(Jessica Miller / For The Times)
24 of the best cookies in L.A. to crush your sweet tooth
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Cookies are the ultimate bringers of joy. These days, Los Angeles is flush with standout bakeries ready to satisfy every type of cookie craving. The cookie scene here has gotten so competitive that a handful of East Coast shops have relocated to get in on the action.
Last summer, famed New York bakery Levain landed on Larchmont Boulevard with dense 6-ounce cookies embellished with coconut flakes, gooey chocolate and caramel. Lines are constant at James Beard-nominated Gusto Bread in Long Beach, with customers stocking up on sweet and savory pastries that draw from the owners’ Mexican and Argentine heritages.
For the record:
8:24 a.m. May 27, 2024A previous version of this article stated that the tahini chocolate chip cookie is available at Kismet restaurant. In fact, it is available at Kismet Rotisserie locations. The article has been updated with this information.
On a corner in West Adams, one of L.A.’s newest bakeries, Fleurs et Sel, pulls inspiration from France with fat, chewy cookies that weave floral ingredients with nostalgic flavors. And then there are the reliable neighborhood bakeries that have long perfected their recipes for crumbly almond and comforting oatmeal cookies, crispy biscotti and more.
During the pandemic, many returned to the nostalgic practice of baking, using cookie and bread dropoffs as a way to briefly connect with friends, family, neighbors and other fans of fresh baked goods. For some, their talent proved so impressive that they decided to leave their previous careers and pursue opening bakeries and other sweet-centered shops.
Cookies are an accessible treat for whenever you need a little something sweet, available as an individual snack or in assorted boxes for special occasions. A cookie from one of L.A.’s star bakeries ranges from $3 to $5 — an easy impulse to pursue. From towering cookie sandwiches to jammy cookies that burst with the flavors of the season, here are 24 of our favorite cookies to seek out across L.A.
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Alfajor de nuez at Gusto Bread
Long Beach Bakery
(Betty Hallock / Los Angeles Times)
A child waiting in line on a recent Sunday at Gusto wailed to his dad, “Why does this place have to be so popular?!” Such is the demand for breads and pastries from the Long Beach bakery that once operated inside Arturo Enciso and Ana Belén Salatino’s living room. On many days, there will be a long line (sorry, kid!) for Enciso’s rustic loaves and baked goods such as springy, cheesy jalapeño bolillos and cocoa-sprinkled chocolate conchas. Cookies at Gusto include the ear-shaped puff pastry oreja, crunchy spelt chocolate chip, and powdered-sugar-dusted polvorones.
It’s the alfajor de nuez that might best represent the couple’s respective Mexican and Argentine backgrounds. As with his polvorones, Enciso uses walnuts for the alfajores, the South American sandwich cookies that are typically extra-soft, melt-in-your-mouth and pale (as in no browned edges). Gusto’s alfajores are nutty, soft but toothsome and slightly browned. The walnuts and the toasty edges complement the thick, extra-dark caramel between the two cookies. Go early for the widest selection, especially since the James Beard Foundation recently nominated Gusto for a 2024 award in its outstanding bakery category.
It’s the alfajor de nuez that might best represent the couple’s respective Mexican and Argentine backgrounds. As with his polvorones, Enciso uses walnuts for the alfajores, the South American sandwich cookies that are typically extra-soft, melt-in-your-mouth and pale (as in no browned edges). Gusto’s alfajores are nutty, soft but toothsome and slightly browned. The walnuts and the toasty edges complement the thick, extra-dark caramel between the two cookies. Go early for the widest selection, especially since the James Beard Foundation recently nominated Gusto for a 2024 award in its outstanding bakery category.
