Taryn Varricchio: We are recording.
Do I wave?
Hey, everyone.
So, those cookies you just saw are from
Maman bakery in New York City,
before all of this happened.
As you can see, I'm at home social distancing,
like a lot of you are.
But despite everything going on,
we still wanted to profile
some of our favorite restaurants
and give you the kind of stories
that you're used to from us,
and check in on the restaurant community
and what they're going through
during this really strange time.
Which brings us back to Maman,
the first place that we caught up with.
Their cookies are a big deal.
They've been ranked high above
other cookie spots in the city,
not only by Oprah and other sources, including us,
but also by their loyal customers.
Karen Weber: I'm not always crossing the path of Maman,
but when I am, you know I'm getting a cookie.
Ashley Summers: I brought them across country with me
to California to give to our family as a gift.
So, big fan.
Taryn: It's really four things
that make them stand out.
For one, the chocolate.
They're famous for using chocolate wafers
instead of chips.
So I asked Maman's co-owner, Elisa Marshall,
over Skype about it.
Why do you use wafers?
Elisa Marshall: I find that it gives
bigger chunks of chocolate,
and it helps to avoid, during the baking process
and during the mixing process,
kind of melting throughout the dough.
It really helps to retain the shape
and create that chunk of chocolate in the cookie,
as opposed to chips, which can sometimes
go a little unnoticed.
Taryn: Then come the whole, salted almonds,
walnuts, and macadamia nuts.
Why do you use these three as opposed to other nuts,
and how come you use them whole
rather than, like, shavings, or crushed, or...?
Elisa: The macadamia nut is a whole round nut
that we use, which has a really nice crunch
and doesn't tend to lose its texture
as much when baked down,
whereas the walnuts tend to soften
among the dough and butter and sugar
and kind of get that nicer softer crunch and texture.
And then our almonds as well
also kind of add to that texture
and don't lose their shape when baked.
Taryn: You can see them when you break the cookie open.
The big chunks of nuts
and really melted spots of chocolate.
And when you taste them, they're just as salty
as they are sweet.
Elisa: We do put quite a high quantity of salt in it.
It's a little bit different than typical sea salt.
It is less sodium, more of a mineral-based salt
and tends to just complement the dark chocolate
that we use very nicely.
Taryn: Beyond flavor, Maman's cookies
are big enough to fill a small plate,
with a soft center and a crisp outer edge.
How do you know when the cookie is ready
and at that perfect texture?
And how do you achieve that crunchy outer edge?
Is that something in the way you roll it?
Is it the refrigeration?
Elisa: I think it's a combination.
I think definitely starting the cookies
in ball shapes as opposed to flattening them
helps to retain the shape and allow it to
melt down naturally with the heat on the pan.
Of course, coming from a colder temperature,
it doesn't melt as quickly in the oven,
so it really kinda keeps its shape in the ball form,
which helps to retain the gooeyness on the inside
and the underbaked once you get to the middle.
And then it allows the outside to melt down
and crisp up a little more.
Karen: It's a really good balance of
the crispy edges and the soft in the middle.
And, you know, it has these giant chunks
of chocolate and nuts,
so it's kind of like a landscape.
There's all these big pieces you can break off.
Taryn: When they're busy, Maman can sell
2,000 cookies a week across its 10 locations.
But with restaurants shutting down across the country
in response to the coronavirus pandemic,
Maman has been no exception.
At first the café closed nine of its shops,
leaving just its Brooklyn location open
for pickup and delivery orders only.
Elisa: The situation's been really hard for us,
as it has for everybody.
I think it hit us hard primarily due to our staff,
and we had to have the unfortunate situation
of temporarily laying off
almost 100 employees of ours.
So we put together a Maman staff family fund,
and we are doing what we can to try and
support them as best as possible
and raise as much funds as possible
that we're gonna be distributing out to all of our team.
We had one employee contact us wanting to
contribute a week's worth of their salary
to the employee fund to help out
her other fellow employees.
Taryn: Along with donations, part of the sales
from Maman's new cookie dough to-go kits
were going into that fund too.
Elisa: We, you know, wanted to do what we could
to help everybody out and liquidate everything
before it went bad.
And we started packaging and selling our cookie dough.
So, we are selling our cookie dough
in rolls that make 12 cookies.
And the price for that is $30.
And for every sale of that,
$5 is going towards our staff fund.
Karen: I currently have
Trader Joe's chocolate chip cookies
frozen in my freezer, and I'm, like,
slowly breaking off pieces,
but, you know, let's get real,
it's nowhere near Maman's nutty chocolate chip cookie.
So I have thought, like, should I buy
this dough and bring it back?
Like, go every two weeks or so.
Taryn: But even with pickup and delivery sales,
the future of Maman's last open shop is unknown.
Elisa: And we're just gonna really play it day by day,
to be totally transparent.
We are not making any long-term plans right now.
And, you know, we're open today,
hopefully be open tomorrow.
And we'll go from there.
You know, it's affecting so many,
and it's just spreading so quickly,
so, you know,
our cookie dough is not worth a life.
Taryn: As of March 30, while in the process
of making this video, Maman made the sad decision
to close their last location and end delivery.
Elisa: So, right now we have decided to
close down our last open location,
which was our Greenpoint location, unfortunately.
For two reasons. I think our staff were obviously
getting a little bit frightened,
in terms of being in such social environments
and being with people.
And we had it open on a voluntary basis.
And I think for the rest of the community,
and for our staff as well, I think it's just
better for everyone to stay at home.
There's a lot of great companies out there doing delivery.
And I think, you know,
as much as we are an essential business,
I really wanna limit it and get everyone
to stay home as much as possible.
Taryn: I did wanna ask, are you planning on
reopening, or are you just gonna wait
till this kinda all blows over?
Elisa: Yeah, I mean, we are planning on reopening,
of course, when it all blows over.
Right now, in terms of an end date, we have no idea.
But definitely once it's safe again
to reopen, we'll be there.
Taryn: Thank you so much.
Elisa: OK, I can put my pajamas back on now?
Taryn: Yeah, totally. Elisa: Thank you.
Taryn: I'm in sweatpants on the bottom, so it's fine.
Elisa: I put on my good sweater just for you.
Taryn: It's a very nice sweater.