A biscuit is a cookie everywhere in the world except here. Here, a proper biscuit is often served with gravy, butter, protein, and ideally, right out of the oven.

Today, the word "cookie" is described as desire. I have been dreaming a lot about cookies, as in treats that are sweet and not savory.

I have been thinking about baking cookies. There is something gratifying about putting a sheet pan in a hot oven, and a handful of minutes later, a tray of cookies is cooling on the rack.

I have been anticipating that cookie and the joy of that first bite. Picking one up when it is still too hot, before it is ready to be handled. It might flop, bend, or collapse, and I won't care. The joy of the sweetness of just-out-of-the-hot-oven is the gift to the baker and shouldn't be missed.

I have been thinking about my favorite cookies and how I can switch them up. Add glitter to make them pretty? Shape them to be more unconventional? Add candied fruit? Definitely fruit! Fruit in the cookie will make them summer cookies and change the bite and texture. Nice!

Cookies!

Simple, and with just a few excellent quality ingredients, you will achieve a delight that satisfies almost every craving known to humans!

Time to bake!

P.S. When you ask AI chat what a cookie is, this is what you get: (edited for clarity)

The history of cookies is closely intertwined with the development of computers, the internet, and web browsers. Cookies are small pieces of flour that are stored on a user's device while they are browsing the internet. These crumbs of sugar are sent back to the website's server with each subsequent request, allowing the server to recognize and remember the user's desires and food preferences.

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Right now, these are my favorite cookies. 99.9% of the time I have all three ingredients in the pantry. Mix, bake, eat!

Add candied fruit and they are even better!

See the 3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe here!

Sugar cookies are super easy to make, a blast to shape and quick to bake. You can eat them straight, or dress them up with pretty sugar, frosting, chocolate or jam. This is a versatile, simple crisp sugar cookie recipe to which you can add cinnamon, cardamom or another spice of your choice.

See the easy Basic Sugar Cookie Recipe here!

A good whiff of the bag and you get the essence of almond with a hint of vanilla.

The smell is faint, the bite is entrapping, and one will find themselves crunching through a cookie in no time.

Reach for another and the crunchy cookie continues to will you to eat and enjoy! What pleasure!

Will you say this is an all-out almond flavor? Maybe. For sure, there is something sweet and perfect in the combination of cocoa, vanilla, and almonds.

It is this combination that makes it desirable to eat more than just one!

What a cookie. Travel with a bag in your bag!

Shop now for Primo Pan Volo Italian Gluten-Free Crunchy Almond Cookies!

Bev sent this to me awhile back—she told me this is the real one and that there were many variations published out there, but this is the one.

A chocolate chip cookie is a great cookie when you make it yourself.

I developed this cookie recipe years ago when I was food editor at the Chicago Sun-Times. I haven't changed it, but the ingredients get better every year. - Bev

See the easy Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe here!

A little-known secret; these cookies are perfect for a crust. Think graham cracker crust except chocolatey better!

These crunch filled Chocolate Hazelnut cookies are to die for. Well, perhaps not quite that far. But they are gosh darn excellent!

Open the package and you instantly get a sweet whiff of cocoa and hazelnut. Perfectly lovely! The bite has a nice crispness to it and as you chew you get crunchy bites of hazelnut bits.

I find them hard to resist. Eat with contentment.

Different than flour-based cookies, the crunch and the bite are a great experience. If you like crunchy and chocolate, these cookies are fabulous!

Raise your expectations to a new plane and you will be happy and filled with hazelnuts and dark chocolate!

So Good!
"So crunchy and so good! And so diverse for a cookie! I can crumble them over ice cream or just eat them straight. Especially good for a gluten-free person like myself."
-- Annabella

Shop now for Primo Pan Drolo Gluten Free Dark Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies!

According to Patricia Wells, Le Puy (pronounced PWEE) lentils are an attractive, dark green color with blue marbling. True Le Puy lentils are grown on the mountain plateau around the French town of Le Puy-en-Velay in the Haute Loire region, which has a unique climate and rich volcanic soil in which the lentils thrive.

Serve these French green lentils either hot or cold as an accompaniment to poultry, fish, meat, and game, or add them to soups and casseroles. French Puy lentils are the key accompaniment to regional dishes such as petit sale (salt pork and lentils) and jambonneau (a particular delicatessen-like ham). In France, they are often served cold in salads.

These French green lentils are the first foodstuff of their native country, other than wine or cheese, to be awarded the famous "Appellation d'Origine Controlee" mark of quality and assurance of origin. Le Puy's little green and blue-marbled lentils retain their shape upon cooking (although not as much of their color) and have a delicious flavor.

Shop now for A.O.C. Le Puy Lentils!

