Cake Zine readers,
There are two rules of the universe we know to be true: Dessert is never optional, and, if you encounter a Danish butter cookie tin, prepare to find disappointment—sewing supplies, middle school report cards…anything but the shortbread you were hoping for. How you choose to respond is telling: Will you sigh and forget your craving, or toughen up and bake your own?
A spirited Girl Scout. A pain in the ass. A molar-snapping biscotti. A “tough cookie” can be someone who is resilient, even stubborn—or maybe just shortbread gone stale. Cake Zine’s fourth volume presents recipes difficult in doing and in chewing, but also tales of hungry sharks, aliens, and the pitfalls of viral dessert fame. Like the butter cookie tin, our fourth volume is full of surprises, but we promise: There are plenty of cookies in store.
Follow a scent expert’s begrudging embrace of snickerdoodle perfume as a coping mechanism in tough times. Peek under the mask of a Times Square Cookie Monster trading selfies for tips. Learn about a Ukrainian bakery shipping cookies to the frontlines. Read about the death of browser cookies and the rise of more insidious forms of surveillance. Join a coalition of international workers on the Oreo factory assembly line, or linger around a metaphorical cookie plate of literally tough cookies, from South Asian cake rusk to Pennsylvania Mennonite peppernuts.
And when encroaching winter feels especially tough, there are recipes that offer an excuse to turn on the oven for too long, step away from your responsibilities, and linger in sweetness. Some are tough in texture, others in technique. Some face down the foreboding task of reinventing the classics. Try a stained glass cookie with a shattering guava candy center, a crème brûlée cookie that requires days to make (but seconds to devour), or a coconut black and white that takes on the tough mantle of tradition. Stand tall, muster up an appetite, and pour a glass of milk to wash it all down.
Always save room for dessert,
Aliza Abarbanel, Tanya Bush, and Noah Emrich
P.S. We’re so proud of this issue and can’t wait to share it with you. Looking for a great holiday gift? Order Tough Cookie and get 40% off our previous issue, Humble Pie, for a double dose of reading and eating inspiration. Discount automatically applied at checkout.