Author: Mike Nova

• Tesla said that the Dutch regulator RDW had “committed to granting” FSD approval “in February 2026.”
• In a response, RDW said that the agency had set goals with Tesla for February — but that it’s not yet clear if Tesla will meet them.
• RDW’s rebuffing of Tesla’s enthusiasm is just another hurdle in Tesla’s winding road to EU approval for its FSD self-driving tech.

Tesla may have gotten the balloons and streamers out a bit too early.

Launching its supervised full self-driving software, or FSD, across international borders has proved challenging for Tesla. While North American drivers have had access to FSD since 2022, the company has only released some features in China, its second-largest market.

Tesla owners in the EU appeared to be set to get some good news on that front, according to Tesla — but a Dutch regulator then chimed in to say not so fast.

On Saturday, Tesla posted on X that it had been pushing to roll out FSD in Europe for over a year. The “main path to success,” it said, was partnering with the Dutch approval authority RDW.

“Currently, RDW has committed to granting Netherlands National approval in February 2026,” Tesla wrote in its X post.

Two days later, RDW shot back its own “response to Tesla’s appeal.” In the blog post originally written in Dutch, the regulatory agency had drawn up a schedule for Tesla to meet requirements by February 2026, but that the approval wasn’t a done deal. Bloomberg was the first to report RDW’s response.

“RDW and Tesla know what efforts need to be made to make a decision on this in February,” the Dutch regulatory agency wrote, according to a Google translation. “Whether the schedule will be met remains to be seen in the coming period.”

As the chokepoint for European FSD expansion, Tesla employees have been impatient with RDW’s extensive testing and slowness. “Keep in mind that this is mission critical for our leadership,” a Tesla employee wrote in an email to the RDW last November, viewed by Business Insider. Musk has previously lamented the EU’s self-driving regulation, calling it a “layer cake of bureaucracy.”

Tesla has faced steep competition in the European market, as Chinese competitors like BYD race for market share. European Tesla sales were down an estimated 48.5% year over year in October, according to data from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association.

In Tesla’s X post, the company also called on its fans to push the regulatory agency.

“Please contact them via link below to express your excitement & thank them for making this happen as soon as possible,” Tesla wrote.

RDW didn’t appear to be a fan of the move, asking readers “not to contact us about this,” according to the translation of its response.

“It takes up unnecessary time for our customer service,” the translated post read. “Moreover, this will have no influence on whether or not the planning is met.”

• I love Ina Garten, so I baked my way through four of her cookie recipes to see how they stacked up.
• The giant crinkled chocolate chip cookies were delicious, but a bit tedious to make.
• I thought the salty oatmeal chocolate-chunk cookies were crispy, flavorful, and perfectly chewy.

When it comes to cooking and baking, there’s rarely an Ina Garten recipe I don’t like.

Her recipes are reliable, and there’s something for everyone to enjoy. So, I decided to bake my way through four of her cookie recipes to see how they compare.

For a mix of classic, chocolate, and fruity flavors, I went with her giant crinkled chocolate chip cookies, raspberry jam thumbprints, white-chocolate chunk cookies, and salty oatmeal chocolate-chunk cookies.

Here’s how they stacked up, from worst to best.

Garten’s giant crinkled chocolate chip cookies are made with vanilla, bittersweet chocolate, and sea salt.

To make 12 of Garten’s giant crinkled chocolate chip cookies, I gathered:

• Two sticks of unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 ½ cups of granulated sugar
• ¼ cup of light-brown sugar, lightly packed
• One extra-large egg, at room temperature
• 1 ½ teaspoons of pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups of all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of kosher salt
• 8 ounces of bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• Sea salt for sprinkling

The dough was simple enough to make.

Making the dough was a pretty straightforward process. I mixed everything in an electric mixer, folded in the chocolate chunks, and let it chill for 30 minutes. Then, I was ready to bake.

The process to make these cookies was a bit tedious.

Although these have the word “giant” in the name of the recipe, I didn’t expect the cookies to be as massive as they were. Each one used a whopping ⅓ cup of dough, and they spread a lot, so I needed to cook them in batches.

After baking for 10 minutes, the instructions said to pull the tray out and bang it on the counter. This was repeated every three minutes until the cookies were done baking to create the crinkle effect. However, this method became a little tedious after baking multiple trays.

For a smoother process, I also recommend baking on parchment paper. I didn’t do this with the first batch, and even with cooking spray, mine stuck to the tray pretty badly since they had thinned out so much.

The giant crinkled cookies were good, but not the best I’ve tasted.

These cookies were good, but I wanted to like them more. They came out thin, buttery, and crispy, but were not the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever had.

However, I do prefer a more chewy cookie, so it’s all up to personal preference. They look rather impressive, but these are the kind of treat I would need to fully commit time and dedication to making. For that reason, they landed in fourth place.

Garten’s raspberry jam thumbprints call for vanilla, coconut, and your choice of jam.

To make 32 of Garten’s raspberry jam thumbprint cookies, I grabbed:

• Three sticks of unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
• 3 ½ cups of all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon of kosher salt
• One egg beaten with 1 tablespoon of water, for egg wash
• 7 ounces of sweetened flaked coconut
• Raspberry or apricot jam

I made the dough with the help of an electric mixer.

