Carpe Cookie

A grade-A cookie lover's account of the best – and sometimes worst – cookies around.

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OMG Chocolate Chip at Alma

Posted by on Mar 17, 2011 in Chocolate Chip | 0 comments

Alma Chocolate
140 NE 28th Ave – Portland
$1.25

OMG Chocolate Chip Cookie:  This is what the bakery calls it. I didn’t just throw that in there ‘cuz I think it’s a slammin’ cookie (I do think it’s a slamming cookie, BTW). Or, because I like to use cute abbreviations for stuff, FYI.  Or because I buy them for my BFF’s, who love CCC’s, and live in PDX.

Like I was sayin’, this is a great chocolate chip cookie and I should have mentioned it sooner.  Portland Monthly Magazine, in fact, just gave it a nod in their recent cc cookie roundup – and although I am not on board with a few that they singled out, I could not agree more about this (kind of) hidden gem at Alma.

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Chocolate Chip at Common Grounds

Posted by on Feb 26, 2011 in Chocolate Chip | 0 comments

Common Grounds Coffee House
4321 Se Hawthorne Blvd – Portland
$1

Since I just told you about the unexpectedly delicious oatmeal cookie that I found at Common Grounds recently, I thought I may as well stay on topic and tell you about their chocolate chip.

As I mentioned in the oatmeal post, I was alerted by on of my main chipster tipsters that the chocolate chip cookie here is straight up Toll House, super basic and pleasing. No nuts, nothing fancy – just old school, after-school special style. But so far I’ve  bypassed the ccc, honing in on the oatmeal and, on my last visit, was unable to resist taking home a chunk of their homey, unadorned gingerbread – which I did not regret for a split second. It was some top notch G-bread. And if you dig that sort of thing, you need to get some in your mouth, stat. (I drooled a little bit onto my keyboard just thinking about it, if you want to know the truth.)

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Ultrathin and huge Chocolate Chunk at Auntie Em’s Kitchen

Posted by on Feb 18, 2011 in Chocolate Chip | 2 comments

Auntie Em’s Kitchen
4616 Eagle Rock Blvd  – L.A. (Eagle Rock)
$2

It has been said that if you put 10 Jews in a room, you’ll hear 11 different opinions.

I might say the same is true for chocolate chip cookie eaters. In other words, it is a highly divisive topic. Some favor thin and crisp, some swear by thick and doughy. Or thin and chewy. Or thick and biscuity. Some dig walnuts or pecans, others say “hell no” to the nuts. Some ccc bakers misguidedly think they’re doing us a great favor by including butterscotch – or possibly worse – white chocolate chips. Ugh and double ugh. The possibilities are endless – more so than with perhaps any other cookie.

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Extra Chocolaty Chocolate Cookie* at Mother’s Bistro & Bar

Posted by on Feb 5, 2011 in Chocolate, Chocolate Chip | 0 comments

Mother’s Bistro & Bar
212 SW Stark St – Portland
$1.50

Not that it should be surprising that you would find a great cookie at Mother’s. I mean, this is a place that is known and loved in Portland for it’s top notch comfort food. Also,  I’m pretty sure a place that calls itself “Mother’s” is legally obliged to provide not just cookies, but super awesome, homemade-y gems like the ones goin’ on here. The thing is, Mother’s is a full-fledged, (quite lovely) sit-down restaurant –  not a bakery, per se – or a coffee shop where you might think to pop in and grab a cookie to go. But you can.  You totally CAN!

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Chocolate Chip, Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip, and Oatmeal Raisin at Levain

Posted by on Oct 24, 2010 in Chocolate, Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip | 2 comments

Levain Bakery
167 West 74th St. – New York City
$4*


A few times over the past few years, I’ve been asked by friends to provide a list of bakeries (i.e.,cookies) worth seeking out while visiting New York City.  Even though (with the exception of one year in the mid-nineties) I have never lived in NYC, I’ve been there a bunch of times.  And I’m sure it comes as no surprise that during these visits, cookie scouting ends up high on my priority list – above, I am simultaneously ashamed and proud to admit, The Guggenheim, MOMA, Broadway performances, shoe shopping, etc.  I will plan entire walking itineraries around strategically-located bakeries; this is how I roll. (OMG: if somebody has not already opened a bakery called “This Is How We Roll”, it needs to happen – stat! Genius.)

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