Cookies, such as these pumpkin whoopie pies, will be available at Cocoa Bakery & Bistro. (Photo courtesy of Cocoa Bakery & Bistro)

Yes, New York City is the center of the world. But we’ve heard rumors of a food-friendly civilization blooming just across the Hudson. Here to chronicle the edible goings-on in commuter-friendly Jersey City and Hoboken is Adam Robb of Chilltown Lunch, a Midtown Lunch for our neighbors to the west. Find his latest New Jersey dispatch—a plywood peek at Jersey City’s first dessert bar—below.

With the recent opening of Pichet Ong’s Spot and tomorrow night’s debut of Sam Mason’s IFC show, Dinner with the Band, there’s plenty happening in NYC’s pastry world. But there’s something afoot in New Jersey, too: Jessica Isaacs, who cut her teeth in the kitchen at Nobu, is gearing up to open Cocoa Bakery & Bistro, a Chikalicious-like dessert bar, in December.

Just a short walk from the Grove Street PATH station, Cocoa will be the second restaurant at Liberty Harbor, the riverfront development where Zeppelin Hall Restaurant & Biergarten opened earlier this spring.

The 50-seat BYOB space will have three distinct elements: In front is a bakery, offering items like brown-butter cookies, chocolate truffles and Stumptown Coffee (along with free Wi-Fi). The rear dining room will function as an American bistro, with items like gougères ($7.50), smoked-salmon grilled cheese ($10) and cheap lobster rolls ($10.75). Beyond the banquettes, there will be a dessert bar facing an open kitchen. Here’s the place to sample Isaacs’s signature desserts, like the Sapporo parfait she developed for Nobu—beer ice cream with chocolate sauce and praline.

If you can’t wait until Cocoa’s December opening, join the bakery’s already-operating cookie-of-the-month club—featured treats (right now it’s peanut-butter milk-chocolate chip and pumpkin whoopie pies) available for pickup or delivery. And for the most impatient, Isaacs was kind enough to supply the Feed with her recipe for soft pumpkin cookies, just in time for Thanksgiving. Enjoy.

Soft pumpkin cookies
Makes two dozen

4 oz unsalted butter (1 stick), softened
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
2 cups all purpose flour
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp ground cloves
1 tsp baking soda

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and baking soda, sift and set aside

3. In a mixer with a paddle, cream butter and brown sugar until fluffy.  Add pumpkin and vanilla. Mix until smooth. Add egg and beat until completely combined.

4. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture and mix until just combined; be careful not to overmix.

5. With a ¾–1¼ inch ice cream scoop, drop the dough one inch apart on a baking tray lined with parchment paper or lightly buttered.

6. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until firm but still soft.

The cookies will keep for two weeks frozen or three days refrigerated.—Adam Robb