With the holiday season comes a reminder of just how many baked goods there are. One I can never escape when I walk into QFC is sugar cookies–particularly the frosted kind from the brand Bakery Fresh Goodness. They’re the kind of cookies that you either enjoy or cannot stand. I find them irresistible.
I remember being seven and deciding to stop by QFC after dance classes. Once I saw the brightly-colored frosting and all of its sprinkles, it was impossible to avoid the bakery section. Without ever having a single bite, I was certain that these cookies would be delectable. From then on, I would often get home with five dollars less, and rush to share them with my siblings. I could easily eat half of them without even realizing. The feast would always begin with one cookie, and of course a second never hurts. But then I’d come back to the kitchen half an hour later, and after the third, stopping was pointless. There was nothing worse than coming home to find no cookies on the counter, and the container in the trash can.
But what makes these sugar cookies so good in particular? First of all, you can truly taste the sugar. I find it so disappointing to take a bite of something labeled as a sugar cookie, just to realize that it’s just a plain-tasting circle with a couple of sugar granules scarcely sprinkled on top. If I didn’t want a real cookie, I would have bought oatmeal raisin cookies instead. Since the sweetness of sugar cookies is in both the frosting and the cookie itself, it doesn’t matter if you only have the outer edge with no frosting, it is still delectably sweet.
The frosting is fantastic. It provides a variation in texture that other cookies lack, adding complexity. As a result, one bite of the cookie could have a sprinkle, another, frosting, and another, only the baked dough.
Some argue that these cookies have too much of a chemical aftertaste, especially in their frosting. I’ve convinced myself that the pink frosting tastes fine, but the white one tastes the way that new clothes from the mall smell. This aftertaste is what makes the cookies unique–it reminds me that the cookie I’m eating is neon-colored, and not half as boring as an unfrosted cookie with some sugar sprinkled on top. The aftertaste is simply part of the experience, and reminds you to eat another cookie to cover up that bad taste. Not everybody is a fan of the dyes because of health concerns, but I find that they enrich the flavor, bringing out the 16 grams of sugar.
I have not yet found a grocery store cookie more crumbly or soft than the QFC frosted kind. Unlike with the thin, overbaked, unfrosted sugar cookies, your teeth will not break after one bite of Bakery Fresh Goodness. Even the brand name is accurate–these cookies taste fresh. Once, I had half of a cookie in the morning, and the other half after school. After seven hours, it was still not stale. These cookies have the best preservatives on the market. As much as we can all appreciate a standard sugar cookie, let’s stop pretending that they are at all more delicious than their better-dressed cousins. I am proud to be a consumer of QFC’s best cookies.
Winter in Seattle is incomplete without frosted sugar cookies. Whether you leave them out for Santa Claus or enjoy them yourself, they have earned a spot on your countertop.
