Bushel & Peck Bakeshop
3907 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd – Portland
$1.50
I know I just wrote that I’m having a chocolate chip moment. But my current jam? Sesame seeds. Sesame seeds in sweets, specifically. A drizzle of tahini (sesame butter) and honey with a sprinkle of sea salt on vanilla ice cream? I’m serious. It’s perfect. Do it!
Read MoreSweedeedee Café
5202 N Albina Ave – Portland
$2
Looks like I’m in the middle of a chocolate chip moment. This is not usually my first choice cookie, but I’ve regained some love for it after several years of neglect. I don’t know..I guess I feel that there are so many average to bad ccc’s around – more so than any other cookie, it seems to me.
But man, I sure loved that one from Macrina Bakery last month. And also the perfectly under baked Chocolate Chunk Pecan from Pearl – both top notch and worth a detour.
Read MorePearl Bakery (purchased at Pastaworks)
102 NW 9th Ave – Portland
$1.50
It’s not as easy as you’d think to find a chocolate chip/chunk cookie with nuts that are not walnuts. So I am happy when I do.
And when the non-walnuts are pecans, even better.
AND…when the cookie is prepared in the style of the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever met (David Leite’s New York Times recipe, circa 1998), even BETTER.
Read MoreMacrina Bakery
Multiple locations – Seattle
$1.90
This was certainly not my first visit to Macrina. But for some reason, it was the first time I decided to pick up one of these bad boys. In fact, I’m pretty sure that my brother – who lives in Seattle, is often my cookie cohort when I visit the city, and is coincidentally named Rick (no relation to the cookie) – once told me that this cookie was either strange or bad or not awesome. Or something like that.
Read MoreCompote 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
Read MoreCourier Coffee Roasters
923 SW Oak – Portland
$1
This is a cakey chocolate chip cookie for sure – something I don’t usually scream (in a good way) about. BUT… because top notch ingredients are so clearly at play – including deep, complex chocolate and no shortage of dark brown sugar and good butter – it’s kind of hard to go wrong here. In other words, it’s a good cookie and I don’t see how anyone could say that it isn’t – no matter your ccc leanings.
Read MoreCrema Bakery
2728 SE Ankeny – Portland
$1.25
I’d had this cookie 2-3 times in the past and for some reason remembered it being oatmeal based. I guess because of the dried fruit; where there is dried fruit (raisins, cherries, apricots, currants), there are usually oats.
But when I tasted it again last week, I realized that it is, in fact, oat-less. Which (even though I’m oatmeal cookie’s #1 fan) is perfectly fine – especially since it is packed with plenty of other texture-giving goodness: shredded coconut, pecans, raisins (dark and golden) and chocolate chips. Not to mention the fact that it is
Read Morelittle t american baker
2600 SE Division – Portland
$1.50
I’m not sure why I never had the oatmeal raisin (possibly my favorite kind of cookie, ever) at Little T until now. I’ve been to this bakery dozens of times in the 4 years it has been around. I’m thinking maybe it’s because they haven’t always had it – or because it usually contains walnuts (not a fan). Or…wait a minute.
Saint Cupcake
1138 SW Morrison & 3300 SE Belmont – Portland
$3
I’d been resisting buying a cookie from Saint Cupcake based on two facts.
1: I am not a big fan of Saint Cupcake’s cupcakes (it’s a frosting issue. That, and I really don’t understand the fuss about cupcakes, in general. Another story, another blog…)
Read MoreHideaway Bakery
3377 East Amazon Dr., Eugene, OR
$2
I found this bakery only 4 years ago while visiting Eugene (my hometown), and I’m pretty sure it hasn’t been around more than a couple of years longer than that. In a town with more (way above average) bakeries per capita than anywhere I’ve lived, The Hideaway is the one I make the biggest point of hitting when I’m in town. After I’ve gotten my pumpkin cookie with brown sugar icing fix at Sweet Life. (I will never get tired of the pumpkin cookie with brown sugar icing at Sweet Life.)
New Seasons Market
Various Locations (this one purchased at Concordia store)
99¢
I have been inside this store anywhere between 4 and 10 times/week (really) since it first opened in my neighborhood – over 10 years ago. Which makes it somewhat shocking that the first time this cookie made its way into my mouth was about 2 months ago.
