Many people don't eat dessert, even if they want to. It's instead saved as something special, like a treat after an important meal or one with company. But sometimes we need to have a sweet to either finish a dinner or to complement a cup of tea on a cold day.
That's what cookies are for. They're small, eaten with our hands, and we don't have to share. Still, baking cookies takes some effort and the alternative of grocery cookies is usually not much of a choice. Most of them, even Pepperidge Farm, are just not very good. Bakery cookies can be a good choice but you need access to a cookie-making bakery during business hours.
Fortunately really good cookies are coming into our grocery and specialty markets that rival home-made and bakery-made. Including those by Tokeneke.
Tokeneke Fine Foods has introduced a collection of cookies they describe as "handmade - all natural" cookies. Deservedly winning lots of fancy food show awards and made with King Arthur flours, Cabot Creamery Butter and organic ingredients, these cookies come in perfectly-sized 2 to 5 oz. cellophane bags containing enough cookies to last a week of afternoon tea or to go with a small bowl of store-bought ice cream to end even a fancy dinner. They cost about $5.00 per bag.
They come in flavors both exotic and familiar: Cocoa Crisps, Earl Grey Shortbread, Lemon Shortbread, Pecan Shortbread, Rose and Lavender Meringues, Paste di Meliga (vanilla or anise), Ginger Snaps, and my favorite, Macadamia Nut Wafers. Their texture is tender, the flavors are true, the ingredients are all natural, and what I love best of all -- they're not too sweet. You know that headache-inducing metallic sweetness that comes with an Oreo? Well, there's nothing remotely like that here. Instead these cookies have taste, melt-in-the-mouth crumbs, and the kind of quality that lets one cookie satisfy instead of wanting to eat the whole bag.
Tokeneke cookies are sold at Whole Foods (all locations), Murray's Cheese Bleecker Street store, Really Cool Foods on Third Avenue at E. 63rd Street, and The Beekman Marketplace at First Avenue and E. 49th Street. Not every store carries every flavor so if you're hankering for something specific, you should buy direct from Tokeneke's web site.
The company also produces and sells fancy and flavored nuts plus frozen hors d'oeuvres like "roasted red pepper puffs" or "goat cheese and black olive tartlets" that are a terrific option for dinner parties when you can't or don't want to spend time making your own. The nuts are sold at Murray's Cheese (both Bleecker Street and Grand Central Market locations) and the hors d'oeuvres at Amish Market on East 45th Street. Both are available on the web site.
Tokeneke and all its delicious offerings are the creation of Margaret West and all the products are made in Connecticut. If you order from their web site, they ship the hors d'oeuvres frozen and the other products by UPS ground.
Telephone 877.363.6145
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