Okay, the blog police busted me for being flaky on posts, so here ya go.
Once upon a time, in a very unlikely place (Spokane, WA), I discovered the most delectable cookie ev-uh. It was big, melt-in-your-mouth buttery, dense, and best of all? It was generously smeared with pink frosting. My friends Jonathan and Taya (henceforth known as the Slabs) and I used to scour the coffee shops of Spokane in search of these elusive pink cookies. We finally figured out the source: The Rocket Bakery.
This all transpired more than a decade ago, but the memories of those pink cookies lived on. I wrote to Bon Appetit magazine, hoping they might be able to coerce the recipe out of the Rocket Bakery; I wrote directly to the Rocket Bakery, pleading with them to share the recipe; I CALLED the bakery. I got NOTHING. So then last weekend my friend John traveled to Spokane. I told him he should try the pink cookie. Being the mentally unstable wonderfully generous friend that he is, he bought a stack of the cookies and overnighted them to me.
I was worried that the cookie would not live up to my memories, but that concern was dispelled after the first bite. It tasted exactly as I remembered. Now if I could only get the dang recipe!
It looks so beautiful! The Jane Ray looks pretty good too. The combination of the jadeite and pink is most pleasing.
And you think *I’m* a gay man?
You’d better send me one of those cookies you crazy biotch!!!
Unless there’s more than one famous pink cookie legend floating around Seattle, I think the original pink cookie was started by Danny Brown. He’s the brother of some friends of my family and I first had one of his pink cookies at his loft in Seattle when I was in my teens. His story is here: http://www.mostlymuffins.com/pink_story.html
so it’s thicker than a sugar cookie. what does it taste like? like a fat sugar cookie? or like some other kind of cookie? liek those thousands of cookies whose dough all starts out the exact same as choc chip cookie dough? i need more information. is there a layer of pink in the middle also? or is there just a schmear on the side? damn. oh to be in cali eating a pink cookie right now.
Oh, how I’ve waxed poetic about the Rocket’s cookies! I’m lucky enough to live in Spokane so I can enjoy these heavy treats anytime I want. The frosting is very sweet and the cookie tends to be on the dry side, but in a good way. Have you had the lemon poppyseed that starts with the same base?
Oh how I remember college mornings with a big pink cookie- they were sold on campus dorms cafeterias, one of teh only cafeteria purchases I could abide!
MMMMMM, its grand to love the Pac NW
I was going to mention Uncle Seth’s Pink Cookies, but Robin already did. They are wonderful! Maybe you’d have better luck appealing to them for the recipe? I was trying to find a similar recipe for Valentine’s cookies to no avail.
That cookie looks awesome…
but if you want another recommendation, http://www.dutchsweets.com
mini stroopwafels
Oh man, Mariko. You need someone to infiltrate the bakery. Who lives in Seattle and is willing to get a job in order to share the recipe with the masses?
Don’t mind my brain lapse. SPOKANE, not Seattle. I had Seattle on the brain at the moment.
I actually think they started in Seattle as the person who linked to Mostly Muffins mentioned. And I ate far too many of them once upon a time when they were FREE to me (working in a restaurant can be a killer). I LOVE LOVE LOVE the big pink cookie but steadfastly look the other way 99% of the time. Cardamom is the big secret to their wonderfulness, imho.
(PS I grew up in Spokane. It’s not a happy place for me, but I did love the happy face cookies and all other bakery delights from Rosauer’s Supermarket.)
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe the prolific and talented Ryan of the Mossy Cottage knitting blog (http://www.nwkniterati.com/MovableType/MossyCottage/) lives up that a way. She’s quite crafty and could possibly hunt down that recipe! : )
You’ve made me want a cookie I have a hope in hell of obtaining unless you track down that recipe dammit!
darn, that looks so good. my mouth is watering!!!
What’s that show on Food Network? “The Best of”? Maybe you could write to them and persuade them to do a show about the bakery and then feature the pink icing cookie. Maybe then they’d give up the recipe. Lol.
that uncle seth’s site admits it’s a danish shortbread cookie, and the nutritional info gives you all the ingredients (flour, sugar, shortening, unsalted butter, a sodium aluminum phosphate-based baking powder, cardamom, salt), so maybe find a danish shortbread recipe and apply these ingredients. the key to the texture might be that baking powder, which would provide a finer crumb. i don’t think it’s available outside of commercial bakeries, but you might want to try bakewell cream as a substitute. the frosting is made from sugar, unslated butter, cream cheese, evaporated milk, red dye #40, and almond flavor. whoo. i’ll give it a go in a week or so, but if you try it, good luck!
oh, i forgot to add that i wouldn’t look at that nutritional info page because you really don’t want to know how many calories are in *one* cookie….
Oh, man. Pink heavily frosted shortbread cookie. Cardamom spiced & almond flavored. Butter. I think I’m dying. . .
These resemble a cookie I can buy in the grocery store they call them Lofthouse cookies.