Cookie scoops

As a classically-trained pianist, I tend to freely discuss how much I enjoy my own excellent piano (as well as any other exceptionally good instruments that I come across).  It is the most important tool I use in music.  I know auto mechanics rave about their own favorite tools sometimes.  And carpenters will happily spend several minutes to compare one saw to another, one hammer to another, before adding it to their tool assortment.  Everyone,  professional or hobbyist, loves their tools.

Anyone who works in a kitchen in any capacity is just the same.  Kitchen tools of all types might be prized by anyone whether a professional or an anonymous home cook.  Many people seem to gravitate towards specialized tools that look cool but only perform a single function.  For me, I like tools that perform a variety of functions and are simple.  One of my favorite tools are my cookie scoops.  I use them for anything that would benefit from consistent portioning.   So in addition to cookies, I might use these for fillings in hand-tarts or egg salad sandwiches.  I will use them to form rice balls or truffles.  The uses for these simple tools are many and varied.  But the best use is still the original use ... cookies.

I love cookies.  There are very few things that are so simple yet so enjoyable.  They are generally not time-consuming to make, and they often require very few ingredients.  Yes, there are more complicated cookies, but to me there is nothing quite as enjoyable as a simple chocolate chip cookie, or a snickerdoodle, or an oatmeal or peanut butter cookie.  They are small so you always have a choice to eat just a bit, or you can indulge and eat a dozen if you desire.  I could rhapsodize on the subject of cookies for a long long time.  I really am amazed that even something so basic as a butter cookie or shortbread can be comprised of so few ingredients and be so uncomplicated and yet so enormously satisfying.  I've always thought that if had to make only one thing every day for my entire life, it would be a contest between bread or cookies.  I'm not sure which one would win.  Fortunately, I'm sure I will never have to make that kind of decision.

I remember one weekend in the past I made nine different types of cookies, just me in the kitchen, no one else providing assistance.  It was pretty fun, although by the end I was ready to sit and just eat a few with a glass of milk while I watched some Star Trek for a while.  The point is, though, that they take a relatively small amount of time, and give such immediate satisfaction (very different from breads which can takes hours or even days sometimes), and there are such a variety of flavors that can easily be made simply by adopting small changes in your ingredients that I find it impossible to get tired of making them.  Sometimes I get up in the morning and I just want to make a few different kinds of cookies, and to me that would be a day well spent. 

Viva la cookie.