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Almond cookie from Largwa
East Hollywood Bakery $
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Though Lo Hoang’s cult-favorite pastries sometimes take the shape of pandan tres leches or passion fruit mochi bars, the signature sweets found via the baker’s Largwa pop-ups are almost always cookies. The self-described “cookie girlie” riffs on a number of classics — including thumbprint cookies, Oreos, madeleines and a s’mores-and-chocolate chip mashup — but one of the least flashy is also one of the best: the brown-butter almond cookie, a nod to the crumbly, crunchy almond cookie, and especially the version made by the L.A.-based Amay’s Bakery & Noodle Co., which sells wholesale almond cookies far and wide.
Hoang began toying with their own recipe while at Pearl River Deli in Chinatown, trying to riff off the Asian American dessert in a new way. They started with a brown-butter cookie base that incorporates almond flour as well as Chinese almond flour, resulting in a chewier, softer texture than the drier, more ubiquitous version. Watch Hoang’s Instagram for announcements about Largwa pop-ups, which usually occur at Silver Lake restaurant Bé Ù.
Hoang began toying with their own recipe while at Pearl River Deli in Chinatown, trying to riff off the Asian American dessert in a new way. They started with a brown-butter cookie base that incorporates almond flour as well as Chinese almond flour, resulting in a chewier, softer texture than the drier, more ubiquitous version. Watch Hoang’s Instagram for announcements about Largwa pop-ups, which usually occur at Silver Lake restaurant Bé Ù.
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Almond rocher cookie at Destroyer
Culver City Scandinavian $
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Culver City’s premier cafe draws crowds for its artful breakfasts, pantry items, salads and schnitzel, but the pastry case should never be skipped. Mounds of fresh croissants, spice cakes, tarts and espresso bars sit in gleaming, small stacks behind the glass, and the cookies, nestled among them, are some of the city’s best. With all its rich, chocolatey decadence, chef-owner Jordan Kahn’s gluten-free, almond rocher-inspired treat still manages to feel fairly light. That’s probably due to its reliance on egg whites, which keep the indulgent cookie’s texture airy. The craggy surface and gooey, cakey interior are littered with toasted, crushed almonds, while a sprinkle of salt adds another savory edge, making for a cookie so flavorful and rich that you can’t help but return to the saucer-sized cookie for bite after bite.
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Amaretti ai pignoli at Eagle Rock Italian Bakery & Deli
Eagle Rock Italian Bakery Deli $
(Jessica Miller / For The Times)
In the hall of great Italian cookies, it’s hard to beat the amaretti ai pignoli. The chewy, gluten-free treats rely on almond paste for their nutty, soft center and egg whites for an almost meringue-like outer shell, while an onslaught of pine nuts forms a just-toasted crunchy layer atop it all. So few bakeries and restaurants make these fresh year-round in Los Angeles, but Eagle Rock Italian Bakery & Deli has been at it for more than 70 years. “Nobody does this,” Anthony Cafarchia laughed. “It’s too much work.”
The small deli and market was founded in 1949, then purchased by Nick Cafarchia in 1961; his sons, Anthony and Vito Cafarchia, now run the operation and use their father’s amaretti recipe, which has remained untouched for decades. The bakery team hand-makes a spread of roughly a dozen Italian and other classic deli cookies in a constant rotation throughout the day, filling the cases with rainbow cookies, macaroons and jam cookies, plus cakes, pastries and holiday specials. The pignoli, however, are always a top seller and can be purchased individually or by the pound. Try the pistachio version, which is also gluten-free, to switch things up — though you’ll find it hard to top the classic pignoli.
The small deli and market was founded in 1949, then purchased by Nick Cafarchia in 1961; his sons, Anthony and Vito Cafarchia, now run the operation and use their father’s amaretti recipe, which has remained untouched for decades. The bakery team hand-makes a spread of roughly a dozen Italian and other classic deli cookies in a constant rotation throughout the day, filling the cases with rainbow cookies, macaroons and jam cookies, plus cakes, pastries and holiday specials. The pignoli, however, are always a top seller and can be purchased individually or by the pound. Try the pistachio version, which is also gluten-free, to switch things up — though you’ll find it hard to top the classic pignoli.
