The Cookie Monster is Alive and Well and Living in Seattle

D’ya know what I love? Cookies. Who doesn’t, right? There are a lot of sub-par cookies out on the market, however, and it can be easy to be led astray. Where to turn when that cookie craving hits and you can’t be bothered to bake your own? Here are some that I like:

Cougar Mountain

This locally made cookie has the soft, chewy consistency that so many store bought cookies try and fail to capture. It’s not doughy or cloying, just naturally tasty. During baseball season you can find the Ballpark cookie, filled with semi-sweet chocolate chunks, toffee and peanuts. This might sound like too much for one cookie but it’s really not. The different flavors complement rather than overpower each other. Try them before they disappear in August.

Le Petit Ecolier Extra Dark

On the front of Le Petit Ecolier’s Extra Dark 70% chocolate “butter biscuits” (is this not a tantalizing way to describe a cookie?) a fey, pudgy little boy stares out at you from molded chocolate. Said chocolate is firm and solid and gives a good snap when you bite in. The biscuit is a bit crumbly and not the highest quality biscuit on the market, but it really just acts as a platform for the chocolate. Here’s what Le Petit Ecolier has to say about their Extra Dark: “A chocolate made with 70% cocoa, intense, complex, woodsy with deep inviting aroma”. Amen.

Leibniz

Another chocolate biscuit cookie. Its thinner, crisper biscuit is superior to that of the Le Petit Ecolier.

Hint ‘O Mint Newman-O’s

Looks like an Oreo but is light years better. Like the name suggests, there is a hint of mint flavor in the creamy center of these babies, and mint + cream filling + crunchy chocolate cookie = deliciousness. Plus, they’re organic!

Stroopwafels

I first discovered the Stroopwafel when I was in Amsterdam and fell immediately in love. The coffee shops I had been visiting may have helped fan the flames of my initial attraction, but years later my affection for this cookie remains undiminished. About the size of the palm of your hand, the stroopwafel is basically a sandwich cookie made with two very thin waffles (think of a chewy waffle cone) with caramel, or more traditionally syrup, inside. I can knock back about 20 of these in one sitting without batting an eye. They can usually be found at European import stores and I’ve also seen them at Uwajimaya, strangely enough.

Marie Lu

My good friend Dr. Jones recently introduced me to these, as she herself puts it, strangely addicting cookies. They are rather like a cross between a cracker and a cookie, a bit salty like a Ritz, a bit sweet like shortbread, simple like a digestive biscuit, and quite crisp. I was immediately sold on them. Thanks Dr. Jones!

Does anyone else have any good cookie suggestions?