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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:
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Bakeshop
5351 NE Sandy Blvd – Portland
$2
I have given high praise to two cookies in the past that were both purchased at Ristretto Roasters. Both the Chocolate Chocolate Nib and the Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk, were baked by Kim Boyce, author of the beautiful Good to the Grain baking book.
And now…. Boyce has her very own retail bakery! Bakeshop opened just this past week on NE Sandy Blvd. (Her goods will continue to be available at Ristretto – as well as Extracto Coffee House, Breken Kitchen, Case Study Coffee (adjacent to the bakery), and probably a few other joints that I don’t know about. Read more »
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Grand Central Bakery
Various locations – Portland and Seattle
$1.65
Quite awhile ago I told you about the oatmeal raisin at New Seasons Market, a cookie that is baked on site at the New Seasons bakery - from dough made by Grand Central Bakery.
The oatmeal raisin at New Seasons, however, is not the same oatmeal raisin cookie that you will find at an actual Grand Central Bakery. They are both very respectable versions of the oatmeal raisin category (one of my all time favorites, in case this isn’t obvious by now), but the one that Grand Central makes for their own bakeries wins my vote for 1st place between the two. I guess it only makes sense that Grand Central would send out their star player under their own brand. Sort of like Gap vs. Old Navy? Maybe not quite, but…something like that.
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Laughing Planet Café
Portland – various locations (plus Eugene and Corvallis)
$2.50
Are you still here? Because if it were me reading this post, I would have scoffed at “hemp seed”, my nose would have scrunched at “hazelnut”, and you would’ve lost me completely at “carob.”
And, as if it needed one more strike against it? It’s vegan!
There is NO reason that this should be a good cookie.
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Cravin Raven Organic Bakery (exclusively gluten-free bakery)
8339 SE 13th Avenue – Portland
$2.25
As far as cookies go, peanut butter are pretty far down on my list. It’s not that I think they are inedible, but there are so many other cookies that take precedence over peanut butter that it is a rare day that one makes its way into my mouth.
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Nuvrei Patisserie
404 NW 10th Avenue – Portland
$2
Nuvrei, a Portland bakery supplying superior almond croissant, berry brioche and an exceptionally fantastic flourless chocolate chewy cookie to the city’s best coffee shops, has opened a retail café above their bakery in The Pearl District. In case you’ve never had a Nuvrei item in your mouth before, let me spell it out for you: this is great news.
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Maple Cream Pie
Whole Foods Market – Portland (Pearl District store, only.)
apx $3 (sold by weight at $7.99/lb)
To erase any confusion straight from the get-go, this is NOT, in fact, a pie. It is, as you can see, a sandwich cookie. One big, fat, muthafuggin sandwich cookie. I do not know why things like this - desserts that have nothing to do with pie (like whoopie pies, for example) – get called “pie.” Because it’s totally not pie.
What it IS is this: a big ass cookie. Two large oatmeal cookies, to be specific – with an obscene (i.e., way too much) amount of maple-y butter cream filling.
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The Dessert Tray
11950 SW Broadway St. – Beaverton
$1.50
This is a very good oatmeal raisin cookie. Nothing tricky, nothing fancy. No golden raisins, no cranberries, no cherries, no apricots. No hazelnuts, no pecans, no coconut. And mercifully, no shitty, waxy white chocolate chips. Nothing but straight up oatmeal, dark raisins, and a subtle hit of cinnamon.
It is very thick, and fairly soft – not crispy. A little bit moist and gooey in the center.
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Costello’s Travel Caffé
2222 NE Broadway – Portland
50¢/ea
I had driven by this place countless times over the past several years and never thought to stop in. I guess I just thought it looked and sounded kind of dopey: “Travel Caffé.” Like it was trying too hard or something. What the hell is a “travel café”, I would ask myself? And anyway, I am not traveling, I live two miles from the joint.
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Brownie Salon
Date: August 16, 2011
Attendees: Beth S., Brooke M., Giovanna Z., Beth C., Scott B., Sarah V.B., Joanna M.
Left to Right:
1. David Lebovitz, gluten free (from davidlebovitz.com) – Joanna
2. Alice Medrich (from Chewy, Gooey Crispy, Crunchy) – Giovanna
3. Food and Wine Magazine Salted Fudge Brownie - Brooke
4. From Downtown Bakery in Healdsburg, CA) – Beth C.
5. Beth’s Friend Jen’s recipe, gluten free – Beth S.