Beginning tomorrow, and for the next seven Wednesdays until Christmas, I will post my experience with a recipe from the The Gourmet Cookie Book, a collection of the best cookie recipe from each year of Gourmet magazine.

Gourmet was published between 1941 and 2009. It was America’s first foodie magazine before the word ‘foodie’ was coined. Shortly before its demise, this collection of cookie recipes was published. It is now out of print, but used copies and even new ones can still be found.

I find it strange to think that the book’s oldest recipes are over 80 years old, a time when ‘gourmet’ meant Beef Wellington and Cherries Jubilee. Still, I found most of these first eight cookie recipes delicious and fresh, perhaps even with something to teach modern cooks.

If this project is received with enthusiasm, I may do the same next year with the next eight recipes.