The cookie of my dreams.

A few years ago, while watching a particularly exciting season of Great British Bake-Off, I started thinking about a very important question: what would *my* signature cookie be? What flavors would it be inspired by? What story could it tell? One idea immediately leapt into my mind:

There’s a chocolate store in San Francisco called Chocolate Covered, where I’ve been visiting for years. Specifically, I go back over and over again to get their chili pistachio chocolate bark. I first learned of the store when my friend Fontaine started working there in 2015. She told me to visit next time I was in San Francisco. When I did, I discovered the store was located directly downstairs from an apartment I had once sublet, over a decade earlier! (There was a brief time in my life when I was doing some graphic design work for Apple, and for the duration of that contract, I stayed in this little shotgun apartment in Noe Valley.)

So, while the next episode of GBBO played on my TV, I got up from the couch and decided to try making a cookie version of the chili pistachio bark. An important detail to note here: I had never made cookies from scratch before. But I was feeling so! excited! about! baking! Anyway, the cookies turned out pretty terrible, as I had no idea what I was doing. After that, I decided I needed to learn how to bake cookies so I could be a better cookie aficionado, and so I could someday execute the signature cookie flavor of my dreams. Over the years, I started to learn, and I got better at cookie baking, but I’m still an amateur.

However! I have now teamed up with actual cookie professionals to finally bring this cookie to life! Introducing The Spicy Chocstachio: A Cookie I Used to Call My Own, from the wonderful folks at The Very Best Cookie in the Whole Wide World.

I mean, LOOK AT THIS:

We did several rounds of testing to get it just right, and my gosh, I have to say, it’s a pretty spectacular treat. It has a lot of dark chocolate in it, and that meltiness contrasts with the nutty texture from the pistachios, and the whole thing ends with just a little kick from the chili. It’s extra special because they also figured out how to make it vegan, though it’s so rich, you would never guess.

The cookies can be shipped anywhere nationally in the US (I am so sorry, international readers / cookie lovers), and if you’re in Los Angeles, they can even deliver the cookies straight to your door! (For LA pickup/delivery, you have to order at least one day in advance.) You can order the cookies here, either on their own or as part of a delicious package with other flavors. 20% of the proceeds are being donated to Inner-City Arts and UNICEF’s efforts in Ukraine.

This is the most delicious way I could imagine celebrating the upcoming release of my EP, Rooms I Used to Call My Own. When Kirstyn and Lindsey Shaw of The Very Best Cookie told me they wanted to call it “A Cookie I Used to Call My Own,” I nearly fell over laughing, but it’s actually perfect. Just like the record, this cookie was an idea that I carried around in my head for a long time, trapped in some kind of daydream limbo. But then, years later, through conversation and collaboration, I was finally able to make something real, something I could share with others.

So here’s a new daydream: you, eating this cookie and listening to the music. (If you’re able to make this come true, please send pictures.)

In the meantime, if you’re on the east coast, I hope I might see you on tour in the next few days. The shows are all mask-mandatory, and I’m feeling hopeful that we’re in a moment where people feel safe enough to come enjoy a concert. You can get tickets via the links below:

Tue Mar 15 - Austin, TX - SXSW, at St. David’s Bethell Hall

Fri Mar 18 - Philadelphia, PA - PhilaMOCA

Sat Mar 19 - Washington, DC - Miracle Theatre

Sun Mar 20 - Saugerties, NY - Orpheum Theatre

Mon Mar 21 - Brooklyn, NY - Bell House

Wed Mar 23 - Boston, MA - Crystal Ballroom

Fri Mar 25 - Portland, ME - Space

Sun May 8 - Seattle, WA - Neptune Theatre

Mon May 9 - Portland, OR - Polaris

Wed May 11 - San Francisco, CA - Independent

Tue May 17 - Los Angeles CA - Lodge Room

Thank you, from the dark chocolate depths of my spicy heart.

Hrishikesh

ps. Here’s a link to all the songs that have come out so far, and everything else I’ve been up to.