Imagine this: It’s a cold, blustery day in the Mile High City. To make matters worse, you’re starting to feel hangry.
The solution? A warm, fresh-out-of-the-oven, better-than-Mom-used-to-make cookie.
To make this dream a reality, head to Window of Happiness, a walk-up, bodega-style window at The Post Chicken & Beer’s LoHi location. Here, you’ll find Big Red F Restaurant Group’s latest venture: ButterPunk Cookies.
You already know and love Big Red F, the Boulder-based company led by Dave and Dana Query. They also own Jax Fish House & Oyster Bar, The Post Chicken & Beer, West End Tavern, Centro Mexican Kitchen and Velvet Elk Lounge.
Now, under the direction of The Post LoHi’s executive chef Corina Johnson, they’re also expanding into cookies. Johnson knows her stuff: For the first 12 years of her career, she worked as a pastry chef. She’s cooked alongside celebrated chef Elizabeth Falkner, as well as at esteemed eateries like San Francisco’s (now-shuttered) Rubicon.
ButterPunk Cookies is Johnson’s baby. Her philosophy?
“Nailing everything you want in a cookie—chewy, crunchy, buttery, not too sweet with a nice balance and crumb,” she says.
The menu includes classics like the “Do What You Want,” a chocolate chip cookie with sea salt. But don’t let its simplicity fool you: Johnson has spent seven years tinkering with her recipe until it’s just right.
Other options are more creative—and decidedly more punk-rock, as the venture’s name suggests. There’s the “Anti Cookie,” a chewy lemon and blackberry creation topped with powdered sugar; the “Walk Like a Zombie,” made from a brown butter spiced pumpkin dough and topped with candied pepitas; and the “Rebel Girl,” a lemon s’more cookie with graham cracker and a burnt marshmallow on top.
If you’re looking for something a bit heartier, there’s the “Junkie,” a cookie bar with nuts, coconut, toffee and chocolate that ButterPunk describes as “chaos in the best way possible.” And don’t miss the “Deceptacon,” featuring chocolate chips, pecans, Nutella and sea salt.
Another delicious flavor pairing? Chocolate and peanut butter, which Johnson expertly combines in “Crowd Surfer,” a soft chocolate and peanut butter chip cookie.
ButterPunk Cookies also offers a rotating “Cookie of the Month.” Right now, it’s the “Rise Above Hope,” a chai cookie with vanilla bean streusel and orange. Bookmark the ButterPunk Cookies website and Instagram so you can stay up to date on the latest flavors.
“I’ve always loved cookies and how they just make people happy, and it’s long been a dream of mine to open a cookie shop,” says Johnson. “When Big Red F approached me about this opportunity at Window of Happiness, I was absolutely thrilled to bring my vision for ButterPunk to life.”
Snag a single cookie for $5, six cookies for $27 or a dozen for $54. If you’d rather take them home and bake them yourself, you can buy them raw or frozen for $24 (six cookies) or $48 (12 cookies). Cookies are available in person at the walk-up window (1575 Boulder Street, Denver,) or for delivery on DoorDash.
The Window of Happiness at The Post LoHi also dishes out “happy milkshakes,” with flavor combinations like mocha heath bar, vanilla crunchberry, strawberry mango and cool mint chip. It will also offer a variety of non-alcoholic and boozy beverages prepared by a “Botrista” robot. Think: iced coffees, fruity lemonades, slushes and milk teas, with fun toppings like traditional boba, popping boba and jellies.
“ButterPunk Cookies and Window of Happiness bring something truly unique to our little corner in LoHi,” says Dave Query. “I mean, what’s better than a freshly baked cookie and a creamy milkshake?”
