Sarah Kieffer is the blogger behind The Vanilla Bean Blog, a contributor to major food publications, and author of 100 Cookies and Baking for the Holidays . Her recipe for bang-the-pan cookies went viral after she introduced it on the New York Times website (it's delicious and ingenious!). In addition to writing her own books, she also shoots photography for other cookbooks, including Bread in 5 (with the authors of Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day ). She lives in Minnesota.