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Anzac biscuit from the Pie Room by Curtis Stone at Gwen
Hollywood Butcher Shop Bakery $$
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Celebrity chef Curtis Stone may very well serve as one of the best de facto Australian diplomats L.A. has ever seen, consistently serving some of the tastiest cuisine of Down Under across multiple restaurants, pop-ups and price points. During the pandemic the Melbourne-born force temporarily flipped Maude, his Beverly Hills tasting-menu restaurant, into the Pie Room by Curtis Stone, a pop-up filled with sweet and savory pies — many of which are either classics of, or take their culinary cues from, his homeland. And you can’t have an ode to Aussie baked goods without the Anzac biscuit. The cookie that’s almost synonymous with New Zealand and Australia dates back more than a century, popularized by women’s groups and well-wishers who would send the hard, sweet rations to members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) during World War I.
It’s Stone’s favorite cookie that he and his team bake, and it takes the chewy route (some bakers make them crisp). His take uses the traditional ingredients of Lyle’s golden syrup, butter, oats and sugar — and then adds golden raisins for more texture, flavor and moisture. The chewy, golden, large flat disc is almost caramelized along its base, and there’s barely any flour holding the melange of shredded coconut, oats and those plump raisins together. While Stone and his team are readying the Pie Room’s permanent location, you can still find the Anzac and other banger baked goods during the Pie Room’s current residency in Gwen from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday and at select local farmers markets.
It’s Stone’s favorite cookie that he and his team bake, and it takes the chewy route (some bakers make them crisp). His take uses the traditional ingredients of Lyle’s golden syrup, butter, oats and sugar — and then adds golden raisins for more texture, flavor and moisture. The chewy, golden, large flat disc is almost caramelized along its base, and there’s barely any flour holding the melange of shredded coconut, oats and those plump raisins together. While Stone and his team are readying the Pie Room’s permanent location, you can still find the Anzac and other banger baked goods during the Pie Room’s current residency in Gwen from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday and at select local farmers markets.
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Better Than Sex Chip cookie at Chip Cookie
Culver City Bakery $
(Jenn Harris / Los Angeles Times)
On a recent visit to Chip Cookie in Culver City, the woman behind the counter plated my cookie like a dessert at a fine-dining restaurant. The Better Than Sex Chip starts with a brownie-like chocolate cookie baked until the middle is fudgy and the exterior crisp. She injected condensed milk into the middle, then drizzled caramel all over the top. Next she added a thick layer of whipped cream frosting and blanketed the top in a handful of toffee bits. To my surprise, she added another zigzag of caramel and finished the cookie with more toffee. It was sticky, sweet, rich and decadent with crunchy bits of toffee in every bite. I don’t know about the name, but it’s an excellent cookie.
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Black sesame dark chocolate cookie at By Jiyoon
Bakery
(By Jiyoon)
Jiyoon Jang is a baker and pastry chef who definitively has her own style: clean, modern lines; spare garnishes; and nostalgic Korean American flavor combinations that come across as of-the-moment. Boricha madeleines have a perfectly smooth cream-colored glaze flavored with barley tea and dusted with misugaru grain powder. A small perilla lime tart features a whole candied leaf of the Korean herb. A makgeolli poached Korean pear is served cold for a sorbet effect, with a warm drizzle of doenjang caramel.
Her cookies are in the same vein, in three flavors: miso-garu, black sesame dark chocolate and dark chocolate espresso — all big, thin and crackly-chewy. It’s hard to choose a favorite. White miso with the earthy grain flavor of misugaru is sweet-savory-salty-funky. But it’s the color and nuttiness of the black sesame cookie that is somehow ultra-sultry, especially with dark chocolate and brown butter. Jang says she’s a pandemic baker who finished her senior year of college at home. “When everyone took up sourdough, I did the same,” she says, but soon found “pastry is where I can really be creative and put my twist on things and fits my personality better.” Two and a half years after she delivered her first box of pastries, Jang — who also worked at Clark Street Bakery and occasionally sells her baked goods at pop-ups (see Instagram) — plans to open her own cafe and bakery in Highland Park this summer.
