Bluebird Bakers
2390 NW Thurman – Portland
$2
Man, have I been on some kind of an almond jag lately. I made marzipan for the first time a couple of weeks ago (so much easier than I realized). I also bought a Bakeshop almond croissant at Extracto Coffeehouse last week, and anyone who knows me knows that this is far off of my beaten pastry path. Not sure what’s happening in my head and mouth, but something in there is telling me it needs to eat almond paste.
Read MoreMiss Zumstein Bakery & Coffee Shop
5027 NE 42nd Ave – Portland
$1.25
A classic coconut macaroon. No flour – only coconut, egg whites, sugar…vanilla?
Read MoreDulceria Leal
Juarez 262 – Puerto Vallarta
9 pesos (apx 70¢ US)
Cookie options are pretty grim in Puerto Valarta. As I’ve mentioned before, while Mexico is certainly capable of great dessert feats (tres leches cake, flan, amazing handmade popsicles [paletas] using a staggering variety of flavors and ingredients), cookies are, while indeed in abundance, not awesome. Much less than awesome, in fact. But I am not writing today to dwell on the negative; for more on the dire state of Mexican cookies, read THIS.
Read MoreTwo Tarts Bakery
2309 NW Kearney Street – Portland
75¢/each
I’ve had it in mind to talk about Two Tarts for ages. I’ve been enjoying them ever since they first started plying their tiny wares 3-4 years ago at The Portland Farmers’ Market. They’ve since opened a small retail shop on NW 23rd Avenue, and continue to sell at the market, as well.
The problem is this: if I am to tell you about about Two Tarts, I am required to talk about not less than 10 different cookies at once. And it turns out that as much as I love to talk about cookies, I’m pretty lazy. So I’m compromising and talking about only three different Two Tarts cookies. It’s a start.
Read MorePix Patisserie
3901 N. Williams- Portland
3402 SE Division – Portland
$2
NOTE: Passover-friendly No flour, no leavening. Contains only almond flour, egg whites, sugar, butter, flavoring.
I hate to begin on a negative note, but I feel the need to preface this review with this piece of information: I don’t like Pix very much. I’ve tasted many desserts from this much raved-about Portland dessert mecca over the past several years that have been either stale or tasted like refrigerator (or both), or were just simply not delicious. (Don’t even get me started on the piece of crap “ghetto cake” (their words, not mine) that my friends and I picked up on New Year’s Eve. Unless you really want to hear about it, in which case I’ll happily explain.
Read MoreAlma Chocolate
140 NE 28th Ave – Portland
$1
Alma Chocolate, a tiny shop in Northeast Portland, is known mainly for their signature (edible) gold leaf-painted molded chocolate icons, bon bons, barks, toffees and cocoa-dusted candied nuts. The array of unexpected confections, all made from one deep, dark single-origin chocolate or another, is stunning. But what I want to tell you about is the shop’s more off-the-radar (at least to me) bakery items.
I seem to forget about Alma as a bakery, per se, but the fact is that they are kickin’ out some of Portland’s better cookies, brownies and cake. And this, natch, is what I want to tell you about – a cookie.
Read More