Food Front Coop
2375 NW Thurman Street – Portland
$2.19
(Find it in the self-server pastry case in the store’s deli area.)
Okay, I know. Vegan. If you’re scrunching your nose right now you need to get over it and just don’t worry. Everything is fine. It is more than fine. Because no joke, this cookie is better than approximately 85% cookies I come across in the world, vegan or otherwise.
This is why.
First: The texture. The texture! It is what I wish (and believe) many underachieving cookies could be if they’d only put their minds to it. These are not only thick, but thick and just…dense – with truly outstanding girth. The girth is really top notch here, people. And the interior: moist and flavorful with an exterior that is slightly crisp, protecting its own delicious guts like a delicate shell.
Second: Good variety of additions with out overcrowding the scene. Chocolate chips, oats, coconut flakes, sunflower seeds – all organic. And while I do believe that sunflower seeds have NO business in a cookie (or cake or chocolate or anything dessert-y ever), I have to concede that they don’t really F it up in this case. The sunflower seed sitch is subtle and understated – not enough added to be a deal breaker.
Here’s where it gets vegan-y: egg replacer, Earth Balance butter substitute – and to no no ill effect. I don’t miss the butter at all.
For a hippie cookie (I don’t think anyone would argue that this one wouldn’t be filed under Hippie Cookie), it really outta be made from some whole grain flour of some kind or another. Rye, barley, or even just whole whea would give it even more flavor and character. This, however, is straight up AP white flour – my only real complaint.
I just passed the second half off to my mom and dad and they were like: damn, Jo. This is a really great cookie. Where did you get it? (Note: my folks are not people who get particularly excited about a cookie the way their daughter does, so this is kinda saying something.)