NEW YORK -- On a walk in Brooklyn, a simple storefront sign piqued my curiosity. ''Cookies."
Inside, a buttery aroma triggered memories of my mother's wonderful homemade cookies. The blown-up, sepia-toned family photos and soft aqua walls at One Girl Cookies added to my mood.
A bite of lemon square brought me back. It was divine. The same was true of a brownie and a spicy oat and crystallized ginger cookie -- two selections from a dozen classic varieties of bar cookies, biscotti, and cupcakes.
''We bake every day with the freshest ingredients. Butter, no margarine. And we never use preservatives or artificial flavors," owner Dawn Casale said in a telephone interview.
Casale and her husband, David Crofton, a baker, opened this location last November. It houses their bakery and the first retail venture for One Girl Cookies, the wholesale and mail-order business Casale started six years ago in a Manhattan apartment.
''The cookie size is two bites because we want people to have different flavors -- say, sweet followed by one not so sweet. We call it eating cookies tapas-style," she said.
Casale names the cookies for family and friends, among them Penelope (thumbprint cookie with apricot jam and nuts), Susanna (spicy oat and crystallized ginger), and Lucia (shortbread, caramel center, dark and white chocolate). ''By far, the most popular is Lucia. It's the most decadent," she said.
The couple added no-name chocolate chip cookies for the store only. ''There are lots of kids in the neighborhood," she said, ''so it was a no-brainer."
One Girl Cookies, 68 Dean St., Brooklyn, N.Y. 212-675-4996. www.onegirlcookies.com. Mix-and-match cookies, four for $2, six for $3, eight for $4, or $21 a pound. Bar cookies 75 cents each. 
