The perfect chocolate chip cookie, the versatile sugar cookie, the best chewy brownie-they're all here, plus many more old favorites and many others you may not know. And all created and thoroughly tested by the never-fail team of bakers at King Arthur Flour.

You'll find a thorough overview of the essential ingredients of cookie baking, along with step-by-step instructions and how-to drawings of techniques that will have you creating great-looking, incredible-tasting cookies in no time. You'll also learn tips on substitutions and variations; measuring and weighing ingredients; instructions for making icings, fillings, and dips; and even advice on high-altitude baking. Recipes are enhanced with sidebars full of hints, shortcuts, troubleshooting advice, and recipe lore. Also, each recipe is accompanied by a complete nutritional analysis, and such baking terms as creaming, docking, and folding are fully explained. Finally, a comprehensive, illustrated chapter describes the key baking tools you'll want to have on hand.