Chestnut Bakery's Cookie for Indecisive Eaters

By Tamara Palmer Thu., Feb. 16 2012 at 12:30 PM

Categories: Cook E. Monster, Palmer

Tamara Palmer

Chestnut Bakery's oatmeal cranberry toffee chocolate chip cookie.

The focus at Chestnut Bakery in Cow Hollow is largely on breakfast pastries, breads, and cakes (including cute mini ones decorated with polka dots). When it comes to cookies, though, the limited selection turns out to be a glorious cut to the chase.

Many bakeries make dessert decisions tough to arrive at by packing too many options into the case. Chestnut takes a more appealing tack: offering all those options in one treat. And, thus, the oatmeal cranberry toffee chocolate chip cookie was created.

It's a hearty slab that's not particularly soft or chewy, though the latter quality sneaks in with the dried cranberries. Instead, it's thoroughly baked and yields a complex center of craggy holes, the toffee melting to contribute to the multitude of crispy caramelized edges inside and out.

This is a pretty safe bet as a sharing cookie, too, and not just because it's almost the size of a CD. The oatmeal cranberry part will appeal to those who are (theoretically) more health conscious, while the toffee and chocolate keep it naughty enough for sugar fiends. And even if you don't gravitate toward either end of the spectrum, the combo is still pretty convincing.

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