Cookies are the most portable of all the sweet treats—in fact, I typically carry around a few of NYC's best in my bag for on-the-go snacking and sharing. Try it! You wouldn't believe how happy you can make people (and yourself) with a cookie surprise. Or bring a box to whatever house party you're heading to, the one that already has plenty of bottles of wine. Anyway, my last Best Cookie list was more than two years ago, and while I included a few true all-stars from that report at the end of this one, the focus here is on new places, new bakers, new opportunities to marvel at these magical creations that somehow capture a galaxy of flavors and textures in a tiny space.
Millers and Makers: Rye Chocolate Chip, Brooklyn Bodega, Mudslide. $5 each or 3 for $12. (Scott Lynch / Gothamist)
Millers and Makers From out of nowhere, this brand new family bakery and flour mill in Bushwick (it's not a storefront, just literally some ovens and an actual mill) snagged a booth at Smorgasburg a week before the season, and are already somehow making the most exciting baked goods in the game. The loaves of Purple Corn Polenta Sourdough are superb, the Sweet Potato Cinnamon Rolls will buckle your knees, and the cookies are phenomenal. Currently, Josh, Jess, and Asher PIckens are bringing three varieties to market—a wonderfully textured Rye Chocolate Chip, an intense chocolaty Mudslide, and a delirious Brooklyn Bodega, studded with all kinds of surprises—and you should get them all, no regrets. Give these guys an everyday location, please!
Located at the Williamsburg Smorgasburg on Saturdays (millersandmakers.com)
Abraço: Chocolate Chip Cornmeal and Cured Olive, $2 each. (Scott Lynch / Gothamist)
Abraço Ok, so this East Village coffee shop isn't "new"—they've been on East 7th Street for a dozen years, and much-loved the entire time—but there have been some changes of late, as chef/baker/barista/bartender/partners/owners Liz Quijada and Jamie McCormick greatly expanded both their physical presence, moving across the street to the old Verchovyna space, and more recently, the hours, adding booze and a dinner to the mix. You should go here all day every day, and when you do, make sure to get some of Quijada's fabulous cookies. There's always the Cured Olive Shortbread sticks on hand, and these are fantastic, but so too are her powdered Mexican Wedding cookies, and the Chocolate Chip Cornmeal ones, and everything else she bakes. A true neighborhood treasure.
Located at 81 East 7th Street between Second and First Avenues (abraconyc.com)
Janie's: Pecan and Raspberry Pie Crust Cookies, $2 each. (Scott Lynch / Gothamist)
Janie's Another extremely talented baker without a brick-and-mortar location (yet!) is Janie Deegan, who credits learning the trade with bringing "a light into my life when I had no hope." Homeless and in and out of rehabs in her early 20s, Deegan broke the cycle of addiction by pouring her heart into baking, and today her goodies can be found at select Columbia University "retail" cafeterias and, most exciting, at the Queens Night Market all summer long. I ate her entire menu on opening night of the latter, and though everything Deegan makes is great, it's her Pie Crust Cookies that really blew me away—an ingenious creation with flaky pie crust as the base, sweet, gooey filling in the middle, and buttery, crumbly strudel on top. Just amazing.
Located at the Queens Night Market every Saturday starting at 5:00 p.m., in Flushing Meadow Corona Park (janiebakes.com)
Sweet Maresa's at Confectionary!: Chocolate Walnut, S'mores, Almond Marzipan, Chocolate Raspberry Shortbread, $2.25 each. (Scott Lynch / Gothamist)
Sweet Maresa's at Confectionary! This "militantly vegan" East Village sweet shop has many excellent things to eat, with much of the lively, community-oriented space dedicated to chocolates by Lagusta Yearwood. Equally delicious though are the baked goods by Maresa Volante, including breakfast pastries like croissants, slices of cake, tons of macarons, and a half dozen or so different types of cookies, all of which are unfailingly a delight. And, of course, vegan. I always get a few of the chewier ones (Marzipan, Pistachio, S'mores) and whatever Shortbread is on the shelf as well.
Located at 440 East 9th Street, just west of Avenue A (646-869-0133; confectionerynyc)
Chip: Chocolate Peanut Butter and Funetti, $3.50 each. (Scott Lynch / Gothamist)
Chip In 2017 a couple of college buddies opened a tiny cookie-and-coffee shop in Astoria and became instant neighborhood stars for their monster-sized gooey delights. The Queens location still attracts a crowd-—the menu each day is a nice balance between classic and contemporary styles--and they're about to become even more readily available with a larger storefront in the West Village, plus a rolling cookie truck. Note that although Chip cookies are always baked on site and served warm and melty, which is fun for the 'Gram, I think they're even better the next day, after the ingredients have had a chance to settle.
