When I was a kid, I mixed random measurements of oats, sugar, eggs, and butter in a bowl, scooped the batter onto a cookie sheet, put the dough into the oven, and patiently waited for my labor of love to bake. Well, it turns out that I wasn’t working hard enough because I ended up throwing several batches of oatmeal cookies into the trash—sometimes I burned them, other times the recipe was just off. When I got a little older, I discovered Nestle’s cookie dough and reclaimed my throne as the “baker” of the house. Nowadays, I usually let someone else do the entire process for me, and fortunately there are lots of bakeries in D.C. that do it well. While most of these shops offer the obligatory chocolate chip cookie, a couple of DCist’s cookie correspondents found out-of-the-ordinary versions. The other treats include standout flavors, from peanut butter and Nutella to raspberry and lemon. Whether you like your cookies sweet or salty, chewy or crunchy, bite-sized or as large as your face, there’s something here for everyone. —Christina Sturdivant
Meringue cookie at Un Je Ne Said Quoi via Facebook
MERINGUE COOKIES AT UN JE NE SAIS QUOI: I walked into this French pastry shop, right outside of the circle in Dupont, and asked the cashier to point me in the direction of her best cookies. “This is all we have left today,” she said, showing me what appeared to be powered, stale croissants. “These are… cookies?” I asked, skeptically. Yes, she said, adding that they’re only $1. Is she serious? These things are almost as big as my face, I thought. I quickly gave her the cash because if the cookie was horrible, I was only out of one buck. Fortunately, though, the meringue cookie is far from food horror. The first bite felt like sugar crashing into my mouth, and my sweet tooth thanked me. The next few bites added texture as I found marshmallow hidden inside. The treat, which is light, crispy, and toasty (similar to a vanilla wafer), is actually used to to create meringue sandwiches—one of the shop’s most popular items, the cashier told me. While the sandwiches look promising, they’re smaller and $5. So for now, I’m sticking with the giant, affordable option.—Christina Sturdivant
Un Je Ne Sai Quoi is located at 1361 Connecticut Avenue NW.
CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES AT BAKED & WIRED: In the unlikely event you’ve kept your cookie fetish in the closet, it’s safe to come out now. We know this because a renowned food critic, Pete Wells of the New York Times, has shamelessly professed his love for Oreos. If he can disclose this, the rest of us can flaunt our cookie love with pride. At Baked & Wired, you’ll find a rotating selection in Georgetown and at A Baked Joint in Mt. Vernon Triangle. Help yo’ self to whatever you find in the self-serve jars. (Just put them in a bag and pay for them, natch). Blanket yourself in the unadulterated joy of a chocolate chip cookie, original or with walnuts for added flavor and texture (plus another food group!) Their irregular shape and non-uniform size are evidence that this is no cookie-cutter production. Nostalgic as can be, the chocolate chip cookies play well with any of the other friends around that day. Said friend could be named snickerdoodle, sized like a small scone with the familiar flavor of yesteryear in a fluffy body. If you can’t get enough chocolate, hope that double chocolate is available when you visit. To make a meal of it, order an ice cream cookie sandwich and there you have another food group. What’s more, you might find a creme-filled sandwich cookie, which may be in the same family as Oreos, but is handmade with a lot more heart and no unpronounceable ingredients.—Andrea Adleman
Baked & Wired is located at 1052 Thomas Jefferson St NW and A Baked Joint is located at 440 K St NW.
Cookies from Rise Bakery. Photo by Rachel Sadon
PEANUT COOKIES AT RISE BAKERY: With a small amount of trepidation, I gave a package of Rise Bakery’s peanut cookies to a family member who used to own a very successful gluten-free bakery in another city. But I didn’t have to fear—after chewing on a very chewy morsel, she declared them to exceed her very high standards. Then she had two more, which is how I know she definitely wasn’t lying. They aren’t chalky or dry, like many peanut cookies, but they’re still packed with flavor. At $5.95 for a package of 6, they aren’t inexpensive—but what good gluten-free pastries are?—Rachel Sadon
Rise Bakery is located at 2409 18th St NW.
NUTELLA COOKIES AT CAPTAIN COOKIE AND THE MILKMAN: A couple years ago, DCist’s former food editor named Captain Cookie and the Milkman one of the best food trucks in the city. “Regardless of your age, it’s hard to turn down a warm, slightly under cooked chocolate chip cookie, perfectly buttery and slightly gooey,” Alicia Mazzara said. She also highlighted other flavors, and among them was the Nutella cookie. She described it as “reminiscent of eating a flattened brownie,” which was all I needed to hear to hunt down the truck. Plus, owner Kirk Francis also opened a permanent storefront inside of a Foggy Bottom shopping center last year. The shop also offers milk, ice cream, and the opportunity to turn any two cookies into an ice cream sandwich.—Christina Sturdivant
Captain Cookie and the Milkman is located at 2000 Pennsylvania Avenue. NW.
Photo by Rachel Sadon
CORNFLAKE CHOCOLATE CHIP MARSHMALLOW COOKIES AT MILK BAR: Honestly, I generally find many of Milk Bar’s sweets too, well, sweet for my taste. I also have a reflexive revulsion for most things that involve queues of hundreds of people. But fortunately, the obscene line has died down to the point that you can just usually walk right up and acquire one (or many) of Christina Tosi’s confections. And my money is on goes to the cornflake chocolate chip marshmallow cookie, which has all of the interest of the more famous compost cookie without any of the cloying sweetness. Instead, cornflakes balance out the flavor profile and offer a distinctive crunch. Sure, you can stop by and buy one or two decadent cookies at a time, but my recommendation is to purchase the pre-made mix available for sale at the shop and whip up a whole batch.— Rachel Sadon
Milk Bar is located at 1090 I Street NW.