It just looked…uninviting, I guess. I’ve had a longtime love for the triple chocolate at Grand Central – not to mention several other cookies that fall under this general umbrella of double/triple chocolateyness. So you’d think I would’ve been all over this one like white on rice.
Read MoreNuvrei
404 NW 10th Ave – Portland
$2
I’ve enjoyed this cookie more than once over the past few years, but was never sure if it really counted as a cookie. I used to consider it a cookie when they first started making it – simply because it was round (and also because I think it was actually labeled “cookie”). But I’m guessing that its roundness confused people into expecting a more traditional oatmeal cookie – which this is not. But for awhile now it had been made rectangular in shape and is called a “bar”, which, of course, still does not exclude it from cookiehood. Because, well, brownies. And blondies. And lemon bars. All of these are cookies in my book. Baked good semantics. Whatever.
Even though it falls somewhere on the continuum of cookie-scone-granola bar and might only be classified as cookie-ish, it meets MY cookie needs. So… I will call it a cookie. It’s a damn cookie!
More to the point: This is a fat, chewy loaf of oatmeal, cinnamon, currant toothsomeness. I use the word “toothsome” a lot – too much, I will admit. But I don’t think it applies more in any one of my cookie descriptions than it does here.
There’s not much to add that the photo doesn’t tell. Like I said, it is THICK (note the macaron in the background for sense of scale). A crisp, rigid edge surrounds the oaty center, which is a bit crumbly, but not in a dry or unpleasing way. It is the opposite of unpleasing; it is, in fact pleasing.
(cross-section shot of bar sitting upright on one end)
The currants are a nice variation on the usual raisin. (Nothing against raisins. I love raisins.) And…it is seemingly never-ending; I ate it and ate it, gave my sister a few bites, and still was left with half the bar on my plate. (This may be partially due to the fact that I also liberally sampled my sister’s almond croissant. And her sablé. And also that salted caramel macaron sitting there on the plate- which, btw, was excellent: perfect texture and intense, burnt sugar taste. I will totally be back for that macaron; it is for sure one of – if not the – best I’ve had in town. Nice job on the macaron, Nuvrei!)
Available at Food Front Co-op and various farmers’ markets – Portland (check website)
$1.99
This won’t be the first time I’ll have likened a cookie to a hamburger, but I don’t believe ever as aptly as in this instance. In other words, this is the burger of the burger cookies.
Read MoreBakery Bar
2935 NE Glisan St – Portland
$1.50
Ever since Bakery Bar inexplicably stopped making their soft, excellent ginger cookies a few years ago, I haven’t been able to get excited about a cookie at this joint. (The bakery’s strength, imo, is savory and sweet scones -maple bacon and apple, cinnamon pecan, sharp cheddar and scallion, etc – and their breakfast menu. And cakes, which I’ve never actually tasted but are exceptionally cute and beautiful.)
Read MoreWoodlawn Coffee and Pastry
808 NE Dekum – Portland
$1.75
When I asked the barista what was in it (mainly with regard to nuts and dried fruit ‘n’ stuff), she told me: “milk chocolate chunks.” So, first thing’s first: this is not a double dark chocolate cookie. While it does indeed double down on the chocolate, the cookie is misnamed.
Read MoreBob’s Red Mill Whole Grain Store
5000 SE International Way
Milwaukie, OR
$1.25
I’m not going to tell you to go out of your way for this one. But I will tell you to go out of your way for Bob’s Red Mill buckwheat, rye, coconut and malted barley flours, toasted pumpernickel kernels, 8 grain cereal, teff, sesame seeds, organic oats and about 300 (at least) other BRM flours, grains, pastas,spices, seeds and snacks sold at discounted, bulk prices. Because it’s a great deal when you’re restocking your baking supply larder (I always come away with at least 3 items I’ve never seen or heard of [green pea flour? Who knew?])- and a pretty fun and easy field trip from Portland.
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 More
WHERE HAVE ALL THE COOKIES GONE?
I want to add a new cookie post. Really, I do!
But I’ve got nothing. NOTHING! And it ain’t for lack of trying. Seriously.
In the past two weeks I’ve eaten a LOT of mediocre (at best) and regrettable (at worst) cookies. Nothing, that is to say, worthy of telling you about.
A partial list of my efforts:
Read More