did you know there is a cookie bar at whole foods on houston street? a COOKIE BAR! what are they trying to do to me? i was there to get spelt flour and a few other things, including a salad, when i spotted it. i couldn’t resist the vegan gingersnap sandwich cookies with vegan frosting (top photo). they got a little banged up on the way home, but they were tasty… and if they weren’t labeled as vegan i’d never have known. (i’m not a vegan, but i like to taste-test vegan baked goods sometimes to see if they taste as good as the real thing…. these did!)

in other cookie news… Gourmet Guild opened recently in my neighborhood, and mk and i stopped in last weekend to see what’s going on in there. it’s great – kind of like a mini-market of brooklyn-based (or at least new york based) food artisans. several companies i recognized from the outdoor summer markets, like La Newyorkina and Kings County Jerky, but there were some new-to-me faces, too. couldn’t pass up a package of chocolate chili cashew biscotti (bottom two photos) from Whimsy & Spice. they are seriously divine, and they tasted sooo good dunked in my afternoon macchiato.

on the Whimsy & Spice website, i loved reading about this brooklyn-based company run by husband/wife team Mark & Jenna. he does the baking, and she does (among lots of other things) the packaging and product photography, AND manages the blog sweetfineday. i’m adding it to my list of daily must-reads.

(photos by laura kisney)