Would you rather eat homemade or store-bought cookies? Which cookie will taste better and be made with ingredients you can pronounce? Which cookie is safer — a cookie made in a home kitchen or a cookie made in a factory in an unknown location with unknown workers and potentially unknown ingredients (melomine?).

According to Missouri public health officials, factory-made cookies are better and safer than homemade cookies. They have banned homemade cookies from the new governor’s potluck inauguration.

So much for eating locally if we are discouraged from eating really locally — in our own kitchen!

For those of you still baking and eating home-baked cookies, here is a favorite cookie recipe. Since we are discouraged from taking them to potlucks, I guess we’ll just have to eat the whole batch ourselves!

Madeleines

4 eggs
1 cup sugar
zest of 4 lemons
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 cup melted butter

Using an electric mixer, whisk eggs, sugar, and lemon zest until they are a thick and pale yellow, then gently fold in flour, then the butter. Refrigerate for an hour. Use a #100 disher to scoop into greased madeleine pans. Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes. Let cool, then sprinkle with powdered sugar.