Cure your cough!
"I've had a very bad cough for a few days and a friend heard me coughing and suggested that I try some apple cider to reduce my congestion. This cider vinegar wasn't too acidic so it was easy on the throat and the taste was just enough apple combined with the right amount of vinegar flavor. The taste was delicious and my cough was relieved."
-- Jodi

Lovely, fragrant, mellow vinegar!
"A really nice, delicately flavored vinegar. I used it to make cole slaw and it added a lovely apple-y note to it (much more subtle and flavorful than other apple cider vinegars). I also found 1 Tbsp in a glass of water very effective for heartburn (after the cole slaw)."
-- Pam

Shop now for Gravenstein Apple Cider Vinegar!

Flavored with authentic French brandy, this brandy butter is a cookie dough lover's delight and the perfect topping for your hot plum pudding. Once you have had this magic combination, there's no going back!

Shop now for Brandy Butter!

This sugar is from the southern most island in the chain of over 150 islands in Okinawa Prefecture, south of the mainland of Japan. Hateruma Island is, as a crow flies, 2,006 kilometers (1,246 miles) south of Tokyo and 247 kilometers (153 miles) to the east of Taipei.

This small island is just 1270 hectares (3138 acres), or 4.9 square miles. In comparison, Orcas Island is 11.69 times larger. The only way to get to the island is via a 60 minute fast boat. If the seas are too rough you can take the cargo ferry, leaving at 9, taking 2.5 hours.

The island is a destination for holiday makers and is known for its relaxing island life.

It is also here that this very special molasses brown sugar is from. Unlike many brown sugars (made with white sugar mixed with molasses), Kokuto (rich black sugar) is made by slowly cooking and reducing the sugarcane juice.

Sugarcane is one of the healthiest foods you can eat. Antioxidant rich, it is a fighter of infections and helps strengthen your immune system. Rich in calcium, iron, potassium, vitamins B1 & B2 and essential amino acids.

Potassium helps excrete excess sodium and keeps the blood pressure balanced. Calcium is known for preventing high blood pressure, arterial sclerosis, and keeping you calm.

Kokuto molasses brown sugar can help with dehydration, infections, and can even help fight a fever. Keep in mind that processed white sugarcane is not the same and can have the opposite health benefits.

Kokuto dates back to the 17th century and now is a protected process by the Okinawa Prefecture Brown Sugar Industry Council ensuring the quality and traditional production methods are used. Just seven of the islands grow sugarcane.

To taste Kokuto is nothing like a spoonful of sugar or a cube of table sugar. To taste Kokuto is like an awakening! It is not sweet like you expect sugar to be. It is almost savory, with hints of molasses, earthy tones, and even a rich subtle touch of tobacco on the top of the edge of the back of the tongue. It is full of complexities with many flavor hits and hints.

It is most often used for savory dishes like noodle soups, stir-fry, hot pots and sushi rice. And of course straight up, like a health pill of sugar.

How great is this? Pop some sugar and get healthy!

Shop now for Kokuto Murakami Syouten Crushed Brown Sugar from Hateruma Island!

Semolina Rimacinata flour is perfect for making dried pasta.

Made with 100% hard durum wheat which has a high glutenous content of 12.5% and if finely milled, achieves a very fine, powdered sugar-like, texture.

This flour grind produces a smooth and elastic dough that's ideal for making pasta and pizza. Durum wheat is known for its high protein and gluten content, which gives pasta and bread a desirable texture when cooked or baked.

You can also use it 50/50 with chef's or all-purpose flour when making fresh egg-based pasta to achieve a slightly firmer "al dente" texture.

Shop now for Caputo Semolina Flour!

Unlike a demi-glace, this Glace de Poulet is made without flour as a thickener, producing a clean, light flavor that is appropriate for modern cuisine. Stock, rich with roast chicken flavor, is reduced to 1/20th of its volume, yielding a rich and complex "glaze."

Shop now for Glace de Poulet - Classic Roasted Chicken Stock!

Scalia Anchovies are a wonderful staple for your pantry.

Scalia is less well known outside of the commercial kitchen. Scalia's anchovies are a consistent and reliable product.

When squeezed into a tube, the convenience of anchovies any time is perfected.

Squeeze your anchovy paste into your next dish to add umami!

Shop now for Scalia Anchovy Paste in a tube!

Capellini #3 (also known as Spaghettini #3) Italian pasta is about a third thinner than spaghetti, but slightly thicker than what you might think of as typical angel hair pasta.

Shop now for Sgambaro #3 Spaghettini Pasta!

By far one of our favorite Fallot mustards. There's something about walnuts and stone ground Dijon mustard that make an unbeatable combination.

Delicious Roasted Walnut taste!

"Finally, a French Mustard that is actually made in France! It just got here today and I have been eating it with a spoon so I do not know which foods it will enhance. It will probably be best on bland food like fingerling potatoes or chicken breast that do not interfere with the divine walnut flavor and spices of this quality European import."
-- Karin

Shop now for Fallot Walnut Dijon Mustard!