Crema Coffee and Bakery
2728 SE Ankeny, Portland
$1.25
Definitely above average. Heck, I’ll go one better than that; this is a very pleasing cookie- and while not in the same league as Milk, certainly worthy of repeat purchases.
I’d tasted this one on a few occasions before, and while I did manage to get it all down, I never found it particularly noteworthy. The one I ate yesterday, however, was softer and more underdone than I remembered, a quality that won’t garner complaints from moi. This cookie is NOT a “snap”, per se – it is dense, quite chewy and very highly molassesed – if I may be so bold as to use “molasses” as a verb. (If a donut can be “sugared”, I see no reason that a cookie cannot be molassesed. My computer’s spellcheck, however, seems to disagree…) In any case, the molasses hit is dark and deep – the dusting of superfine sugar working well to offset the intensity.
The goods at Crema tend to be fluctuate in quality, from my experience, but they are never bad. Their inconsistency, rather, ranges between “pretty good” and “really good”*, this usually a consequence of baking time.
* The exception being their cupcake frosting, which is really nothing more than whipped and slightly sweetened, unsalted butter – which misses the point and is totally unacceptable, if you ask me.
This is my new favorite blog! THANK YOU! Really a fun read. Can’t wait to see more!
Leslie: And you are my new favorite blog-reader! I’m glad you like it – that’s nice to hear.
I LOVE that you use molasses as a verb. This was well done. You bring such a personal note to it…that you go back and try often…which is KEY since most bakeries have trouble with consistency. Joanna: I have been hitting all of my neighborhood bakeries. They are tucked in basements. They don’t advertise. You have to find them by looking for a red cart or by reading about them on a blog like this one. But every time I got to one and review it in my head, I think of you. And I don’t feel bad about eating the brioche because I had to walk a mile to get there. Please do a blog link regularly on FB so I can read where you are going and enjoy your writing. And when I walk across the park for my favorite cookie, I will review it with your words in my head.
I wanna get molassased.
Houston!
I’m so glad you like it. As always, your opinion means the world to me. And yes, you live in a city laden with awesome cookies. Is one of those tucked away basement joints called “Levain”, by any chance? Those are some off the hook cookies for real. Also worth a stop: the little cart in front of Cookshop near the High Line. Fantastic oatmeal cookies – for only a buck, yo!
So, what’s this favorite cookie across the park of which you speak? Talk to me.
Jenny: I will support (and even collaborate in) this endeavor.
Yummm. Just ate 7 of the little Trader Joe’s Triple Ginger Snaps while wishing I had just had one of these. Love this blog!