MAKE THE COOKIE DOUGH

• Everything seemed to go as instructed, but the dough was way too soft to wrap in plastic. There was no way the dough would hold any shape, so I transferred it to a bowl and refrigerated it until it was hard. I suppose the butter got too warm in the food processor, but even while I was rolling the balls, the dough was getting very soft, very fast. Hhhmm. Don’t know why.

ROLL THE DOUGH INTO BALLS

• I weighed each portion, and got out my ruler (I hear my friends sighing) so I could have some idea of the correct size. Then I began laying out the dough on the tray: 15 or so per tray. I went back to the recipe, and Rose said to leave at least 2.5 inches between each unbaked cookie. Really?! These little cookies need that much room? I acquiesced. Thank goodness for intuition.

BAKE THE COOKIES

• Wow! Shocking the transformation. Beautiful! I brushed espresso powder on the top and tasted one right away. I am in love with the bitter finish. What a winner of a cookie.

WHAT ARE THE ALPHA BAKERS?

• Here’s how it works: once a week, for the next two years, 25 Alpha Bakers commit to baking their way through every recipe of Rose Levy Beranbaum’s newly published THE Baking Bible . Each week we post our experiences on our blog sites: our successes, our failures, our like and dislikes . The recipes are scheduled in advance so that everyone will be baking the same recipe at the same time. Unfortunately, no recipes can be shared in my Alpha Bakers posts due to publishing restrictions, but if you love to bake, THE Baking Bible is a must-have book. You can see other tutorials for the same recipe at the following link The Baking Bible Alpha Bakers at http://rosesalphabakers.blogspot.ca/