Happy 2025! In starting the new year, I can’t help but look back on the old one and feel that it was personally both long and forgettable. Favourite activities like reviewing or baking slipped away and, by the time what I affectionately think of as “Cookie Season” came around, I had lost the gumption to even think about, let alone bake any cookie boxes. Talking it over with a friend, she encouraged me to, at the very least, bake something for myself. I had promised my daughter that we would be baking together, and what my friend suggested ended up giving me a different perspective on a holiday activity I used to look forward to. Change always occurs with the first steps, and without planning to bake for days or organize elaborately curated cookie boxes, I found myself trying to see what my holiday baking would look like. The main question I had to answer for myself: if I wasn’t baking for a dozen families, would that leave me baking only one or two recipes? In my mind, part of holiday baking includes having variety and baking things I might only enjoy once a year. However, baking for only 3 people limits the amount of choice. Herein lies the dilemma.
Months earlier I was sent a copy of Edd Kimber’s latest book, Small Batch Cookies (review for One Tin Bakes here), and suddenly a spark of something completely new occurred to me: micro baking. Instead of baking dozens of cookies, I could bake a selection of cookies where the yield of each recipe offered no more than a half dozen cookies. Immediately my daughter and I sat down with Kimber’s book and began to choose cookies to fill our holiday box. The cookie box became something new. Flipping through Small Batch Cookies, I thought about how this unique perspective on micro baking offers more freedom to home bakers that enjoy baking without, as Kimber puts it in his introduction, “the leftovers.” When I first encountered Kimber’s book, I approached it with the wrong attitude of “go big or go home”, however in reading through Small Batch Cookies, Kimber has cleverly woven desire with austerity and has given us something to enjoy. Also, as he tells us, baking on a smaller scale is less wasteful and cheaper, which is another aspect I appreciated. Specialty ingredients are more accessible if purchased on a smaller scale, so when I wanted to try making his Hazelnut Crinkle Cookies, buying almond and hazelnut meal in the amount I required at the bulk store was easy and affordable.
The recipes in Small Batch Cookies are organized into 6 chapters: Soft & Sumptuous, Crisp & Crunchy, Ooey Gooey, Sandwich Cookies, Chocolate Heaven, and Chewy. Kimber also gives home bakers a few helpful sections at the beginning of the book – My Perfect Cookie Manifesto, The Boring But Important Bit, and Equipment – where he outlines the essential information on technique, ingredients and equipment. Since he is based in the UK, it may surprise some home bakers to know that the ingredients differ slightly, so that when he calls for a large egg in a recipe, I’ll be buying an extra-large egg here in Canada. Also, the recipes use caster sugar which is much finer than regular sugar. Despite the differences, I found it simple to source ingredients at my local supermarket. For any home bakers wondering: recipes that are gluten-free and/or vegan are indicated with GF or V beside the recipe title.
Normally I don’t pick favourites BUT the recipe for Sticky Toffee Sandwich Cookies is truly outstanding. He’s reimagined a classic UK dessert in cookie form and, what could be better than soft date cookies filled with a whipped butterscotch filling? The cookies on their own are really delicious and only made more so by the filling which is easily made by cooking butter, light brown sugar, and cream on the stove then chilling the sauce until firm, but scoopable. Miraculously when this firm-ish sauce is whipped using a hand mixer, it aerates the sauce into something that’s luxurious and fluffy. This cookie felt very “holiday” to me but, I can also picture enjoying it on a sunny afternoon sitting in my favourite chair with a cup of coffee.
My daughter’s pick for best in box were the Pretzel Caramel Thumbprint Cookies. A vanilla-scented dough is rolled in crushed pretzels then indented to create a recess for the caramel (I usually use a teaspoon in place of my thumb). What I appreciate about this recipe is that Kimber streamlines ingredients for home bakers by using store-bought caramel (here in Canada, my local supermarket carries jars of the Bonne Maman Caramel Spread Dulce de Leche). The cookie is an amalgam of textures and flavours: soft, crunchy, salty, sweet, and gooey.
When I was baking bigger holiday cookie boxes to gift, I loved making Mandelhörnchen (Almond and Marzipan Crescents), so I was intrigued to try Kimber’s small batch version of the classic Almond Horns. If you’ve never tried these delightful cookies, they’re made using an almond paste, rolled in flaked almonds baked, then finished by dipping the ends of the crescent in chocolate. How good does that sound?! Needless to say, I was pleased with the results – the small batch version allowed us to enjoy a taste of another holiday favourite.
What holiday baking regimen is complete without something from the shortbread family? We chose two candidates from Small Batch Cookies to try: the Salted Malt Shortbread Rounds and Crisp Lemon Cardamom Cookies. Two sides of the same coin, each recipe offers different iterations on this classic: one is piped into gorgeous swoops, then baked and the other is sliced into perfect rounds. Each cookie offers its own flavour profile too: sweet and lemony which is complimented by the distinctive, slightly-citrusy cardamom and the other is bold in umami from the malted milk powder.
On one hand, the cookie genre is very well-known and saturated, yet Kimber creatively offers interesting flavours and new variations on old favourites. Take his recipe for Hazelnut Crinkle Cookies: instead of offering us just another crinkle cookie he smartly offers us something that looks like a crinkle cookie but tastes more like a hazelnut version of an Italian amaretti. Another recipe that he offers a twist on is the well-loved holiday classic: German lebkuchen. In his recipe for Stamped Lebkuchen, he uses wholemeal buckwheat flour which adds a nutty, earthy taste to these spiced, soft, glazed cookies.
Small Batch Cookies offers us the feeling of joy in baking up a small treat. And, while each recipe gives home bakers an opportunity to make a small bit of what they’re craving without leftovers his recipes can be doubled if desired. My review illustrates how well Small Batch Cookies fit into my “Cookie Season”, but in reality, cookies are perennial and as my daughter and I looked through the recipes, she found a few for me to bake as after school treats. And, while this cookbook bookended 2024 for me, it will carry me forward into 2025 with a way to fit small-scale baking into my routine. Within the huge genre of cookie books, Kimber has created something unique: perfect small-batch recipes that speak to both whim and desire along with being mindful of our pocketbooks.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Manda Group for providing me with a free, review copy of this book. I did not receive monetary compensation for my post, and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
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