The Best of the Island: Cookies

You'd need a cookie jar the size of an oil drum to store the wide variety of cookies nominated in our latest Best of the Island poll. After the counting was done, Sally Bun, a small cafe on Fort Street in Victoria, rolled its way to the top of the pile, securing just enough votes to take the cookie crown.     

 Todd and Cindy Ryn, owners of Sally Bun cafe, take a chip out of an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie at their Fort Street store. Sally Bun was selected by Times Colonist readers as the Island’s best cookie maker.

Photograph by : Nic Hume/Times Colonist

 Eric Akis, Times Colonist

Published: Wednesday, October 04, 2006

 You'd need a cookie jar the size of an oil drum to store the wide variety of cookies nominated in our latest Best of the Island poll. After the counting was done, Sally Bun, a small cafe on Fort Street in Victoria, rolled its way to the top of the pile, securing just enough votes to take the cookie crown.

"Sally Bun on Fort Street makes the best cookies! It's hard to say whether the chocolate chip or ginger cookie is best -- they are both great," says Times Colonist reader Christina Peacock. "They taste just like something a great mother would have ready for kids when they get home from school (certainly not something my kids have experienced!). The cookies are always fresh, and often still warm from the oven."

Joy Green concurred with Peacock on the freshness of Sally Bun's cookies and praised them for the ample amount and quality of the ingredients used.

"My favourite is the oatmeal chocolate chip. They are made fresh each day, and with the very best ingredients. Todd (co-owner) is very generous with the chocolate chips," says Green. "They are always perfectly done, crisp on the edges, but soft and tender inside. They are very delicious!"

Finishing a close second in the reader's poll was Rheinland Bakery, also on Fort Street. The bakery makes a variety of cookies including seasonal specialties.

"My favourites are the lace cookies, baked only at Halloween, Valentine's Day, Easter and Christmas," says Carol Dohan, noting that they cut them into shapes and decorate them to suit the occasion, such as pumpkins, hearts, Easter eggs and bells. "You will be able to try the Halloween ones, which began production (quite early) last week -- perhaps there is a cookie goddess after all."

Another youthful reader also liked the bakery's themed cookies and said that eating Rheinland's cookies inspires her to get active.

"I love the shortbread type of cookie and the white chocolate icing and, perhaps this is childish, but I like the different themes, too," says Gwendoline Gold. "It is nice that one can buy a whole slew of them in one package and hurry out, or just buy two or three on the way to the "Y" to make oneself feel the need for a workout."

Finishing third in the readers' poll was an establishment in Victoria that specializes in one cookie, and they must have the recipe right.

"I'd say the Broughton Street Deli in downtown Victoria makes the best peanut butter cookies I've ever had," e-mailed Wendy Sullivan. "Soft, full of flavour and fresh -- these gems come in two sizes. In this day of rising obesity concerns it's great to find a place that produces a "regular" sized cookie, the size our mothers used to make."

Never mind local recognition, reader Stefanie Borowski wrote to say that this deli's cookies could win national acclaim.

"The best cookies in Victoria, and quite possibly in Canada, are the peanut butter cookies at the Broughton Street Deli," says Borowski. "Extreme peanut butter flavour. They are made with natural peanut butter, no sugar added."