Warner Bros. // 1991 // 203 Minutes // Not Rated
Reviewed by Judge Brett Cullum // December 27th, 2006
"It's a good thing!"
- Martha Stewart
Martha's Favorite Cookies compiles thirty-three of the domestic diva's favorite recipes for America's most loved desert. Never mind she sold her soul and the soul of her daughter to get all of these confectionary creations; they're all damn good. The recipes range from simple one-bowl cookies to elaborate creations that would reduce a professional French pastry chef to tears with their complexity. Of course you never see Martha sweat over anything, and she makes even the time-intensive meringue daisies look like something she could crank out while catnapping. Martha never burns or drops a thing, and her kitchen remains immaculate no matter how much sugar or flour is involved. She presents the recipes calmly, and shows you how to make each one in short segments culled from her pre-prison television show Martha Stewart Living. Preheat your oven, grease your cookie sheet, and warm up the mixer -- it's Martha time!
Recipes include the following cookies, which range from pretty simple to
painstaking:
* Molded cookies: Scottish shortbread three ways, molasses
cookies, peanut butter cookies, and fall leaf cookies.
* Sandwich cookies: pecan and caramel shortbread, chocolate malt cookies, chocolate mint wafers, Linzer sandwiches, and carrot cake cookies.
* Bar cookies: fig bars, rocky ledge bars, Congo bars, and PB&J bars.
* Refrigerator cookies: checkerboards, fruit and nut cookies, French butter cookies.
* Rolled cookies: old-fashioned sugar cookies, Matcha shortbread, gingerbread people, coconut pinwheels, and lime sables.
* Piped cookies: langues de chat, meringue daisies, and lemon thyme wafers.
The DVD is logically divided up by the type of cookie, and then you choose the one you want to make. There is a "play all" feature for those wanting to fry their brains with hours of Martha making things. Just be warned the hairstyles may change, but the calm demeanor remains throughout. Martha Stewart Living was shot in fullscreen video, so that's what we get here. Sound is a simple stereo with no directional effects save for all that mixing. There are no extras, although if you insert the disc into your computer there is a link to each recipe on Martha's comprehensive website (hint hint -- you can get to these recipes for free there if you want to skip buying the DVD, but that would be rude to an ex-con). All kidding aside, this is a good solid DVD full of great cookie recipes. Anybody who cooks will love this.
Review content copyright © 2006 Brett Cullum; Site layout and review format copyright © 1998 - 2008 HipClick Designs LLC
Scales of Justice
Judgment: 85
Perp Profile
Studio: Warner Bros.
Video Formats:
* Full Frame
Audio Formats:
* Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo (English)
Subtitles:
* None
Running Time: 203 Minutes
Release Year: 1991
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Distinguishing Marks
* Link to Internet Copies of Recipes
Accomplices
* IMDb
http://imdb.com/name/nm0829644/
* Official Martha Site
http://www.marthastewart.com/
* Gothic Martha Stewart Site
http://www.trystancraft.com/martha/