Flour Bakery, Boston

Every year I ask for at least one new cookbook for Christmas – and after my trip to Boston last month, I found this year’s request: Flour by Joanne Chang.

I finished up my work with an hour to spare before I needed to head to the airport, so naturally I started considering what to do eat.  I contemplated popping over to the Parker House hotel to have Boston cream pie or getting a great lobster roll, but the timing just wasn’t right… So I headed for Flour bakery.

Joanne Chang used to be a strategy consultant before opening a bakery, so I feel a bit of kinship.  She’s obviously succeeded in building her baking business – now four locations, not to mention multiple cookbooks and talks at Harvard.

I went to the Fort Point location and got two double chocolate cookies and a cheddar scallion scone (snacks for the plane).  Check out the selection:

The scone was buttery and flaky – lovely texture, though I was not a fan of the cumin.  Cumin in chimichurri, yes; scones, no.

But the cookies…  Oh, the cookies.  Biting into one is like taking a big bite of the best brownie batter, moist and fudgy and just divine, with a just-chewy exterior binding it all together.

They’re called double chocolate because they are made with both cocoa powder and chocolate; there are no chocolate chips, just a restrained number of toasted walnut pieces.  The chocolate is Tcho, a fancypants maker that I enjoy eating by the bar – quality matters when it comes to chocolate!

As soon as I get this cookbook, I am making a double batch of these cookies.  Friends and family, if there are any left, I promise to let you try them too.