Posted by on Nov 10, 2010 in Chocolate, Whole grain | 0 comments

Ristretto Roasters
3808 N Williams Ave- Portland
3520 NE 42d Ave – Portland
$2

I recently told you about the oatmeal chocolate chunk, a more than respectable and very satisfying cookie being made by Kim Boyce, available at Ristretto Roasters. But the one that is really making me swoon lately (also featured in her stellar cookbook) is the Chocolate Chocolate Nib cookie.

I went to the shop a couple of weeks ago for a public Q&A with the author, where she shed some light on the book’s inspiration and genesis.  She also, very sweetly, set out an nice plate of rye soft pretzels for us to enjoy, by the way.  If you look at the oatmeal chocolate chunk post, you can read my emphatic support for wider inclusiveness of whole grains in baked goods; after listening to Boyce’s thoughts and book-writing process as well as having finally procured my very own copy of the book (I’m totally not giving this one away), I am even more excited about this stuff than I was before.

That evening, I picked up a couple of these chocolate chocolate nib cookies to bring to my friends Xan and Nathan’s house for dinner, where I was headed straight after the talk.  Okay, I knew I was getting myself into something chocolaty (the name of the cookie being my main tip, natch), but the sight of them did not prepare me for the intense deliciousness that was to ensue.  It’s not that I don’t enjoy a nut in a cookie, but I really dug a crispy contrast that wasn’t a nut for a change- i.e., the nibs.  It’s as if you’re eating straight-up chocolate held together by a minimal amount of cookie-ness (the dough is made with spelt flour, which provides a nice texture), but still receiving the satisfaction of eating a cookie – as opposed to simply munching a bar of chocolate. Indeed, the recipe (which yields 2 and a half dozen cookies) uses a full pound of 70-75% cacao bittersweet chocolate –  in addition to a cup of cacao nibs! That’s a lotta chocolatta, my friends.   And…she mercifully uses enough salt to make all that chocolate taste like… chocolate.

When I bought the two cookies that night, they were big, probably 4 inches wide- sufficient dessert for the three of us.  But when I returned last week to fill my lingering nib cookie jones, the cookie had sadly shrunk by about an inch in diameter.  I’m not sure what the story is on this; $2 is a bit on the steep side for a medium-sized cookie. Having said that, I have to tell you that I would pay $2 again for the smaller one (it’s that good).  But this doesn’t mean I’m not keeping my fingers crossed that the shrunken version was a one-time fluke.  I realize that sometimes “less is more”, but in this case, more is just so much…more.  More chocolaty, more delicious, more better.

In sum, this is a unique and special cookie.   Worth a trip across town – and worth the two bones.