Portion of the introduction by Maida Heatter: Two women shared teh same prison cell for twenty years. At the end of that time one of the women was released. The guards led her out through the front gates. As the gates closed behind hershe ran back screaming, "Mary, Mary, I forgot to tell you something." I felt like taht woman, when after working for years a dessert cookbook, I finally mailed the finished manuscript to the publisher. An then I suddenly remembered a whole batch of great cookie recipes that I had forgotten to include. They were the beginning of this collection. Cookies are very special to me. All cooking and baking can be great fund and a wonderful escape, but cookies are in a class all by themselves. I feel that be can be especially creative with cookies, actually handling the douch, kneadig, shaping, building, designing. I was talking to a friend who is an excellent cook and I was shocked when she said, "I haven't baked cookies since I was a little girl." Too bad, and what fun she was missing. Another friend told me that she loves to bake cookies but not cakes. It is too frustrating for her not to be able to cut into a cake to see what it looks like and tastes before she serves it, but eating a few cookies does not affect the rest of them. She also said that she prefers cookies because, since you can usually stop at many stages along the way, she feels less pressure and finds it more relaxing. My philosophy is that cookies are pure fun - purem simple fun. You don't make cookies if you're hassled. It's not like pot roast - you don't have to make cookies. Cookies are love, the love of making them and the love of sharing them. (It is so much looser and easier to bring someone a few cookies than a layer cake of chocolate mousse.) One more word about this book, about any cookbook, before you get sown to the serious fun business of making the cookies. A cookbook should be treated like a textbook. Underline, make notes and don't be afraid to write in it.