Chapter 1
wooden spoon & bowl
WHEN I WAS JUST A GIRL GROWING UP IN IRELAND, my mum would always say, “If you can read, you can cook.” With that philosophy as her guiding light, she brought me, my sisters, and my brother into the kitchen when we were quite young, and one of the first things we learned how to bake was cookies. There’s no need for fancy equipment, and all you really need are a spoon and a bowl. In fact, Mum also used to say that in France, chefs didn’t use electric mixers—they always mixed by hand. The recipes in this chapter include a wide variety of cookies, from beloved treats from my childhood like Old-School Crunchy Biscuits and Butter Whirl Biscuits, plus new favorites I picked up from my travels like Chewy, Gooey Oatmeal Raisin Cookies and Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies—plus a crumble and a cobbler because they’re so easy to mix up in a bowl.
Chewy, Gooey Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
10-Minute Vanilla Refrigerator Cookies
Bigger Bolder Irish Shortbread
Simplest Buttery Viennese Fingers
Five-Ingredient Coconut Kisses
Simplified Chocolate & Hazelnut Cookies