Compote Café and Bakery
2032 SE Clinton – Portland
$1.75
Had a coffee date with my friend Carin this morning, who (politely and non aggressively) admonished me for not having posted about a gluten free cookie anytime recently.
Luckily she brought along two different gluten-free goodies from Compote, a nice (not exclusively) gf bakery/cafe in her neighborhood. (Thanks, Carin! I owe you one. Or two.) I’ve been to Compote. It’s a nice joint and I think I’ve liked everything I’ve tried: homey muffins, cookies, scones, etc. I’d call it “Nouveau Hippie” – in other words, healthy (ish) whole grain items but served in a bright, clean and shiny shop with nary a carob chip or bee pollen pellet in sight.
This is, in fact, an entirely flourless number- egg whites, ground pecans and cocoa powder giving the cookie its body. Fantastic deep chocolate flavor with satisfying chewiness (as its name promises). I liked it a lot.
My only complaint: it is decidedly over priced. $1.75 is pretty steep for a nugget of this size. Also, it is awfully similar to Nuvrei Patisserie’s chocolate chewy cookie (I’d be surprised if it wasn’t the very same recipe, in fact), which can be found in several coffee shops around Portland (in addition to Nuvrei’s own bakery, of course). But here’s the thing: Nuvrei’s cookie is priced around $2 and is easily 2x (if not more) the size of Compote’s version. With that said, I’m not sure I’d buy this one again. (Although the ground pecans in Compote’s are much kinder on my mouth than the large, abrasive walnut chunks used in the Nuvrei interpretation. So, there’s that.)
One of the two cookies was this choc