Mother’s Bistro and Bar
212 SW Stark St – Portland
$1.50
After more than pleasing experiences with both the extra chocolatey chocolate and ginger molasses at Mother’s Bistro earlier this year, I was eager to try the oatmeal cookie that I had spotted in their dessert case- looking so nice, hearty and…oatey.
And, as it happens, I’m working on a photo shoot this week (yes, literally right now. I’m pretending to be busy. FYI: when you furrow your brow in concentration while typing furiously on your laptop, people tend to leave you alone. Note to selves: handy trick.) Anyway, our shooting location yesterday was Mother’s. It’s not every day that a shooting location is a restaurant, but it’s so dang handy when it is. It means that we are indoors and out of the rain, that there are plenty of tables and chairs for the crew and cast, and also that we don’t have to monkey with a caterer; instead, we order our crew meals directly from the kitchen. And when the cookies needn’t be brought in from an outside bakery because the ones in house happen to be awesome? Even more handy.
As a producer, I’m usually the one in charge of ordering the catering and selecting the menus – but on this particular shoot I’m helping out a longtime colleague and friend (also a producer) by acting as her production coordinator. She arranged the catering, but when I suggested she go with a “cookie platter” for the lunch dessert,my judgment was not questioned. In other words, she knows me well.
All of this is a long winded way of letting you know that not only was I given ample opportunity to taste the oatmeal cranberry pecan cookie in question, but also a few others – snickerdoodle, peanut butter, some sort of white chocolate macadamia bullshit (sorry, Mother’s, nothing personal) – as well. And also to remind myself that the extra chocolatey chocolate really is delightful, which I surreptitiously squirreled away (along with the oatmeal) in my laptop bag!
But about the oatmeal cranberry pecan. Texture is great: crispy surface and edge, stiff but chewy in the middle. I like that the pecan pieces are small enough that no one nut takes up more than its share of cookie real estate. I don’t want an entire pecan or walnut halve in a cookie – it results in unbalance bites. This is an important and often overlooked feature.
My only complaint: not enough salt. In fact, there might not be any salt in these, but if there is, it is barely detectable. The flavor of the butter, brown sugar, fruit, nuts is not truly showcased without the salt. You see those nice, fat flakes of finishing salt sitting on the cookie in the photo above? I put those there. They came from my private stash. Yes, I have a private salt stash and I’m not afraid to use it.
Very good cookie*
*Apply salt as needed.