I started by making the dough in an electric mixer, using the butter, sugar, vanilla, flour, and salt.

Then, I dumped it out onto a clean surface and kneaded it lightly to incorporate some of the looser bits. The texture reminded me of a shortbread cookie.

More steps were involved in making these.

After wrapping the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerating it for 30 minutes, I began forming the cookies.

I shaped each ball, dipped it in egg wash, and rolled it in shredded coconut. Then, I pressed a thumbprint into the dough, filled it with jam, and baked.

The extra work to make the raspberry jam thumbprints was well worth it.

These cookies came out delicious. The coconut got nice and toasty, and the raspberry jam was the perfect sweet flavor to balance out the buttery, crumbly shortbread.

I used raspberry jam for this batch, but I could see myself making them again and experimenting with different flavors, like apricot, strawberry, and even cherry. Overall, these were a solid third-place choice.

Garten’s chocolate white-chocolate chunk cookies require mostly pantry staples.

To make 40 of Garten’s chocolate white-chocolate chunk cookies, I gathered:

• ½ pound of unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup of light-brown sugar, packed
• 1 cup of granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract
• Two extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• ⅔ cup of unsweetened cocoa
• 2 cups of flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of kosher salt
• 1 ½ pounds of white chocolate, chopped

The dough came together quickly.

The dough for these cookies — which was made with butter, both sugars, vanilla, eggs, cocoa, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and white chocolate — came together easily in the mixer in under 10 minutes.

These cookies baked for exactly 15 minutes.

In her recipe, Garten emphasizes the importance of a precise 15-minute bake time. The recipe states that the cookies may seem underdone when they come out, but that’s what helps perfect the chewy texture.

I let them cool for a few minutes to firm up before moving them to a separate plate.

I loved the combination of the chocolate cookie and white-chocolate chunks.

I’m not usually one to reach for a chocolate cookie, but this recipe changed that. These came out soft, rich, and chewy, with a brownie-like fudginess.

The combination of rich chocolate dough and chunks of white chocolate was so good that I would reach for these cookies over and over again. So, they came in second place.

Garten’s salty oatmeal chocolate-chunk cookies are made with cranberries instead of raisins.

To make 30 of Garten’s salty oatmeal chocolate chunk cookies, I grabbed:

• Two sticks of unsalted butter, at room temperature
• ¾ cup of light-brown sugar, lightly packed
• ¾ cup of granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract
• Two extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 ¾ cups of all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of kosher salt
• 1 ¼ cups of old-fashioned oats
• ¾ pound of bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• ¾ cup of dried cranberries
• Sea salt for sprinkling

I appreciated how easy it was to make these cookies.

The recipe for these cookies was straightforward to follow.

I creamed the butter and sugars and added the dry ingredients. Then, I folded in the dried cranberries and chocolate chunks and baked for 10 minutes.

I appreciated that there were no complicated steps and the dough didn’t need to be refrigerated.

The salty oatmeal chocolate-chunk cookies were chewy inside, but had perfectly crisp edges.

These cookies were insanely delicious, with a simple yet balanced flavor. The oatmeal cookie was buttery, the chocolate chunks were melty, and I ended up favoring the dried cranberries over the traditional oatmeal-raisin combination.

The salt was definitely noticeable, but it worked well. If I made them again, I’d add cinnamon. It feels like the only thing missing here, but otherwise, they’re perfect as is.

Overall, these cookies were chewy, crispy, flavorful, and the kind I could eat all of in one sitting. For that reason, they were easily the best recipe I tried.

• Dick’s Sporting Goods said it plans to close several underperforming Foot Locker locations.
• Chairman Ed Stack said the move is part of an effort to “clean out the garage.”
• Foot Locker has nearly 2,600 stores around the world across multiple brands.

Dick’s Sporting Goods is getting an early start on spring cleaning.

The retailer said Tuesday it intends to close an unspecified number of Foot Locker locations after completing its acquisition of the company in September.

“Our first priority is clear. We need to clean out the garage of underperforming assets,” executive chairman Ed Stack told investors during Dick’s third-quarter earnings call. “This means clearing out unproductive inventory, closing underperforming stores, and rightsizing assets that don’t align with our go-forward vision for the Foot Locker business.”

Stack said that while the business shows significant promise, Foot Locker’s prior leadership did not respond appropriately to market changes, including Nike’s decision to shift a greater portion of its business to direct-to-consumer sales. The sportswear giant has since changed that approach, however, and is working to rebuild its relationships with retailers, including Dick’s and Foot Locker.

Foot Locker ended the quarter with nearly 2,600 stores globally across several brands. The company closed 15 locations during the period.

Roughly 1,600 Foot Locker stores are in North America, and the company said Tuesday that former Nike executive Ann Freeman would head up the North American division. Former Aldi CEO Matthew Barnes is in charge of the international segment.

Stack also said the company has started an 11-store test to explore changes to Foot Locker’s product assortment and in-store experience.

The company plans to share more details about which stores it plans to close in its fourth-quarter earnings report, Stack said.