The Belt Cookie Table Cookbook

Book excerpt: What's a cookie table? Funny you should ask! The cookie table is a tradition beloved by residents of Youngstown, Pittsburgh, and parts in between. It has its roots in a time when wedding cakes were far too dear for newly arrived immigrants to purchase. Instead, family and friends showed their love for a bride and groom by baking from scratch hundreds (sometimes thousands) of cookies and other small sweet treats to be shared at the reception. The Belt Cookie Table Cookbook collects forty cookie recipes from authentic Mahoning Valley cookie tables and cookie cooks: cookies from different cultures, cookies with different textures, spices, shapes, and backstories. Simple cookies, ridiculously indulgent cookies. Cookies that aren't really cookies at all but slices of yeasted breads or more like candy, but are lumped into the cookie category because they are delicious and someone's great-grandmother brought the recipe with her when she came over from the Old Country. The cookie table tradition carries with it the understanding that not only should you always eat as many cookies as you can at the party, but that you should to take a bag or a box home with you as well as a way of sharing that love with your family and friends. With this book, you can join the community too.