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November 2007

Main Nibbles / Cookies, Cake & Pastry / Cookies & Brownies

This Little Cookie

A Big Idea: Not Too Sweet, Wholesome Cookies

• Overview
• Flavors
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CAPSULE REPORT: This Little Cookie has a definite point of view: the best ingredients, a wholesome, homemade style and not too sweet or rich. We’ve never tasted a line quite like it before. Although it’s made by a woman who also turns out detailed buttercream cakes decorated with fragile petals, we have to say that these cookies have a masculine flavor profile—because men tend not to like sugary, buttery baked goods to the extent that women and children do. Still, both men and women who like sweets made with less sugar—we count ourselves among them—will appreciate these [not so little] cookies. You can contact the bakery about special orders of gluten-free cookies, too.

The founder of This Little Cookie points out that she is Julieann Moore the baker, not Julianne Moore, the actress. But she brings the same unique point-of-view to her baking as the actress does to her roles. For a culinarian who has worked at some of the most sophisticated spots in the Bay Area—Chez Panisse, chocolatier Michael Recchiuti and Tartine Bakery—when she began her own venture, Julieann returned to her childhood roots. She grew up on a biodynamic farm in southern California, where she was surrounded by the best, freshest ingredients. There, she baked and experimented with food. Then, as many young people do, she left the farm for a bachelor’s degree in business...which no doubt will do her well now that she is the proprietor of a business. Her farm background also gives her respect for ingredients: She uses the finest ingredients, including organic flour and free range eggs.

The cookies have a back-to-basics goodness, as if they were made on the farm. They’re not sweet and rich like a city cookie, but wholesome like country baked goods. They beg more for a glass of milk than a latte. But go ahead—have a latte, a cappuccino, a cup of Lapsang souchong, whatever your heart desires. The  cookies have the sensibility of a good English biscuit. The profile is restrained, not flavor-forward, and the texture is relatively dry as opposed to moist and redolent of butter (although they have a great consistency). You can eat them with no telltale crumbs on your chest or desk.

Peanut Butter Cookie with roasted peanuts.

Flavors

The cookies at This Little Cookie are not so little—they are just the right size, 2-5/8 inches in diameter, an ounce in weight.

• Chocolate Chip Cookies are the most masculine chocolate chip cookies of our experience, the kind a tough guy would eat (a tough guy with good taste). This is not your indulgent chocolate chip cookie—you can yield to the temptation of a cookie without downing anything particularly sweet. You feel healthy eating it, even though it’s made with butter, sugar, brown sugar, 62% cacao chocolate chips, flour, walnuts, eggs, salt, vanilla extract and baking soda.
• Molasses Cookies, dusted with a sprinkling of granulated sugar, are soft; they almost melt in your mouth. They’re made with butter, all natural brown sugar, unsulphured blackstrap molasses, free range eggs, organic flour and cinnamon, salt and baking soda. The molasses flavor is light, so those who don’t like the heavy molasses flavor of some other recipes will find it appealing.

Peanut Butter Cookies have a subtle peanut butter flavor (we would wish for more), with a nice pressed fork design and toasted peanuts embedded on the top. In addition to the peanut butter and peanuts, they’re made with butter, sugar, molasses, eggs, flour, vanilla extract, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Shortbread Cookies are our favorite, a delightful surprise because the label doesn’t tell it like it is: Fleur de Sel Shortbread. Lightly buttery shortbread with grains of fleur de sel sea salt are stamped with a big heart—perhaps an advance hint that, if you like things sweet and salty, you’re going to love these cookies. They’re made with butter, confectioner’s sugar, sugar, fleur de sel, organic flour and organic rice flour.

Shortbread with fleur de sel sea salt is the standout.

• Snickerdoodle is the classic butter cookie flavored with brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg (and several of the other now-familiar ingredients—eggs, flour, baking soda, vanilla extract). The ingredients cite brandy, but it’s not discernable—so feel free to feed them to the kids.

Ready for something different? Invite This Little Cookie over for a glass of milk...or something a little stronger—perhaps some hot chocolate with brandy.