Her cookies are in the same vein, in three flavors: miso-garu, black sesame dark chocolate and dark chocolate espresso — all big, thin and crackly-chewy. It’s hard to choose a favorite. White miso with the earthy grain flavor of misugaru is sweet-savory-salty-funky. But it’s the color and nuttiness of the black sesame cookie that is somehow ultra-sultry, especially with dark chocolate and brown butter. Jang says she’s a pandemic baker who finished her senior year of college at home. “When everyone took up sourdough, I did the same,” she says, but soon found “pastry is where I can really be creative and put my twist on things and fits my personality better.” Two and a half years after she delivered her first box of pastries, Jang — who also worked at Clark Street Bakery and occasionally sells her baked goods at pop-ups (see Instagram) — plans to open her own cafe and bakery in Highland Park this summer.
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Buckwheat financier at Colossus Bread
San Pedro Bakery
(Betty Hallock / Los Angeles Times)
Is a financier a cookie? Some call it a tea cake, others say it’s a cookie. It might be a stretch, but let’s call it a cookie here at Colossus, the tiny shop next door to artisan chorizo maker Chori-Man in San Pedro. Kristin Colazas Rodriguez bakes naturally leavened breads made with house-milled flour; croissants; cardamom buns; and danishes filled with herb-infused pastry cream and local fruit. Her financier is substantial — a lush puck of a cookie-meets-snack-cake, topped with slivered almonds and a daub of raspberry jam. The classic financier is made with nutty caramelized butter, flour and almonds. Rodriguez uses buckwheat flour, which is naturally gluten-free. And the result is a distinctively earthy, not-too-sweet financier (which is said to have been first created by a baker near the Paris stock exchange who baked them in rectangular molds so they resembled ingots of gold). If you’re looking for a straightforward cookie, the O.G. is the way to go: a big, crackled, crunchy, chewy, not too thick, not too thin chocolate chip cookie with chocolate chunks in every bite and flaky sea salt on top. A second Colossus location is open in Long Beach.
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Butter cookie at Southern Girl Desserts
Baldwin Hills/Crenshaw Bakery $
(Danielle Dorsey / Los Angeles Times)
The dessert shop from “Cupcake Wars” winners Catarah Coleman and Shoneji Robison anchors the entrance of the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, with a few tables for enjoying treats on the spot. Described as “a chocolate chip cookie without the chocolate chips,” the butter cookie at Southern Girl Desserts is fluffy, rich and reminiscent of a tea cake with a golden-brown edge and a soft, raised middle. It’s simple, satisfying and surprisingly addictive — I always buy more than I can finish in one sitting but immediately freeze a few so I won’t be tempted to ignore my full stomach and keep eating.
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Caramel coconut chocolate chip cookie at Levain Bakery
Windsor Square Bakery $
(Jessica Miller / For The Times)
Imagine a Samoa Girl Scout Cookie. Now envision it dense, moist and the size of a softball — the best version possible. The mellifluous blend of coconut, caramel and chocolate is hardly new, but at New York’s — and now Larchmont’s — viral cookie factory, where guests have been known to wait in lines that trail down the block, it’s perhaps reached its final and top form. The bakery famed for its massive 6-ounce, handmade cookies released this flavor as a limited-time, seasonal special but it was so in demand and sold out so regularly that Levain decided to make the caramel coconut chocolate chip cookie a permanent fixture. We’re better for it. Chock-full of toffee-like caramel chips, pops of rich chocolate and shredded coconut, it’s a tropical and welcome twist on the classic chocolate chip cookie — which, of course, also is sold here in fist-sized portions.
