Reading · Home By Heather

Three years ago this week, my cookbook officially made its way into the world - which seems hard to believe even as I type the words.

I can still remember exactly where I was when I got the call that the book was happening - and I can still remember what it felt like to hold a finished copy in my hands for the very first time.

In between those two moments were months of excitement, exhaustion, elation, and defeat. So many months of testing and tinkering, photographing and editing, late nights and looming deadlines.

Writing a cookbook, as it turns out, is equal parts sugar and stress.

Back in 2020, at the start of the pandemic when everything felt uncertain and upside down, I signed with a book agent. I found my agent the old fashioned way: from the acknowledgment blurb in the back of one of my favorite cookbooks. I decided one afternoon, somewhat impulsively, to pitch my idea.

After all, the worst thing she could say was no.

She didn’t say no. And she didn’t say yes, not right away. But that phone call was the start of my cookbook journey.

Months later in mid-December, I lived that pinch-me moment every author hopes for when my agent called to tell me that I had a book deal. She must have repeated herself a dozen times before I could fully absorb the words.

I had a book deal! It was a very Merry Christmas indeed.

The publisher of my cookbook was Chronicle Books. Chronicle is known for publishing some of the most beautiful and beloved cookbooks out there including Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, 100 Cookies, and Tartine Bread - so getting to work with them still feels incredibly special.

On January 1st I hit the ground running. Over the next six months I created and tested hundreds of cookie recipes. My kitchen was in a near constant state of cookie chaos. There were stacks of cookie sheets on every available surface, Costco-size bags of flour and sugar living permanently on our kitchen counter, and half of a refrigerator devoted solely to butter and eggs. My kitchen had turned into a certified cookie factory and I was the lead baker.

Hardly a day went by when my oven wasn’t running. On a rare day away from baking, I was glued to my desktop typing up recipes and headnotes to send to my editor. The deadlines loomed large and snuck up quickly.

One after another.

The recipe testing phase was the longest (and the most demanding) part of the cookbook writing process. But once the recipes were finished, it was time to photograph them all - which felt even more daunting. And I wasn’t wrong.

Every single recipe was baked, styled, and photographed by me. Some days I would spend hours upon hours baking cookies, whipping up fillings, stacking, piping, and styling - it would be 10 pm before I set up to photograph them.

I learned very quickly that photographing sandwich cookies is surprisingly tricky. Frostings melt, cookies crack, ice cream starts sliding and suddenly the batch of cookies that looked so perfect in real life looked far from it through the camera lens. Many recipes were photographed two or even three times before I deemed them worthy of the printed pages.

The whole process was exhausting and honestly pretty grueling. For months, every free moment was spent baking, photographing, cleaning dishes, and then doing it all over again the next day. My back was sore, my feet were tired, and my eyes bloodshot and blurry from all the editing. There were definitely many moments when I wondered what on earth I had gotten myself into.

But page by page, cookie by cookie, the book started to come together. I looked most forward to the design meetings with my editor and the graphic design team each month. I loved witnessing their creative ideas unfold and seeing the small but meaningful details bringing my vision to life. We didn’t always agree on every detail, but I was grateful to have a team of experts to guide me every step of the way.

Having never written a cookbook before, and being the perfectionist that I am, I realize now that I agonized over many decisions that ultimately didn’t matter. I fretted over the background colors, the font, glossy pages versus matte, the cover photo - soooo much debate over the cover photo! You only get one shot at a first cookbook and I wanted everything to be the best it could be.

When I finally held the finished copy of Stuffed in my hands for the first time, every long day and sleepless night felt worth it. I had made a real cookbook. Up until that first copy is printed, you only get to see the mock-up pages on a computer screen. The day the book arrived in the mail was absolutely surreal. I still have that exact copy tucked away in my office - I’ll never part with it.

After months of perfecting every last detail behind the scenes, it was off to the printer and pub day finally arrived in April 2023. Seeing photos of the books in your kitchens, spotting it on bookstore shelves, and hearing from readers making the recipes for the first time was beyond exciting - and so emotional too.

So many happy tears!

The weeks that followed were a whirlwind in the best way. I went on a mini book tour with Williams Sonoma, got to share recipes from the book live on KTLA Morning News, and Stuffed was named one of the “Best Cookie Cookbooks For Holiday Swaps” by Oprah Daily. True pinch-me moments!

Three years later, I still feel so proud every time I see my book on a shelf or hear from someone who baked something from it.

As cliche as it sounds, writing this book was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done - and one of the most rewarding. And the fact that my book has found its way into so many of your kitchens makes it especially sweet.

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A cookbook is mostly dishes.

So many dishes. Mountains of dishes. Dishes all day, every day.

You will care way too much about things that no one else notices.

The placement of a crumb. The shade of a backdrop. Whether the stack of cookies is leaning a little too much to the left. It all feels so important in the moment. At some point, you have to trust your creative gut and keep moving forward.

Writing a cookbook is a lonely process.

For months on end, it was just me, my kitchen, and a never-ending to-do list. So much of the process happens behind the scenes, long before anyone else sees a single page.

At some point, you will question all of your life choices.

Usually around 1 a.m., covered in powdered sugar, with 25 headnotes left to write.

It’s all worth it in the end.

Because somehow all of the flour, butter, stress, and tears turn into a real book you get to hold in your hands.

The number one question I get about my cookbook is “what’s your favorite cookie”. That’s like choosing a favorite child! Honestly though, I have a LOT of favorite recipes from the book. Here’s a few of my faves and why I love them:

Pumpkin Spice Sugar Cookies with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

You might be surprised to learn that I don’t like pumpkin pie (can we still be friends?). But I LOVE these soft and chewy pumpkin sugar cookies with the perfect blend of cozy spices and a brown butter cream cheese frosting that is nothing short of pure heaven.

Chewy Chocolate Ginger Cookies with Chocolate Ganache

This, my friends, is the cookie of my dreams. Baked with Dutch cocoa and a hint of molasses, these cookies bake up big and chewy and filled with warm gingerbread spices. The dark chocolate ganache filling is worthy of all the rave reviews this cookie combo garners. I could go on and on about how good these cookies are, but you really should drop everything and see for yourself.

Lavendar Lemon Shortbread with Homemade Meyer Lemon Curd

I’ve always loved the combination of lemon and lavendar. You’ll want to bookmark this recipe not just because the cookies are positively scrumptious, but because you’ll want to spread the homemade Meyer lemon curd on top of everything in your kitchen. Or do as I do and eat it by the spoonful straight from the jar.

Cookie Dough Brownie Ice Cream Sandwiches

Two layers of fudgy brownie are used to bookend a homemade chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. These frozen sammies will make you lots of friends at the neighborhood pool party. The hardest part is not eating all of the edible cookie dough before it makes its way into the ice cream. If you make it past that part, the rest is a piece of cake.

Brown Butter Snickerdoodles with Chai Spice Buttercream

Is it just me, or does saying the word snickerdoodle just make you smile very time? Snick-errr-doooooodle. Yep. Instant grins. The addition of brown butter and chai spice makes this one cozy cookie that pairs perfectly with fuzzy slippers and a warm blanket by the fire.

And in case you’re wondering…the recipe that I still make the most from the book is the Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Ever. In the book I make them into Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches (like a Chipwich, but better!), but they are equally delicious served with a swirl of vanilla buttercream. The recipe is too good not to share so you’ll also find it on the blog - get the full recipe here.

Do you have a favorite sandwich cookie? If you have my cookbook, what is your favorite recipe - or the recipe you can’t wait to make?

Three Years Later: The Story Behind My Cookbook

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