Butter + Love
Two simple ingredients drive a fledgling Brooklyn-based baker
When it comes to a satisfying treat, simple is almost always best. Alison Walla’s small Brooklyn-based baking outfit Butter + Love exemplifies that ideal with her line of shortbread and gingerbread fruit- and herb-infused cookies made from spruced-up family recipes.
Taking its name from a Norwegian proverb, Butter + Love was born from Walla’s morning coffee runs to the Green Grape in Fort Greene. The discerning staff urged her to capitalize on her neighborly generosity and start selling the sweets she was bringing to them each day.
In six months, Walla has baked her way into six local stockists, and opened her own stall at the Brooklyn Flea in November 2011. This week, she opens an Etsy shop to share the cookie bounty with those outside the neighborhood.
We got to try a variety of flavors at CH HQ and were most impressed by the salted honey lavender shortbread—a classic, well-executed iteration based on the namesake ingredient. The rich cookie was a perfect balance of soft and crispy with a sprinkling of salt and sugar on top. The sandwich cookies—a heart-shaped raspberry lemon and blackberry lime stars—offered a flavorful update on the traditional Linzer tart, and pleased the crowd a bit more than the more unconventional savory-sweet marionberry rosemary sea salt flavor. The gingerbread moustaches offered just enough spice, and were pleasantly chewier than a typical snap.
Find Butter + Love at select Brooklyn purveyors or, starting this week, online at Etsy. Prices start around $5 for a box of four.