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Chocolate chip cookie at Doubting Thomas
Westside Bakery
(Betty Hallock / Los Angeles Times)
There are many, many delicious chocolate chip cookies in Los Angeles. And it’s no surprise that Naomi Shim’s is among them. The passion fruit tart at her Historic Filipinotown cafe and bakery, Doubting Thomas, is a fan favorite, but the chocolate chip cookie sells out as quickly (so go early). I like everything about Doubting Thomas’ palm-size chocolate chip cookie: the crumpled concentric rings, crisp-crunchy edges, chewy interior, lots of dark Tcho chocolate and requisite flakes of coarse sea salt. There’s so much chocolate in it that it nearly forms an edge-to-edge layer inside the cookie. Also, if you’re looking for a gluten-free version of a chocolate chip cookie, I can’t think of a better one than her oat cookie made with almond flour and milk chocolate.
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Chocolate chip cookie at Secret Pizza
Montecito Heights Pizza $
(Danielle Dorsey / Los Angeles Times)
Secret Pizza is not only one of the best pizzerias in the city but it also makes one of the most memorable chocolate chip cookies around. Baked by pastry chef Anna Rose Yoken, the sizable cookie has a soft middle with two types of Valrhona chocolate that add gooey richness to every bite and a slightly crispy rim for a pleasant contrast in texture. Flecks of sea salt offset the sweetness and make this cookie a menu item that’s worth seeking out on its own, although it’s hard to resist ordering at least one slice of pizza when visiting the cozy shop and patio in Montecito Heights.
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Chocolate chip cookie at SweetBoy
Hollywood Hills West Bakery $
(Ben Sidell)
I remember the first time I tried the chocolate chip cookie from SweetBoy, the dessert outfit housed in Saltie Girl restaurant and helmed by Ben Sidell, whose mother, Kathy Sidell, owns the seafood destination with locations in West Hollywood and Boston. After downing fresh oysters, a spread of tinned fish, a hot lobster roll and caviar martinis, I turned my attention to the dessert menu, which is entirely crafted by Ben. Menu items come and go in time with the seasons — tarts are packed with apricots and pine nuts in the summer or apple and walnuts in the winter — but the chocolate chip cookie is a mainstay. The thick coin arrives on a plate that’s only slightly larger than the cookie, which is spotted with Valrhona chocolate chips and dusted generously with coarse sea salt. It’s warm, gushy and large enough to share, the gooey chocolate gluing your tongue to the roof of your mouth with each chewy bite. House soft serve is a cool complement to the cookie that’s baked fresh to order.
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Chocolate chip pecan cookie at Loupiotte Kitchen
Los Feliz French $
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Ever since she was young, Sarah Bessade knew that she wanted to make a perfect chocolate chip cookie. “I wanted to be the queen of cookies,” she said. “My first goal when opening the restaurant was to have the best cookie.” She arguably succeeded, though it took years of trial and error. The founder of French restaurant Loupiotte Kitchen combined a range of recipes and tasted and altered them until she landed on her chocolate chip pecan cookie. On the scale of cakey to chewy, this nostalgic chocolate chip cookie is cakey and dense but still manages to maintain its fluffiness and stay soft all the way through. Rich pops of 70% dark chocolate punctuate the vanilla-scented dough, while the crunch and earthy tones from chopped pecans add intensity and variance. Find the cookies and others, such as madeleines, baked fresh each morning and waiting under a cloche at the coffee bar. Order these slightly warmed, as Bessade prefers, so the chocolate just barely melts.
