Can you come up with a better regional cookie than Mt. Rainier Macaroons?

November 9, 11:22 PMTacoma Baking ExaminerAmanda Wedvik

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When I saw an ad promoting regional cookie recipes and the use of "REAL butter", I was sure I was going to love the cookie that represented the Northwest. After checking out the Mount Rainier Macaroons, however, I was less than impressed. They're a regular coconut macaroon cookie shaped like a pyramid, with chocolate and white chocolate drizzled on top to look like a mountain. They seem like tasty cookies, but I would not choose this cookie to represent our region. The mountain is generic, and there are no regional ingredients, unless there are secret coconut farms in Washington I don't know about.

I have some ideas for a Washington cookie: an oatmeal cookie that includes gorp, a cookie shaped like a Pacific salmon, a jam cookie that includes local blackberry or huckleberry jam, a salted caramel cookie in honor of the Fran's Chocolate candy that even President Obama loves, an Aplets & Cotlets inspired fruitcake cookie, or even a cookie that somehow includes pine needles and coffee beans.

The holiday season is the time cookies really come into their prime. Somehow, the cold, dark days turn the switch deep in our mammal brains that it's time to eat so that we'll survive the winter, and a lot of cookies get baked. Some of these are special cookies, that only get baked during the holiday season because they're weird or complicated or are just the special cookies that we like to save for once a year to keep them special. During November and December, I'll be posting recipes for holiday cookies, and I just might try some of those weird Northwest cookie ideas out.

Is there one cookie that you associate with the Pacific Northwest? Did your mom always make a special cookie for the holidays? Do you have a weird cookie idea? Share it in the comments section!

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