ll never forget the moment my friend Sarah pulled me into the kitchen at my dinner party five years ago and demanded to know where I’d ordered the cookies from. “These are impossibly good,” she said, holding up … Read more
Margaret Chen · May 29, 2026
National Cookies of the World: The Most Iconic Cookie From 20 Countries (I’ve Made Them All) Europe’s Most Iconic National Cookies Scotland: Shortbread Scottish shortbread dates to the 12th century and uses a precise 3:1:2 ratio of butter, sugar, and flour. Rice flour or cornstarch creates the signature crumbly, melt-in-your-mouth texture. Add 25% cornstarch for … Read more
Margaret Chen · May 28, 2026
Orange Cookies: 5 Internationally-Inspired Recipes You Won’t Find in a Standard Roundup I spent the better part of last winter diving deep into orange cookie recipes—not just any orange cookies, but the kind that make people pause mid-bite and ask, “What is that flavor?” The kind that linger on your palate long after the cookie … Read more
Margaret Chen · May 26, 2026
The Bakery Cookie That Changed Everything It was a Tuesday afternoon in Mumbai, 2019, when I first bit into these golden, crumbly little rounds at a neighborhood bakery near my hotel. The texture was nothing like the soft, cakey American coconut cookies I’d been baking for years. These were crispy, almost sandy, with a delicate … Read more
Margaret Chen · May 25, 2026
I still remember the exact moment I fell in love with Moroccan orange cookies. It was a Tuesday afternoon in my kitchen—the kind of day when I’d been testing three different shortbread recipes and felt frankly exhausted by butter and sugar. A friend had just returned from Marrakech and handed me a small paper bag … Read more
Margaret Chen · May 23, 2026
I still remember sitting on my kitchen floor in December 2018, surrounded by twelve cracked, lopsided, hollow shells that were supposed to be French macarons. I had followed every online tutorial I could find. My feet were wrong. My shells had craters. My filling oozed out sideways. That was batch number three, and I genuinely … Read more
Margaret Chen · May 22, 2026
The first time I made a homemade Oreo cookies recipe from scratch was the winter of 2018, right before the holidays. I had confidently promised my daughter Emma a “better than the blue package” cookie, and what came out of my oven that first evening was… not that. The cookies spread, tasted like sad chocolate … Read more
