Boston | Oct. 21, 2026, 4:11 p.m. ET | 3 min read

From candied Goldfish crackers and freeze-dried corn to black sesame and garam masala, any ingredient – as long as it’s baked in a cookie – was fair game at Flour Bakery’s “Cookies on the Common” potluck.

Sprinkled among the adventurous creations were endless brown-buttered, sea-salted variations of a classic: chocolate chip cookies. It’s these humble pastries that got Flour founder Joanne Chang into baking.

“We all grew up eating cookies, many of us grew up making cookies. They’re a really simple, wonderful way to celebrate joy,” says Ms. Chang, a James Beard Award-winning baker.…