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Since I tend not to plan unless I know it’s essential, my potluck contributions often are the result of a personal challenge: What can I make that will taste good but not require a trip to the grocery story? Today’s answer: Pecan Sables, a Pecan Sandies kind of cookie taken from the Gourmet Cookbook, edited by Ruth Riechl. The book’s subtitle: More than a thousand recipes.

I got the book as a Christmas gift in 2005, and I’ve made it a point to try recipes from it as the occasion demands or permits. Although I do use recipes from online, I’m still more of a cookbook user. I like to sit in a comfortable chair and scan the pages in a way I just can’t do online. So far, most recipes I’ve used from the book are close approximations, if not identical, to recipes you can find at Epicurious.com.

The Pecan Shortbread Cookies at Epicurious are similar to the Sables (that would be sahb-lay, with an accent egout over the “e,” but I have not advanced to doing diacritical marks with WordPress just yet), but, among the differences, the Sables use powdered sugar, and you brush the tops with egg white. (That was exciting; I got to use my newish silicone basting brush!) I think the egg white might have been to heighten the browning, but, at least for my cookies, the result was an uneven kind of browning that looked, well, unappetizing.

Still, they were a big hit-once I shamed people into trying them. (I have no pride.) I’d make them again, but I might not brush them with the egg white, even if that means I can’t use my cool brush. I might find a fluted cookie cutter as is suggested in the Epicurious version, which would help the appearance. I might consider a dusting of powdered sugar, too. We do, after all, eat with our eyes, too.