North End- Mike's Pastry & Bova's Bakery

This Italian food mecca in Boston is THE place for Italian restaurants and groceries. I find it a lot easier to navigate and more friendly than New York's Little Italy, and the food is just as delicious. I can't stop eating even when I'm full! Desserts from Mike's Pastry and Bova's Bakery were no exception.

Everyone who lives in or who has visited Boston knows Mike's Pastry and their canolis. Any why wouldn't they? They're delicious and well known as the best in the city. Behind the canolis are their cookies! Of the butter cookies and giant bakery cookies, I selected the M&M cookie ($1.50). Soft and saucer-sized, it was full with M&Ms AND chocolate chips. I planned to share half of it, but ended up eating 3/4. They cookie was scrumptious (eaten the next day after the canoli- still remained very fresh), and I will be sure to get one next time I stop in for a canoli. Visit www.mikespastry.com for more details.

Bova's Bakery is off the beaten path. The cashier was chatting with a customer about the Red Sox game when we came in. It's definitely a true family run business. Cookies (mostly butter cookies) are by the pound. I tried four different kinds, and my total was $1.72. The chocolate walnut cookie (about 1 tablespoon in size) is a great after dinner treat and was my favorite. The chocolate chip lacked flavor. If you're not in the mood for chocolate, the crumbly butter cookies with sprinkles melt in your mouth. Visit http://bovabakeryboston.com for more details.

Quincy Market/Faneuil Hall

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I'm not baking cookies today, but here's another review from my trip to Boston...


What trip to Boston is complete without a stop at Quincy Market and Fanueil Hall? Two bakeries caught my eyes as I was going through the row of enticing flavors and smells. 


Kilvert & Forbes Bakeshop- Maggie's Sweets 

Their slogan under the chocolate chip cookie display read, "less butter, more chips". I don't know if they really used less butter (the cookie was chewy and just slightly sweet), but they sure used more chips! Delicious! I declare their Heath Cookie the best in Quincy Market. Super chewy with a great combination of toffee, chocolate chips, and white chocolate chips, this cookie had it all. Giant cookies are $3.50 each.

Carol Anns Bake Shop

After trying Maggie's Sweets, this was a disappointment. Oatmeal raisin, M&M, and chocolate chip varieties were available. I tried the small sized chocolate chip. It tasted like an average grocery store bakery cookie- too sweet, crispy on the edges and overly soft in the middle. Small cookies are $1 each. Large cookies are $3 each.

Do you have a favorite food in Quincy Market?

Gecko Cookies

With the holidays coming up (Watch in the coming weeks for a list of top cookies gifts!), I wanted to share an easy holiday gift option with you. Gecko Cookies makes all of their desserts fresh daily (made to order only) and has a super-friendly staff to help with suggestions.

When I created my own "Confection by the Dozen" box, I tried:
Butter Shortbread- light and slightly buttery and sweet
Chocolate Chip- very few chocolate chips, but a great brown sugar base, slightly crispy
Oatmeal Butterscotch Coconut- chewy and dense, somewhat salty base worked well with the sweet butterscotch chips- my favorite
Canyon Cookie- like a ranger cookie with chocolate chips, dried cherries, and coconut- the cherries were a little large for my liking, but overall a great cookie
Snickerdoodle- lots of cinnamon sugar, great cookie for kids
Peanut Butter- a somewhat sandy texture, but a balanced peanut butter flavor
Lemon Sugar- slight lemon flavor, crispy
Nutella Fudge Brownies- didn't taste nutella, but it was super fudgy 

Treats are $2.25 a piece. Their website (www.geckocookies.com) has a variety of lovely gift boxes, too.

Chocolate Graham Cookies

I have been on a graham cracker kick recently and wanted to find another way to eat them! This is a great chocolate cookie that doesn't overpower the graham crackers. Depending on how you prefer your graham crackers, you can crush/break them to the size of your choice. Mini chocolate chips would mix in nicely as well.

Ingredients
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
2 cups crushed graham crackers (not finely crushed)

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add egg. Gradually beat in flour mixture. 
Stir graham crackers. Drop by well-rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.
Bake for 11 to 13 minutes or until cookies are puffed and centers are set.
Yields 18 cookies.

