The cookies & tea edition 🍪
In which we MAYBE find my favorite chocolate chip cookie in NYC, make red jujube and ginger tea, and bake something that’s K for P.
Hello and welcome back to Five Things I Ate! This week, we’re serving up a classic combo. Read past posts here, and please follow my Instagram, @fivethingsiate.
Jasmine cheese tea at HeyTea
I am trying my very, very best not to make every edition of this newsletter a beverage one, but it’s very hard because I would live off fun beverages if I could. I mean, between my Breakfast Fun Latte and my Afternoon Fun Matcha plus my Dinner Fun Soda, I really am almost there. Plus, it seems like there’s a new hype boba spot every week. HeyTea isn’t the boba du jour (that would be Molly Tea), but it’s my favorite of late. They use real tea leaves (very important to me, I do not enjoy a weak caffeinated beverage, I want it to, if not punch me in the face, at least slap me) and real milk. The real milk thing is a nice touch for good quality, but a little inconvenient since I’m highly lactose intolerant and they don’t provide substitutes. (They had one oat milk drink on the menu at the time, but said they no longer offered it.) So I went for a cheese tea, since it’s mostly just dairy on the top, right? Cheese tea is also no longer trendy, but I still love it as a concept. The jasmine tea was very strong and good, and importantly, they took the Not Too Sweet seriously – 50% sugar tasted like 30% at another shop.
Jujube and ginger tea at home
I bought the dried jujubes in Chinatown.
After a long day of work and teaching I had a strong craving for a cup of hot jujube tea. Jujube is also known as red “dates” in mandarin, but it isn’t related to dates at all. Making a “tea” out of dried jujubes and ginger is a popular Chinese medicine, but unlike most Chinese medicine tonics it isn’t bitter or medicinal tasting at all. Personally I find it soothing for an upset stomach and I like the warm sweet taste. To make, rinse a cup of dried jujubes, and add to a small pot. Throw in a few slices of fresh ginger and cover with 3-4 cups filtered water. Simmer for at least an hour or until the tea is red in color and sweet. (I made the mistake previously of not simmering long enough— you need a long cook time to extract the sweetness!) if you want it even sweeter and richer, you can mash and simmer for another hour, and strain before serving.
Banana cyclops cookie at the Cookie Odyssey
35 Cedar St, New York, NY 10005
I finally got to check out the Cookie Odyssey – a small cookie shack in the Financial District – after seeing it much hyped on Instagram. Of course, I had to try the adorable looking banana cyclops cookie because, while I sort of hate eating actual bananas, I love anything banana flavored. I’m happy to report this Instagram popular place lived up to the hype! The cookies were hefty and perfectly circular and more importantly, the perfect texture – gooey inside without tasting underbaked. The bananas went perfectly with the chocolate chips and what seemed like graham cracker bits.
Chocolate chip cookie at the Cookie Odyssey
35 Cedar St, New York, NY 10005
Although I went to the Cookie Odyssey for the banana cyclops cookie, the standard chocolate chip is what ended up blowing me away. Honestly, this might be my favorite chocolate chip cookie in New York?? I know I’m sneaking a HUGE statement in here and I’m certainly open to more testing but I love this cookie! One of my pet peeves is chocolate chip cookies being mostly chocolate, and not cookie, and this has the perfect balance. The cookie is again hefty and circular, but when you take a bite you can taste the buttery sugary cookie dough flavor just as much as the chocolate. Bonus that it comes in an adorable paper box.
Chocolate-coated almond horn cookies at home
Recipe from Smitten Kitchen.
Are you a procrastinator looking for a Passover dessert recipe? This cookie from Smitten Kitchen has just six ingredients, and more importantly, is not a coconut macaroon or a flourless chocolate cake. Plus, it looks super duper cute. As a marzipan lover, I’m obsessed – I actually crave these cookies, covered in slivered almonds, and dipped in my favorite chocolate chips, at all times of year. They just happen to be gluten-free. One note: This recipe really is simple, but the dough (as Deb warns) is VERY sticky, and almost feels wrong or unmanageable. I put on gloves to shape the cookies and I promise if you just try your best to shape them on the sheet they will turn out pretty in the end.
Happy weekend (and Passover to those who celebrate!),
Soph
P..S. What’s your favorite chocolate chip cookie in NYC?