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Steph Pixley is back! Last time, on Episode 345, we talked about ATK’s Baking for Two. Today we head inside America’s Test Kitchen for a brand-new story: ATK’s latest book, The New Cookie: Creative Takes on the Classics You Love. ATK’s promise is simple: they make the mistakes so you don’t have to. Steph takes us behind the scenes of how that happens, batch after batch, test after test.
The New Cookie hit shelves with 150 recipes, and it breaks the mold: the chapters are organized by texture, not flavor or occasion. Craving cakey? Chewy and gooey? Light and crisp? Think also ice cream shop flavors, classic desserts reborn as cookies, and bakery-style beauties straight off your Instagram feed, all made doable in your own kitchen. Just in time for holiday cookie boxes!
Steph Pixley is the executive food editor at America’s Test Kitchen, where she works with a team of test cooks every day to develop recipes for cookbooks, the ATK website and app, and TV. She trained in culinary school but keeps her home cook hat on at all times, and her favorite part of the job is tasting food with her colleagues and brainstorming creative solutions to the everyday problems home cooks face.
In this episode, we discuss:
- How a team of eight test cooks pushes a recipe to its breaking point, so your cookies turn out right the first time
- Why the salted malted chocolate chunk cookie took more than 60 tests, and the surprise chocolate choice behind it
- How long to rest cookie dough, and the point where rest time starts to hurt the texture
- Steph’s secrets for a holiday cookie box that stays fresh, plus the one cookie that needs its own container
Baking books were the top-selling cookbook segment in 2025, and The New Cookie shows why: a beloved classic, seen through a fresh lens, gives cooks a reason to buy this beautiful new book.
Mentioned in This Episode:
The New Cookie: Creative Takes on the Classics You Love by America’s Test Kitchen
Episode 345: Scaling Baking Recipes and Baking for Two with Steph Pixley of America’s Test Kitchen
Steph Pixley on Instagram, @pixleypics
America’s Test Kitchen on Instagram, @testkitchen
Food Is a Feeling: Recipes & Stories, with Love by Carla Lalli
Smitten Kitchen Keepers: New Classics for Your Forever Files by Deb Perelman
Listen to Episode 425 below:
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