Tonight we had our fourth cookie date, barely squeezing it into the end of the week. We made Neil’s scalloped sugar cookies (p. 162). This is a variation on the standard sugar cookie recipe, that involves using confectioner’s sugar instead of granulated sugar, and using only the egg yolks instead of the whole egg.

As such, the recipe wasn’t all that exciting. I’m generally not a fan of plain sugar cookies (my holiday cookies are the rich roll version in The Joy of Cooking, with lemon zest added, and with lemon juice replacing milk in the frosting); I find them, well, boring. I was hoping that the confectioner’s sugar would make them notably different, and/or that the egg wash and sugar on top would do something more exciting. It didn’t, and they are simply sugar cookies.

The one aspect of the recipe that made it particularly simple was the use of the food processor (a new one of which I now own, after my little one died two Thanksgivings ago). The flour, sugar, and butter are ground together in the processor, then the egg yolks and vanilla are added, and it’s processed until it hangs together as dough. It was weird, but meant the only skilled tasks were separating the eggs and rolling the dough (I am ever reminded of the sociological research on ‘skilled’ and ‘unskilled’ labor, as I struggle to complete the tasks that involve machines, and then roll and cut the cookies with total ease).

The upshot: I wouldn’t recommend replacing your favorite sugar cookie recipe with this one.

overall ratings:
ease of preparation: 3
match to expectations: 2
‘the cookie itself’: 2.5