1500 Washington St. – Oregon City
$2.75
Brand new excellent bakery alert: Grano opened about a month ago, in downtown Oregon City. As I posted on my March 10th FB review of the place in which I mention their great bread, bread pudding, bostock…did I mention AMAZING bread, this place is completely worth the drive from Portland. (I can count on one hand the amount of FB reviews I’ve bothered to give or even thought about giving so, seriously: heads up on this one!)
Bummer that my photo turned out kinda blurry because this is quite a nice-looking cookie. Stiff with an almost candy-like coating (indeed, those almonds you see are lacquered and candied), the exterior gives way to a deeply satisfying and hearty almond-rich disk laced with orange zest. Packed with nut protein, to treat it as a meal-replacement bar would not be entirely out-of-line.
Almonds and oranges really are a winning team. And although I cannot find a source to verify this, it just makes sense to me that the first hamentashen ever eaten by Esther and Mordechai-honoring Jews were made with almonds and oranges. I’m pretty sure this is a flavor pairing that has been around since pre-biblical days and it has stood the test of (a crapload of) time because the combination works so beautifully and is never a bad idea.