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Corn cookie at Milk Bar
Fairfax Desserts Bakery $
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
This is like summer in circular, sweet form. For all pastry whiz Christina Tosi’s famous concoctions — the layer cakes, the cereal-milk soft serve, the cake truffles — the corn cookie is, in my book, the best of them all. Not to be confused with her cornflake cookie (also worth ordering), Tosi’s signature corn cookie serves as an ode to her family farm and tastes like the summer’s sweet-savory bounty slicked with salted butter. Thanks to two forms of corn — corn flour and freeze-dried corn powder — the vegetable’s unmistakable flavor shines through, and corn’s natural sweetness translates perfectly to a dessert. Tosi’s golden-yellow cookie is chewy and soft, with a just-crinkly exterior, and its flavor perfectly walks that line of sweet and savory — so much so that she even recommends using these cookies to make a grilled cheese sandwich (TBD on that one). A mainstay for more than a decade, the corn cookies began at Momofuku Milk Bar and have cropped up in all of Tosi’s standalone Milk Bar locations ever since, including L.A.’s. These can be ordered individually wrapped and online, which makes for great gifting, but swing by the Melrose bakery and pick up a freshly baked batch for best results.
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Gooie cookie at Zooies
Cheviot Hills Bakery $
(Jessica Miller / For The Times)
This cookie shop in a Culver City gas station has flavors that feel like they were dreamed up in collaboration with our sweetest childhood memories, like the Gimme S’more with house-made graham crackers and a torched marshmallow topping or the Panda with chopped Oreos and white chocolate chips. Still, I find myself favoring the classic Gooie cookie with milk and dark chocolate chips, a moist center and crispy edges. The brown butter chocolate chip is a close second, with a slightly savory edge. A walnut Gooie is available if you want to add some crunch to your chocolate chip cookie, as well as the Mooie, with pretzels added for a dose of saltiness.
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Lemon lavender cookie from Fat + Flour
Downtown L.A. Bakery $
(Danielle Dorsey / Los Angeles Times)
The lemon lavender cookie at Fat + Flour feels like the perfect summer dessert with bright citrus cutting through each bite and subtle vanilla and lavender notes. It’s thin, slightly crumbly and perfect for those who like simple, not-too-sweet cookies that go beyond sugar. Because it’s vegan, it’s a pretty light snack, so you won’t be too full to try additional vegan cookies such as the peanut butter, bourbon chocolate pecan or vanilla sprinkle sugar. If dairy isn’t a problem, the plush snickerdoodle cookie is worth adding to your order. If the options overwhelm, let owner-baker Nicole Rucker and her expert staff do the choosing for you with a dozen assorted cookies.
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Li'l Merri cookie at Cake Monkey
Fairfax Bakery $
(Jenn Harris / Los Angeles Times)
My cookie order at Cake Monkey varies based on my mood. If I need chocolate, I’ll devour a Big O, the Mexican hot chocolate sandwich cookie tasting of spiced dark chocolate and vanilla buttercream. The chocolate brownie cookie speckled with blotches of powdered sugar is another favorite. But the cookie I return to most is the Li’l Merri. It’s a cookie sandwich with two lacy oatmeal cookies around a lighter-than-air middle of maple buttercream. The sandwich layers taste like good, thin oatmeal cookies completely covered in chewy caramel. They’re crisp enough to crack, then disappear into the buttercream.
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Molasses ginger snap at Gjusta
Venice Bakery
(Betty Hallock / Los Angeles Times)
In the always-crowded Venice deli and cafe, the pastry case with its express line is your best bet for getting in and out in a hurry. Who needs salad when you can have apricot danish or apple coffee cake? Among its baklava croissants, seasonal fruit galettes, cardamom knots, banana buckwheat loaf, citrus ricotta cake and hefty loaves of bread are the bakery’s big, chewy, comforting cookies. Chocolate chip brown butter cookies might be stacked next to orange pistachio and miso date (if you’re lucky/early enough). It might be easy to overlook the ginger snaps, the homey spiced cookie that always evokes the holidays — but are great anytime. These aren’t the hard-as-bricks kind of ginger snaps from a box. They’re the chewiest, softest, crackliest variety, punchy with molasses and small chunks of candied ginger, perfectly spiced with ground cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves — but so well balanced that one isn’t distinct from another.
