How does a great cookie become a Best Damn Cookie?
Easy.
When those who make it believe in their responsibility to leave a better world for future generations. When supporting indigenous & local farmers and insisting on fair-trade practices is paramount. When high quality ingredients are exhaustively sourced and treated with the respect they deserve.
Here's what's in our pantry.
Ethically sourced cardamom
Diaspora Co ethically sourced this cardamom from a small family farm in Kerala, India. “Mr. Chacko is one of the only farmers that has been able to domesticate a wild cardamom variety that thrives without pesticides, and is still beautifully aromatic!” It sells out almost immediately after each restock, it's citrusy, minty, slightly spicy and pleasantly pungent, the best we've tried by far.
Grass Fed Butter
Better butter means better cookies. Kerrygold works directly with small Irish family farms and farm co-ops to produce high quality grass fed butter. Ireland’s one of a kind Sustainable Dairy Assurance Scheme sets best practices for farmers to ensure animal health & welfare, sustainable land management, greenhouse gas emissions and more. Ensuring the cows eat grass aids in the butters golden color, sweetness and natural nutty aroma.
Organic Flour
Central Milling is a Utah based employee owned company with one of the largest selections of premium specialty flour and grains in the country. This blend is part raw red winter wheat and part malted. By malting the wheat (germinating it then drying and lightly smoking) the flour takes on a slight nutty flavor.
Organic Coconut Sugar
In using coconut sugar, we impart a deep flavor to our cookies with notes of dark toasted marshmallow, caramel and maple syrup. Wholesome Non-GMO Organic Coconut sugar is our go to, it’s free of animal by-products and certified Fair Trade.
Organic Oats
Bob’s Red Mill is a staple for commercial and home bakers alike. Bob’s is a 100% employee owned company that produces delicious organic non-GMO oats perfect for that chewy nostalgic texture of oatmeal cookies like our Kerala.
Sea Salt
La Baleine sea salt comes straight from marshes in the French Mediterranean and is a staple in French households. La Baleine has been naturally crystallizing salt from the sun and sea breezes since 1934. We add just enough to highlight the other flavors of our cookies.
Fair Trade Vanilla
Vanilla has a history as rich and complex as its flavor. Nielsen-Massey supplies vanilla from Mexico to Madagascar, with a commitment to strengthening the supply chain, improving economic prospects for farmers & their families, and decision making with a focus on environmental sustainability. A beautiful thing about vanilla is that it enhances other flavors, making chocolate taste richer and coffee more earthy and complex. We use it whenever we can for this reason.
Fair Trade Chocolate
When it comes to chocolate, we source from several suppliers. Valrhona is a leader in high quality cocoa products. Their sustainability commitment includes cutting their environmental impact in half by 2025 and forming farmer partnerships in planter communities. Fine and Raw is a Brooklyn based chocolate manufacturer with a radically-transparent organic cacao supply chain. They source their beans from farmers in Ghana and Ecuador who are paid equitable fair trade wages.
Fair Trade Espresso
We use Mount Hagen’s Fair Trade espresso from Highland Organic Agriculture Cooperative in Purosa, Papua New Guinea. It has similar flavor notes to out dark chocolate: cinnamon, clove and cacao.
Organic Olive Oil
Bragg’s Organic Greek Olive Oil is unfiltered and unrefined exceeding the stringent quality standards set by the International Olive Council. We use this to loosen up our pumpkin seed praline, which needs we need an oil that's mild in flavor.
Organic Ginger
We blanch our ginger four times to remove some of the intense bite. We then simmer it in cane sugar to soften and mellow it out.
Chile De Arbol
Our chiles are imported from Jalisco by our dear friend and notable Oaxacan chef Zack Wangeman. Zack makes all sorts of delicious things with corn at Sobre Masa. A little goes a long way with this spicy, fruity chile, we love using it with nutty roasted corn and sweet, earthy canela.
Organic Canela
Burlap & Barrel is our source for Zanzibar Cinnamon Verum. It's grown by farmers like Bakari Omar in Zanzibar, Tanzania. "It grows on the steep hillsides rising above the beach, where it thrives in the hot sun, salty breeze and sandy soil, a terroir that contributes to a subtle, smooth flavor without any bitterness. The cinnamon is hand-cut and sun-dried to order throughout the year to guarantee the freshest and most intense flavor."
Dark Rum
Our Cofresi cookie features rum braised pineapple. We use Rhum Barbancourt, produced by one of Haiti’s oldest rum manufacturers.
Heirloom Roasted Corn
The Cacahuazintle corn used in our Pinole cookie is imported by our friend Chef Zack Wangeman of Sobre Masa. It has a large ear with grains that are more white, round, and tender than the typical field corn grain, along with a very high level of starch which adds for excellent texture. By roasting it we intensify the flavor. This indigenous varietal is on its way to extinction and supporting the Mexican farmers who grow it is of the utmost importance.
Organic Agave
Blue agave syrup is mild and sweet with a low glycemic index. We use Wholesome agave, which is non-GMO, and organic.
Small Batch Tahini
Seed + Mill produces organic artisanal tahini from sesame seeds sourced in Humera, Ethiopia and is an iconic stall at NYC’s Chelsea Market.