Pie Spot
521 NE 24th Avenue- Portland
$2

Yes, this is a place for pies. Little bitty personal-sized pies.  An impressively prolific variety, I might add.

Which is cool. But more compelling than the pies, if you ask me, are the cookies. (Because, uh…this ain’t no pie blog.) I’ve been here twice (two days in a row because I was working around the corner in a studio a couple of weeks ago) and each day they were making both regular chocolate chip and these here Momofuku cornflake cookies.

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Comet Coffee
5708 Oakland Ave – St. Louis, MO
$2.50

The following is the first ever GUEST POST on carpe-cookie.  Here’s what’s true: I know very few, if any, cookie eaters who put as much time, planning, consideration and reflection into cookies as I do. Chris W. is one of these people.

Chris is currently visiting St. Louis; this afternoon he sent me texts (yes, plural) about a fantastic-sounding chocolate chip cookie that he was eating – in real time. In his words:

CW: Messy cc cookie just out of the oven. Comet Coffee in St. Louis, MO. I’m  usually not into the Read more »

Tabor Bread
5051 SE Hawthorne Blvd – Portland
$1.75

Tabor Bread mills their own flours and bakes their bread and pastries in a wood fired oven – apparently the first retail bakery in Portland to do so.  I was surprised to read this. I mean, this is Portland – D.I.Y. headquarters of America! But it says so on their website, and who am I to second guess the internet?

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Bushel & Peck Bakeshop
3907 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd – Portland
$1.50

I said there would be more soon from Bushel & Peck. I wasn’t lying.

This one:  a chocolate crinkle. But like the ginger molasses with sesame from the same bakery, it’s a classic with a twist that takes it from (sort of) ubiquitous to fairly unique. The orange (zest, I’m presuming) is a great addition to an already delicious cookie

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Sweedeedee 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.

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Pearl 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.

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Macrina 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.

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Courier 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.

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Crema 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

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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…)

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