Cook's Farm

Copley Square in Boston is always busy (not the overwhelming annoying busy, but the always something interesting going on busy). Twice each week there are mini-farmer's markets. Mixed in with all of the flowers, bread, and fresh produce was the tent for Cook's Farm.  

Cookies, brownies, pies, jams, bread, and maple syrup heaven! With everything I had been eating, I controlled myself and just got one chocolate chip cookie (even though I could have purchased 3 for $5!)

The cookie was HUGE. Crispy and not overly sweet, it tasted like a traditional Toll-House recipe chocolate chip cookie. For it's great size, I was hoping it would be more magnificent. I enjoyed it though, since it tasted just like a jumbo version of my grandmother's chocolate chip cookies. (Even though it's just the recipe on the back of Nestle chocolate chips, I can't seem to make them taste just like hers. Do you have that problem with any of your family recipes?)

Cookies are $2.00 a piece. For more information, visit the Cook's Farm and Bakery website: http://cooksfarmandbakery.com/

Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk

I am getting so hungry thinking of these cookies! They are chewy inside and crunch when you bite into them. They have just the right amount of chocolate, too, and are best eaten warm when the chocolate can ooze out. I had one of these two days after making them, and with 10 seconds in the microwave, they tasted just like they did when they came out of the oven. Do you prefer chewy or crunchy?

Ingredients
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter, cold – cut up
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup chocolate chunks
1 cup rolled oats


Instructions
Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, set aside.
Cream butter and sugars in large mixer bowl. Add egg and stir.
Gradually add flour mixture. Stir in oatmeal and chocolate chunks. Make large disks of dough (a little less than 1/4 cup each). Refrigerate for 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place dough on lined cookie sheets about 3 inches apart. Bake at 375 degrees for 12-14 minutes. 
Yields 8 cookies.

Peanut Butter Chip Cookies

Peanut butter and chocolate is such a classic combination, and there are so many directions to go when combining the two. In the past I have done, Peanut Butter Cup Cookies, Peanut Chocolate Swirl Bars, and Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter. Today I wanted a softer cookie and something with just a hint of peanut butter flavor. This was just right! 

Ingredients
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg

1 1/2 cups peanut butter chips

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add egg. Gradually beat in flour mixture. 

Stir in chips. Drop by well-rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake for 11 to 13 minutes or until cookies are puffed and centers are set.

Yields 18 cookies.

Coolidge Corner- Zaftigs & Party Favors

Coolidge Corner is a great area with a "Main Street USA" feel. One of our favorite restaurants (Boca Grande) is there, so we could make an afternoon of our visit. This time, we tried cookies from two spots:

Zaftigs had a line out the door when we walked by, so we figured this deli had to be good. Fortunately, there was no line for bakery take out! Saucer-sized cookies are just $1 each. Only sugar and chocolate chip are available, so of course, I selected chocolate chip. When the cashier pulled a cookie from the jar, she commented "they're soft today", so I'm wondering if there's an issue with consistency. This chewy cookie was certainly delicious and chocolatey, so I understand the cashier's excitement. With the sweet and chocolatey flavor, I would probably enjoy it if it were crispy, too. For more details, visit their website: http://www.zaftigs.com/.

Party Favors was just a party supply store when we lived there, but now they have expanded and sell cookies, cakes, and chocolates. Small seasonal cookies are available from $0.69 to $1.39 in all sorts of cute shapes. The fall leaf cookies were just gorgeous and tasted like a classic sugar cookie. Sold by the pound (2 cookies were $1.70) in a separate case, they had their year round flavors- sugar, chocolate chip, etc. From here, I tried the pistachio cookie and pina colada cookie. In the pistachio cookie, I tasted just a regular sugar cookie with green food coloring. There were a few pecan pieces (not pistachios!) mixed in. The pina colada cookie had a tropical taste with a little bit of coconut and a lot of sugar. Both cookies were very sugary, though. For more information, visit their website: http://www.partyfavorsbrookline.com/

Next time I'm in Coolidge Corner, I'll definitely stop at Zaftigs and skip cookies from Party Favors.