Posted by on Sep 27, 2010 in Chocolate, Gluten Free and/or Flourless, Macaroon/Macaron | 3 comments

Alma Chocolate
140 NE 28th Ave – Portland
$1

Alma Chocolate, a tiny shop in Northeast Portland, is known mainly for their signature (edible) gold leaf-painted molded chocolate iconsbon bons, barks, toffees and cocoa-dusted candied nuts.  The array of unexpected confections, all  made from one deep, dark single-origin chocolate or another, is stunning. But what I want to tell you about is the shop’s  more off-the-radar (at least to me) bakery items.

I seem to forget about Alma as a bakery, per se, but the fact is that they are kickin’ out some of Portland’s better cookies, brownies and cake.  And this, natch, is what I want to tell you about – a cookie.

This one:

This is a very simple and honest chocolate coconut macaroon – made, I can only assume, from the same top-shelf chocolate as the above-mentioned delights.  What I mean to say is: this is not the Manischewitz macaroon that your grandmother so thoughtfully plucked from the kosher aisle at Albertson’s and arranged artfully on a platter around the Passover sponge cake – to be served at your seder table .  Not by a long shot.

Relatively small in size, soft and chewy (yet not sticky), the diminutive coconut hunk packs easily 3 times the flavor wallop as any chocolate macaroon I have ever met.  A little goes a long way, making the $1 price tag a more-than-fair price.

P.S. if you are one of those who moan about the “weird, cuticle-like texture” of sweet, delicious shredded coconut (and are actually still reading this post), Alma’s chocolate chip cookies and espresso brownies will shut you right up.  Check ’em out.