A Magical Used Cookbook Shop & a Divine Cookie Recipe

You sense loving care the moment you pass through the thigh-high half door that leads into Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks, a shop that approximates the dimensions of a train's dining car on a tiny tree-lined street in New York City's Greenwich Village.

Once inside, your worries melt away; it's as though you have stepped into an Enchanted Garden of Cookbooks and Kitchen-y Stuff. Floor to ceiling shelves hold culinary tomes written over the decades, indeed, centuries. Kitchen towels with fruit patterns as well as vintage aprons drape on tables and act as window curtains. The back of a door features faded postcards of restaurants. It's winter, but ceiling fans whir overhead.

Charm leaps from walls, tables, low stools. A copper fish mold hangs at eye-level, a cake plate holds candy canes, while an old Peter Rabbit biscuit tin snuggles on a low stool. A cluster of wooden rolling pins with red handles, like my mom used to use for making poppy seed cookies, rest on the corner of a table. A clock imbedded in a faux-metal teapot hangs on the wall above note cards that feature pancakes, coffee cups, and one that advertises Gingham Dog dog food.

Bonnie believes you don't have to be a cook to derive pleasure from reading cookbooks. At the moment she does not have my fave food memoir, Stuffed: Adventures of a Restaurant Family by my friend Patricia Volk. But I can still be an armchair cook and sit on a comfy chair here to reconnect with my childhood, while bells jingle and regulars enter. Almost as engaging as the books is the neighborhood banter.

Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick are moving out.

Julia Roberts is moving in.

I realize that reading about such a cookbook wonderland may not be much use to the literary foodie who lives far from New York and wishes to browse these riches that range from antiquarian 18^th century to The Joy of Cooking. But I am here to help. And so is owner Bonnie Slotnick, who welcomes you to browse by phone. If you email her (use the above link to see contact information), Bonnie requests you give as much info as you can in order to avoid a string of follow-up correspondence.

As you'll see on Bonnie's Website, her specialties are: New York restaurants and food; culinary ephemera; etiquette books; housekeeping manuals; baking books; Jewish cookbooks; restaurant postcards; handmade greeting cards.

Cookbooks from The South, New Orleans, California as well as countries around the world abound in this cozy shop. Below I offer but a taste of other categories as well as some titles.

Children Cook

365 Foods Kids Love to Eat

Arts and Crafts You Can Eat

The Sleepover Cookbook

Food History, Anthropology, Sociology

Something from the Oven: Reinventing Dinner in 1950's America

Quick Cheap

In and Out of the Kitchen

Coffee, Tea and Stronger Stuff

A Cozy Book of Winter Drinks

Site, Species, Gender and Age Specific (as well as cookbooks for dogs, cats, men on boat)s

Cooking in a Small Kitchen

Eating In

The Official Single Mom's Cookbook

New York Bars, Bakeries, Restaurants and Shops

Titles include Sardi's, Tavern on the Green and Carnegie Deli

Biography, Memoir, Literature

The Alice B. Toklas Cook Book(sorry, no brownie recipe)

Diet Books

"I try to have books you can't get elsewhere," says Bonnie. "Generally diet books change every 5 minutes." Bonnie offers the small selection of diet books at half price, titles like Bland but Grand, French Women Don't Get Fat and some Weightwatcher's books. She calls them "orphans I'd like someone to adopt."

Antiquarian

Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management 1915, originally published in the 1860's and one of the most famous British books, includes tips for keeping insects out of your kitchen. There have been facsimiles published—that cost a tenth of the original.

Esther Levi's Jewish Cookery Bookwas the first Jewish cookbook published in the United States. A reproduction may sell for $20. At a recent auction an original went for $13,000.

The Country Housewife and Lady's Directory from 1736 sells for in the hundreds; a fine facsimile can be bought for $55.

Recipe for mohn (poppyseed) cookies from Bonnie Slotnick's grandmother

Bonnie doesn't have much time to cook, but I asked her for a favorite recipe. I was thrilled to receive this one for the cookies that you could always find in my mom's kitchen until a few years ago when she stopped cooking.

Light textured and not overly sweet, these cookies are delicious with coffee or tea, ice cream, or fruit (especially oranges). They're super-easy and quick— you can mix and bake five dozen cookies in about half an hour (and you can eat them all in about half that time).

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup vegetable oil

3 to 4 tablespoons poppy seeds

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon baking powder

Grated zest of 1 orange (or a few drops pure orange extract)

3 large eggs

1 cup sugar

1.Preheat the oven to 350°. Lightly oil two or more baking sheets.

2.In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, poppy seeds and baking powder; set aside.

3.In a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until thick and light-colored. Gradually beat in the oil. Add the vanilla and orange zest or extract, and beat until blended.

4.Add the flour mixture and stir until well blended; the dough will be thick.

5.Drop teaspoons of dough on the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between each cookie. Bake for 4 minutes, then turn the pans in the oven and bake for 4 minutes longer, or until the cookies are light golden at the bottom edges (and barely golden on top).

6.Using a metal spatula, transfer the cookies to a rack to cool.

Makes 4 to 5 dozen, depending on size

Notes:

• If the cookies brown too much on the bottom, try doubling the baking sheet to insulate them from the bottom heat. I use double-bottom (Cushionaire) baking sheets.
• Depending on the brand of flour, the size of the eggs, and the freshness of the baking powder, these cookies may come out flat, rounded, or with peaked tops. Who cares—they still taste great! You can make them very tiny (less than a teaspoon of dough) or medium size (heaping teaspoons) but not much larger because of their delicate texture.
• If you happen to be out of oil (or don't have enough) you can substitute melted butter for all or part of the oil. You may even like the cookies better that way.
• The recipe divides nicely by 3. It can also be doubled.
• The cookies pack well if placed in pairs, flat sides together, in plastic bags. They also freeze beautifully.
• Variations: Use lemon zest instead of orange, or mini chocolate chips or finely chopped crystallized ginger instead of poppy seeds.
• What is your favorite cookbook from your past?

SOME OF MY OTHER COOKING-RELATED ARTICLES:

FOUR 4-INGREDIENT ENTREES . . . QUICK, EASY, DELICIOUS & HEALTHFUL

STOCK YOUR KITCHEN TO REDUCE & MAINTAIN YOUR WAISTLINE

7 BREAKFAST & BRUNCH IDEAS (& HOT CHOCOLATE) FOR A COUPLE OR A CROWD

FUN, EASY, HEALTHFUL ENTERTAINING . . . WHEN GUESTS ARRIVE, PREPARATION BEGINS

CREATE THIS FABULOUS FAMILY COOKBOOK & ENJOY THESE SIMPLE RECIPES

A QUICK, EASY, DELICIOUS, ONE-DISH, LOW-CAL MEAL WITH COUNTLESS VARIATIONS

PATRICIA HANSEN'S LUSH SIGNED GICLEE PRINTS: FINE ART FOR LESS

YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE JEWISH TO MAKE GREAT CHICKEN SOUP

EASY, ECONOMICAL, CROWD-PLEASING PASTA