Girl's Best Friend Cookie from Bake For You
I was recently granted one-way passage on the bridge between "You are the best thing I have ever known" and "I never want to see you again."
That is, I just went through a gut-wrenching break-up. The kind that makes you wake up in a sweat at 3 am, unable to breathe, unable to sleep. Your mind replays the highlight reel of your relationship before quickly delving into the hopelessness of ever feeling happy or alive again.
And you might as well forget about eating; nothing tastes as delicious as the ghosted lips that linger on your mouth. When the desire for satiety arises, it is more likely gin on the rocks you reach for, but instead of sipping, you get lost in running your fingers around the rim of the glass, collecting the beads of condensation with your index finger and rubbing them into oblivion with your thumb.
If not for feeling like nothing, you'd feel nothing at all. And in those moments, you reach for your best friends.
Or in my case, a Girl's Best Friend cookie from Bake For You.
The cookie ($2.25), which clocks in at roughly the size of a nine-pound infant's head, is composed of broken up mini-pretzels, potato chips, and chunks of chocolate ensconced in buttery, vanilla-spiked cookie dough. The team at Bake For You on Delaware Ave in Albany has the intuition to pull the cookies from the oven at the perfect state of just-browned and slightly gooey on the inside. It is soft and chewy but never raw.
Aptly named, the Girl's Best Friend cookie is a amalgam of female cliche: What do women crave in moments of sadness, frustrating, or longing? Chocolate and salt. Or at least that is most commonly what a man would tell you if asked that question. But cliches are trite because they are often true.
It is not only women who can appreciate the appeal of this cookie: The flavors hit the intense yearning most of us crave when we need a pick-me-up. The ambrosial sting of salt masks the bittersweet salinity of heartbreak and tears. The rich, dark, nearly-molten chocolate envelops you like the much-needed hug you ache for.
When mired in sadness, it is crucial to take gentle care of oneself. We each have our gimmicks, our rituals for moving past the pain. Maybe it's yoga, or a night on the couch with every Meg Ryan-Tom Hanks rom-com you can find on Netflix. Others point to time under someone to get over another. The secret elixir is unique to each of us.
For me, it was that cookie, the first form of actual sustenance I was able to stomach in days after being dumped. The heartbreak still lingers, but the pieces are fusing themselves together with the healing magic that comes from a baker's oven.
Deanna Fox writes about many things, mostly about food. More can be found on her website, Twitter, or Instagram.
More Eat This:
+ Ice cream at Martha's Dandee Creme
+ Takeout from Nirvana
+ Peach blueberry cobbler at the Palmer House
+ Dosas at Parivar
+ Mini hot dogs from Pete's Pups
Find It
Bake For You
540 Delaware Ave
Albany, NY 12209
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Comments
On the plus side, I've always found that the break-up diet is one of the best and quickest ways to fit back into that little black dress you'd stashed in the back of the closet ;)
... said jess on Sep 15, 2015 at 1:44 PM | link
Although this cookie looks a little light on the chocolate to be *my* best friend, it may be worth a test run ;) How do the pretzels and chips hold up to baking? Do they keep their crunch?
... said Nicole on Sep 15, 2015 at 2:21 PM | link
@Jess -- exactly right. I thought about the inclusion of something along the lines of, "thank you, jerk, for the somatic response developed from your cruelty. It make me drop 15 pounds, and now I'm even sexier in that particular dress that you love." But, you know, kill your darlings. La di da.
... said Deanna on Sep 15, 2015 at 2:26 PM | link
@Nicole -- the potato chips just lend a salty flavor, but the pretzels (especially those exposed on the outside of the cookie) definitely had texture and crunch.
... said Deanna on Sep 15, 2015 at 11:35 PM | link
I just tried Bake For You's chai cookie and dark chocolate/cranberry cookie at Superior Merchandise in Troy. Pricey (~$3 each) but delicious!
... said Danielle Sanzone on Sep 16, 2015 at 9:53 AM | link
One of my favorite indulgences! It is over the top in the best way possible. Bake for You produces some gems.
... said JP on Sep 16, 2015 at 10:57 AM | link
Sounds fantastic. The only thing I could stomach during my breakup was grandma pie (luckily I was living in NYC at the time, can't find a good grandma pie up here) and orange juice. It was an extremely effective diet for weight loss!
Best of luck with the break up ...I know few things feel worse. Stay strong and keep a stash of those cookies close by
... said acw on Sep 16, 2015 at 11:32 AM | link
Oh, "Bake for You" is an extraordinary bakery for the Capital District. Everything that comes out of that lovely establishment is first rate.
The savory scones are a special treat, but you won't go wrong with any of their offerings.
... said Dot Beech on Sep 20, 2015 at 8:25 AM | link
These are amazing and available at uncommon grounds in albany too!
... said jmf on Sep 26, 2015 at 1:53 PM | link
Got one from Whole Foods (in the display case with the muffins and bagels). They really are enormous and really good. They're delicious, but the one I grabbed did not have as many pretzel bits as I would have liked. It has definitely inspired me to bake my own version!
... said Nicole on Sep 28, 2015 at 9:59 AM | link