It is officially December, and with the new month comes Winter Break and the holidays it brings. Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, or anything in between, one thing never changes: the excitement that accompanies the new treats of a season! Even if you’d choose to curl up on the couch with a warm hot chocolate over spending all afternoon making butter Danish cookies; food has always been a way for different cultures to connect and express their identities. One part of the “American food identity” is that throughout the year, every year without fail, the infamous Tollhouse “pink sugar cookies” triumph above all other desserts by a landslide- and with the brand’s holiday flavors and themes, the question remains: Are we doomed to the same fate this 2023 winter? To find out, sophomore Grace Hill, cookie connoisseur whose flavors “never fail to entertain” takes up the challenge. Hill will test out her own grandmothers tried and true Christmas sugar cookie recipe, then measure it up against the “pink sugar cookie” where IHS students will be asked which flavor is their favorite.
THE COOKIE MAKING PROCESS
Sunday night: 10:00 pm. Things start off strong in Hill’s kitchen as the ingredients are listed off. They are an odd bunch: Cream of tartar and sour cream both make an appearance. It is then when tragedy strikes! Hill is out of sour cream! A quick trip to the local QFC turns that around; yet as the drive home commences, doubts start to rise. Sophomore Lacey Perlerwitz asks whether “these cookies are going to be any good. Any recipe that has sour cream in the frosting sounds… questionable.” Hill responds, “Have some faith.”
Soon enough, Hill makes the batter and the frosting. As Perlerwitz reaches for the red and green food coloring, however, tragedy strikes again! As Perlerwitz opens the fresh food dye bottles, it turns out that someone has replaced the green bottle cap with the blue bottle cap. As blue liquid squirted out into the freshly frosted icing, it became apparent that time, and these cookies themselves, were against us. Compared to simply buying “pink sugar cookies” from the store, making our own from scratch and accounting for the mishaps along the way was a ton more work. Hill voices this, stating that “we have so many dishes to clean up now, along with the extra hours it took us to make the cookies and go to the store. Even though these cookies taste great, I’m not sure if they’re an every month type of thing.”
THE RESULTS
IHS students had a lot to say about the Tollhouse “pink sugar cookie” and our own homemade one. 20 students were interviewed, and while the votes were pretty split, one cookie came out on top. Eleven students preferred the homemade cookie over the storebought cookie, and nine students swung the other way. There were a lot of different opinions on the matter. Senior Alice Patillo states that “the homemade cookie was very crumbly. I really liked the difference in textures between the cookie and the icing. It was sweet enough to be considered a treat while still keeping that salty element. The storebought cookie was entirety sweet and the icing and the cookie almost merged together and tasted like one. Obviously, I love the classic Tollhouse cookie, but pitted against the homemade cookie, it tasted one dimensional. This made me prefer the homemade cookie.” Junior Kevin Zhang says, “The homemade cookie was flavorful and tasted more like a Christmas cookie. Meanwhile, the store bought cookie was kind of grainy and the icing felt dry. The ratio of cookie to icing was better on the homemade cookie too.” On the other hand, freshman Lorenz Romero stated that he “liked the storebought Christmas cookie better than the homemade one. The storebought cookie was moist and sweet, and more classic and nostalgic. When I think of a cookie, I think of the ‘pink sugar cookie’ taste and the warm memories it brings. It has always been one of my favorites and always will be.” Sophomore Joy Tran says that “the pink sugar cookie is my ride or die cookie. While the homemade cookie is not necessarily bad, compared to the ‘pink sugar cookie’ it seems dry and rough textured. The ‘pink sugar cookie’ was definitely my favorite.“
While the homemade sugar cookie was more popular among the masses, once the energy to bake the cookie was put into account, it definitely appeared less desirable. Homemade cookies are always a delicious treat– you just have to set aside the whole day for baking them! If you want to try out our homemade cookie recipe for yourself, click here. If you are on a time crunch, though, do not forget that the Tollhouse “pink sugar cookie” will always be waiting for you on the shelf.
