They say (and by "they" I mean "I") that bad things happen when you leave the city.
However, I was proven delightfully and deliciously wrong on a recent jaunt outside of the city limits to Bow, WA (I'm slightly embarrassed to admit I don't know how it's pronounced), when I was rewarded with the sweet carbohydratey bliss that is Breadfarm.
First off: Breadfarm. The very word is just gorgeous! I don't know about you, but I find the idea of a Breadfarm far more romantic than the idea of some regular farm with chickens and cows and manure and stuff.
What to expect when you walk in: you will be hit with a wave of warm air redolent of bread baking with a soupcon of something sweet. It's really quite pleasant. You'll see a bunch of hippie-hipster types in the back cutting scones, kneading bread, and mixing batter. This is also quite a pleasant sight.
But there's something even more interesting right in front of you: a gorgeously stocked bakery case, full of homemade bread in various forms: boules, baguettes, buns, and other types that don't start with the letter "b" , in a variety of flavors ranging from the expected hippie wheat and multigrain to more unexpected flavors like apple, ginger raisin or fig anise. But even more importantly, there are plenty of sweet treats. Breadfarm boasts a full baked good menu including Babka, cupcakes in chocolate and gingerbread, and an impressive array of cookies.
The spy selections included a variety of said cookies: a peanut butter sandwich cookie, a cacao nib cookie, and a Fredonia Fig Bar.
The peanut butter was the favorite of the bunch, with a crisp, peanut buttery crunch on the outside giving way to a soft and creamy peanut butter filling. Lightly salty and nicely buttery, this cookie was definitely a winner.
The cacao nib cookie was also quite nicely appointed: crisp on the edges, soft on the inside, and with a unique, nutty-buttery-slightly bittersweet chocolatey flavor from the nibs. Nom. Above, it is pictured with what appears to be a lightpost with a sweater knitted around it (how sweet!).
The Fredonia Fig bar was tasty, but erred slightly more toward health food territory in this spy's opinion, falling somewhere between a granola bar and fig newton. I would say this would be an excellent breakfast cookie, but fell a little short for mid-day sugar cravings.
Breadfarm, 5766 Cains Court, Bow WA; online at breadfarm.com.