Located at 30-06 34th Street in Astoria (917-745-0101; chipnewyorkcity.com)
Luckybird Bakery: Chocolate Chip, $3. (Scott Lynch / Gothamist)
Luckybird Bakery Amy Berger Roy launched her "cake studio" in East Williamsburg in 2016, and while these days she mostly focuses on her elaborate, custom-made creations, every Saturday and Sunday she opens up her shop to all, and the front of the place becomes a cafe. There are good scones, savory biscuits and quiches, and, naturally, slices of cake, but my favorite thing in the shop are these delightfully chewy, practically old-fashioned Chocolate Chip Cookies. They're good for at least three days, so grab a stack while you can.
Located at 163 Montrose Avenue between Graham Avenue and Humboldt Street (luckybirdbakes.com)
Posh Pop Bakeshop: Samoa and Chocolate Peanut S'mores, $6 each. (Scott Lynch / Gothamist)
Posh Pop Bakeshop This family-owned bakery, a transplant from Red Bank, New Jersey, opened just a couple of months ago on Bleecker Street and, in addition to filling their cases with an admirably vast amount of appealingly over-the-top baked goods each day, is notable for being an entirely gluten-free operation. There are regular cakes, those dumb cake pops, things like Monkey Bread and Lime Tarts, Cinnamon Buns, bars, brownies, and at least a dozen different kinds of enormous, loaded-with-stuff cookies. Nothing's subtle, everything's good.
Located at 192 Bleecker Street between Macdougal Street and Sixth Avenue ( 212-674-7674; poshpopbakeshop.com)
Gracie Baked: Peanut Butter & Jelly and Cosmic Brownie, $4 each. (Scott Lynch / Gothamist)
Gracie Baked Gracie Bensimon started slinging her sweet treats back in college, delivering fresh-baked late-night goodies around campus under the name S'more to Door. A stint at Momofuku Milk Bar followed, and now she's building her own business with Gracie Baked, which currently has a pop-up booth in Williamsburg's North 3rd Market. Bensimon offers two basic styles of cookies, both of them delicious. There's the "half-baked" regular-looking ones with the gooey insides, and the fun decorated-on-top ones, like the Peanut Butter & Jelly and the Cosmic Brownie pictured above.
Located for now at North 3rd Street Market between Berry Street and Whythe Avenue (graciebaked.com)
C&B at Paper Daisy: Chocolate Chip, $3.75 each. (Scott Lynch / Gothamist)
C&B at Paper Daisy Chef Ali Salin has been making breakfast- (and lunch-) seeking East Villagers happy since at least 2016, when he opened his shop C&B Cafe across from Tompkins Square Park. Salin expanded his operations a couple of months ago by taking over the kitchen at the Cafe Orlin replacement, Paper Daisy, and opening a new C&B on St. Marks. In addition to selling excellent eggy sandwiches, loaves of bread, and various pastries, he also has these superb Chocolate Chip cookies—they're sweet, soft, and buttery with just a touch of sea salt, and perfect for a quick anytime treat.
Located at 41 St. Mark's Place just east of Second Avenue (212-777-1447; paperdaisy.nyc)
Bibble and Sip: Chocolate Chip Brownie Cookie, $3.95. (Scott Lynch / Gothamist)
Bibble and Sip This Asian bakery and cafe has been selling its cute macarons, plump cream puffs, and matcha drinks (among other things) for about five years now in Midtown West, but they just recently opened a new spot in the heart of Chinatown, making it even easier to grab a fancy beverage and a couple of these delicious Chocolate Chip Brownie Cookies. The key here is that the brownie bits are plenty moist and packed with real cocoa flavor, the careful work of an accomplished baker.
Located at 253 West 51st in Midtown and 174 Hester Street in Chinatown (bibbleandsip.com)
Ole and Steen: Raspberry Slice Hindbaersnitte, $5. (Scott Lynch / Gothamist)
Ole and Steen This beloved Danish bakery (there are more than 90 of them in Denmark and the UK) opened it's first cafe in this country earlier this year, near Union Square, and then quickly unveiled a second outpost in Midtown East. There are dozens of good things to eat here, both sweet and savory (the breads are particularly first-rate, and the Peanut Pie, if it's available, is pure sugary bliss), but for this list I want to highlight the Hindbaersnitte, or Raspberry Slice, which is basically buttery crust with gooey fruit filling, and icing and tart dried berries on top. It's like the wildest pop tart dreams you never knew you had, come true.
