Posted by on Jul 10, 2012 in Chocolate, Chocolate Chip | 0 comments

Saint Cupcake
1138 SW Morrison & 3300 SE Belmont – Portland
$3

I’d been resisting buying a cookie from Saint Cupcake based on two facts.

1: I am not a big fan of Saint Cupcake’s cupcakes (it’s a frosting issue. That, and I really don’t understand the fuss about cupcakes, in general. Another story, another blog…)

2: Their cookies cost $3.  Unless you are Levain, that’s too much to charge for a cookie. Sorry, it just is.

With that said, it is one of the better chocolate chip cookies in town – and I do use the words “chocolate chip” quite loosely. That is to say, these are not chips; they are big fat chunks, melted into blobs that dominate the entire cookie.

And, depending on which side of things you stand, renders this something totally awesome – or not.  Meaning, if you like much more chocolate than cookie in your cookie, you will love this. IF you like intense, bittersweet chocolate, as the name of the cookie warns.  I do love intense, bittersweet and dark chocolate.  And I also love, love, love ample salt in my cookie.  So it wins on both of those counts. Perfect amount of salt, both within and atop. This is, from my experience, a rare achievement in commercial bakery products. Gracias for the salt, Saint Cupcake.

But I also love the brown sugary doughiness of a ccc cookie – the parts of the cookie that are chip-free – and there are virtually NO parts of this cookie that meet that description. If I could change on thing about it, I would cut the amount of chocolate in HALF. A little chocolate (especially chocolate of this depth and quality) goes a very long way. I think Saint Cupcake takes it a little too far with the chocolate, but I know many would disagree with me on this point. Don’t misunderstand me, there are plenty of moments in my life when I want nothing  other than deep, dark, intense chocolate filling up my mouth. And those are the times when I eat a piece (or three) of a deep, dark, intense chocolate bar and don’t even bother with cookies. Am I right?

The other thing I would change about it is the $3 price tag. I have not seen another cookie in Portland (or in any other city, including LA, NYC*, Seattle, SF) that charges $3 for a single cookie of this size and quality. For that reason it is sort of hard for me to recommend this one wholeheartedly. So… please take my Saint Cupcake cookie props with that qualifier (plus the one about the overpopulation of chocolate).

*With the exception, as stated above, of Levain Bakery. Read that post to find out why it’s more than acceptable that they charge $4 for their cookies.