single serving chocolate chip cookie....looking for my love in all the wrong ways

I stopped into my mostly favorite bakery, Neighbor Bakehouse, to grab a sweet treat. As I perused the trays of offerings, my eye caught sight of a chocolate chip cookie, something I hadn't seen here before. The gentleman behind the counter was quite effusive about it. Saying it was the best cookie and I really, really should try it because it is sooooo good. Yes, well, never being one to pass up a cookie or food challenge, I said sure, I'll take one, while silently already beginning to judge by it's overall appearance. 

chocolate chip cookie with sea salt

My first thought, was, it is kind of dark, very close to burnt brown as opposed to crispy brown. I think I actually said this out loud as the young gentleman said, no, no it is good. Ok then. I took my cookie to a nice quiet space to sit, eat it and contemplate. It was crispy on the outside, but the inside did remain soft. Not complete cookie dough, but still soft enough. The semi-sweet chips/chunks are nicely parceled throughout and you can get a chocolate bit with pretty much every bite. There was a little sprinkle of salt on top (as you can see) giving it a bit of the salty sweet I like so much. That's three things I liked about it. I'll also toss in it was on the larger size and cost $3, still not bad. 

Then again, the brown did signal it was overcooked as the edges were on the crispy, dry, crumbly end of things. This also crept in some more than just the edges. The bottom of the cookie was even darker than the top There was also a weird aftertaste somewhere in the dough that was bitter-ish? Couldn't quite pinpoint it, maybe too much molasses or some other spice that just did not mesh well with the chocolate. 

Let's be honest here, a lot of what we like to eat comes down to taste and appearance. If something looks good it can make you think it tastes better than it is. The reverse can also be said. Sadly for this cookie, it didn't pass muster on those two things for me. Too burnt brown and weird bitter aftertaste do not a good cookie make in my stomach. That's too bad, but really there are enough good cookies for me in town to not sweat so much over this one. I can take my cookie love elsewhere. As for Neighbor Bakehouse, they have plenty of other baked goodies I like so I'll just look past this little chip blip and stick with the sweet bready stuff.