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Napolitaine cookie from Fleurs et Sel
West Adams Bakery $
(Danielle Dorsey / Los Angeles Times)
Lara Adekoya spent her teenage years in France falling in love with the country’s boulangeries. When she launched her cookie pop-up in April 2020, she named it in French after her two favorite things: flowers and salt. Adekoya recently landed in a bricks-and-mortar in West Adams where you can order her cookies via online drops or in person. The cookies are bulkier and more bulbous than what you’re used to seeing, with centers that protrude to form cartoonish mushroom tops. There are fun rotating flavors such as London Fog with Earl Grey, bergamot and vanilla, but my favorite is the Napolitaine that’s swirled with strawberry, vanilla and chocolate dough that delivers a different flavor with each bite. The strawberry is light like ice cream while the chocolate is deep and decadent and the delicate vanilla ties it all together.
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Spelt thumbprint at Proof Bakery
Atwater Village Bakery
(Betty Hallock / Los Angeles Times)
The Atwater Village cooperative bakery founded by Na Young Ma is seemingly always full, with crowds jockeying for Proof’s legendary croissants. But don’t skip the cookies. Bags of chocolate shortbread and dried-fruit-studded biscotti line the shelves near the entrance. And in the pastry case are fat coconut macaroons; big, well-browned, crinkly chocolate chip cookies; and pistachio polvorones whose green tinge peeks from beneath a dusting of powdered sugar. But the spelt thumbprint cookies are a particular favorite for their nutty, not-too-sweet flavor, melt-in-your-mouth texture and bright seasonal jam filling. Made with spelt flour, they are light, airy and somehow both sandy and silky. The ratio of cookie to jam is just right, and the jam itself always sings with fresh fruit flavor, no matter what season it is. Most recently it was blueberry lemongrass or raspberry jam, but it will change again soon.
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Strawberry passion fruit cookie at Lei'd Cookies
Culver City Bakery $
(Michelle Terris)
Smorgasburg vendors Leilani Terris and James Lewis expanded to the colorful Culver City storefront previously occupied by Coolhaus last fall, except now painted orchids and a neon-lighted sign with their logo welcome you inside. The cookies draw inspiration from not just the bakers’ backgrounds but all around the world, such as a mango sticky rice option that’s packed with chunks of mango and coconut flakes and frosted with a house coconut rice sauce. Flavors come and go from the menu frequently, such as the recently launched salted duck egg chili oil crisp cookie in collaboration with Hot Jiang Sauce for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month (a.k.a. May). I encourage a thorough exploration to find your preferred flavor, but if I were to recommend one that rises to the top, it’d be the strawberry passion fruit that started as a seasonal offering and is now a permanent menu item. The golden-brown cookie is made with a creamy strawberry base with bits of fresh strawberry and topped with a tartly sweet passion fruit glaze. It’s fruity, tropical and tastes like you’ve been whisked away to a white-sand beach.
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Tahini chocolate chip cookie from Kismet Rotisserie
East Hollywood Mediterranean $
(Chris Bernabeo)
The focus at Sara Kramer and Sarah Hymanson’s Kismet and Kismet Rotisserie restaurants is on dishes that highlight seasonal produce through a Cal-Mediterranean lens, with a few proteins for diners who prefer mains with meat. Whatever you end up ordering, save room for the tahini chocolate chip cookie that is extra creamy and nutty with sesame flavor. The cookies are baked with a healthy sprinkling of sea salt that satisfies sweet and savory cravings all at once.
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The O.G. at the Very Best Cookie in the Whole Wide World
Beverlywood Bakery $
(Kirstyn Shaw)
The bakery name is quite the flex, but owner Kirstyn Shaw has earned it. Her O.G. cookie is textbook-perfect, crisp around the edges and soft and chewy in the middle. There are shards of both hand-chopped dark and semisweet chocolate from Callebaut generously studded throughout. Shaw also adds chocolate chips to vary the texture of the chocolate from gooey to not fully melted. It’s finished with enough Maldon sea salt to give the chocolate a boost. When my 8-year-old self dreams of a chocolate chip cookie, this is the one.
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