Located at 873 Broadway near Union Square and 518 Lexington Avenue in Midtown (oleandsteen.us)
Fav's: Chocolate Lava, $5. (Scott Lynch / Gothamist)
Fav's at Harry and Ida's Some of the city's best sandwiches can be found at Julie and Will Horowitz's tiny East Village smoked-meat laboratory (they also run nearby Ducks), but recently they've been sharing their kitchen with Fav's Treatery, which means you can now also get this incredible feeds-two Chocolate Lava melty monster here. There's also seating now, and an actual table! Put this place, and this cookie, in your regular rotation.
Located at 189 Avenue A just south of East 12th Street (646-864-0967; harryandidas.com)
Michaeli Bakery: Cookies For Kids, $4 each. (Scott Lynch / Gothamist)
Michaeli Bakery Adir Michaeli, formerly the executive pastry chef at Breads Bakery, is rightly renowned for his Chocolate Babka and Rugelach, but the biggest, most exciting surprise at his brand new bakery on Division Street are these outstanding chocolate chunk cookies, which he's somewhat condescendingly calling "Cookies For Kids." I am definitely not one of those, but I will be returning as often as possible to sit on that little bench outside and munch down a couple of these old fashioned beauties.
Located at 115A Division Street, just east of Orchard Street, (646-360-2264; michaelibakery.com)
Spot Dessert Bar: Matcha Lava and Coconut Caramel, $3.95 each. (Scott Lynch / Gothamist)
Spot Dessert Bar With two locations in the East Village (including the original on St. Marks), one in Koreatown, and one in Flushing, these stylish sit-down cafes pack in the crowds with an inventive menu of photogenic desserts. The s'mores-like Cookie Camp, the Coconut Monkeybread, the Matcha Waterfall, the Harvest, which looks exactly like a small potted plant (the "dirt" is Oreo crumbs), these are all very good and fun to eat. Over the years though, my favorite things here are Chef Ian Kittichai's cookies, especially the Coconut Caramel and Matcha Lava, served warm and gooey, and topped with ice cream.
Locations at 5 and 13 St. Marks Place, 11 West 32nd Street, and 39-16 Prince Street in Flushing (spotdessertbar.com)
William Greenberg: Black and White, $3.50. (Scott Lynch / Gothamist)
NYC Cookie Hall of Fame
Finally, a quick shout out to a few old-timers who continue to excel at the cookie game, usually across multiple genres, baking us a good time year after year after year.
William Greenberg This Upper East Side Kosher classic--the lineage goes back to the 1940s—recently expanded with a spot in Hudson Yards of all places, and after all these decades still makes the single best Black and White Cookie in town, sorry everyone who doesn't agree but I'm right.
Located at 1100 Madison Avenue and the Hudson Yards mall (williamgreenbergdesserts.com)
Levain Bakery This Upper West Side wonder ushered in the thick cookie era in 1994, and continues to attract lines out the door even as they've expanded to multiple storefronts. This is probably the best Oatmeal Raisin in the city, though to be honest I can never resist their Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip either.
Locations on the UWS, Harlem, and the Hamptons (levainbakery.com)
City Bakery Maury Rubin's perennial best-of list maker is coming up on 30 years near Union Square and shows no sign that success and expansion have affected the quality here one bit. The Pretzel Croissant, the Hot Chocolate with a fat homemade marshmallow, and the fantastic Chocolate Chip and Oatmeal Raisin Cookies are like NYC icons at this point, and we are lucky to have them.
Flagship located at 3 West 18th Street (thecitybakery.com)
Ovenly Agatha Kulaga and Erin Patinkin now have four locations of their outstanding, ferociously socially conscious Ovenly bakery--the mothership in Greenpoint, hard by Transmitter Park, is the one to go to, if you can—and though I've eaten their treats dozens of times over the past seven years, these cookies, at their freshest, still make me swoon.
Locations in Greenpoint, Park Slope, Williamsburg, and Midtown (oven.ly)
Jacques Torres The French baker's chocolate wonderlands can now be found at seven locations around the city, and though there's always a bit of a touristy vibe here the man's cookies remain on point. Get the signature chocolate chip (and get it dipped in chocolate for a seriously rich treat).
Locations in DUMBO, Soho, UWS, Grand Central, Rock Center, and Midtown East (mrchocolate.com)
Mah Ze Dahr Umber Ahmad's lovely West Village cafe is our youngest hall-of-famer—it opened just in the fall of 2017—but a recent pop-by around Passover to try her Chocolate Dipped Coconut Macaroons showed that she continues to make some of the best pastries in town. Which I expect will be true for many years to come.
Located at 28 Greenwich Avenue (mahzedahrbakery.com)