Peanut butter cookies at Uncle Chip’s Cookies via Facebook
PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES AT UNCLE CHIP’S COOKIES: While I’ve passed this bright green shop on North Capitol Street plenty of times, I’ve never gone in. After recently having a subpar peanut butter cookie from another shop (which shall remain nameless), I decided to give Uncle Chip’s offering a whirl. The first thing I noticed about the peanut butter cookies here is that they don’t have an overwhelmingly peanut butter taste, which is is great for people who don’t necessarily favor the creamy spread. I’m not one of those people, but I appreciate how they don’t go overboard with the peanut butter. Instead, the cookies have a perfectly nutty flavor, even with added chunks of whole roasted peanuts. The thing that really won me over, though, is that the cookie was crunchy on the outside, and chewy on the inside. I learned that this is a trademark of the shop, which means I’ll definitely be heading back soon.—Christina Sturdivant
Uncle Chip’s Cookies is located at 1514 North Capitol Street NW.
SALTY OAT COOKIES AT TEAISM: You’d be surprised how many food writers you run across who don’t really like raisins, and I’ll admit that I’m one of them. But nestled inside the salinated exterior of Teaism’s Salty Oat cookies, they make perfect sense, a little pop of concentrated fruity sweetness. The cookies, originally created some 15 years ago by Terri Horn back when she was a pastry chef at 1789, were way ahead of the salty-sweet craze found commonly in desserts these days. The oats are plump, nutty, and moist, and the lightly crunchy salted crust provides a satisfying chew. You can even buy them by the bagful to take home for after-dinner nibbling or, if you’re me, for breakfast. It’s oatmeal, right?—Kristen Hartke
Teaism has three locations in D.C. (Penn Quarter, Dupont Circle, and Lafayette Park).
Raspberry lemon cream pies at Buttercream Bakeshop. Photo by Christina Sturdivant.
RASPBERRY LEMON CREAM PIES AT BUTTERCREAM BAKESHOP: One of the latest additions to Shaw’s 9th Street corridor does not disappoint with its vast array of sweet treats. Among the traditional cookies, cakes, cupcakes, and such at Buttercream are cream pies. The raspberry lemon flavor marries two chewy lemon cookies between a thin layer of creamy raspberry filling, and it is delightful. While this is a seasonal offering, the oatmeal cream pies with cream cheese filling are always on the menu. Plus, on any given day, you can find a similar treat in confetti, chocolate-peanut butter, spicy ginger-molasses, and more.—Christina Sturdivant
Buttercream Bakeshop is located at 1250 9th Street NW.
Cookie from Firehook Bakery. Photo via Facebook
LEMON COOLER AND CHOCOLATE ESPRESSO COOKIES AT FIREHOOK BAKERY: I don’t consider myself to be a “cookie guy,” despite my brief-but-memorable stint as DCist’s “Cookie Correspondent“. That being said, I do have some good cookie memories, and in D.C. those largely revolve around Firehook. While the range of available choices is pretty good, I’ve always gravitated toward either the Lemon Cooler, which is fragrant, sweet, and dense, or the Chocolate Espresso, whose fractured surface provides a degree of crunch that complements the soft-but-sturdy interior. It helps that the cookies are cheap and the size of your face, and that the locations in Cleveland Park and Dupont Circle have relatively late closing times (8 p.m. and 9 p.m. respectively), making them an often overlooked choice for an after dinner dessert during a date. Despite a number of locations across the city I think it’s easy to overlook Firehook, but they do a nice job for a reasonable price. Plus, you know, it’s a cookie. Who can say no to a cookie?—Jacob Dean
Firehook Bakery has multiple locations in the D.C. region.
PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES AT BREADLINE: Breadline Founder Mark Furstenberg has been credited with bringing good bread to D.C. While a wave of bakeries may have followed the Breadline example for a good loaf, the rest of the city has yet to catch up to its peanut butter cookie. In a world where so many peanut butter cookies are dry and uninspiring, this triples your pleasure with two moist, nutty cookies sandwiched around a layer of creamy homemade peanut butter.—Pat Padua
Breadline is located at 1751 Pennsylvania Avenue NW.
Raspberry thumbprint cookies at Grassroots Gourmet. Photo via Facebook.
RASPBERRY THUMBPRINT COOKIES FROM GRASSROOTS GOURMET: These cookies sound simple enough—a sugar cookie with a dollop of raspberry jam in the center. But there’s something miraculous going on here. Perhaps, it’s the texture. The cookie itself is soft without tasting like it needs more time in the oven. Or maybe it’s the way the buttery cookie melds with the jam, like the sweetest toast you’ve ever eaten. I should probably go back to figure out what exactly makes it so special.—Rachel Kurzius
Grassroots Gourmet is located at 104 Rhode Island Avenue NW.
Cookies from Sticky Fingers. Photo by Rachel Sadon.
SWEET AND SALTY COOKIES AT STICKY FINGERS: Vegan baking has come a long way, in no small part because of Sticky Fingers proprietor Doron Petersan. But this salted version of the classic chocolate chip cookie is the pinnacle, if you ask me (obligatory note that there is no way that you’d ever be able to tell it is vegan). The perfect ratio of crunchy-to-soft cookie is topped with the exactly correct amount of flaky sea salt. It has never failed to pull me out of a mid-afternoon slump.—Rachel Sadon, adapted from another article.
Sticky Fingers is located at 1370 Park Rd NW. Compass Coffee (1535 7th St NW and 1921 8th St NW) also stocks their sweet and salty cookies.
Cookies and snacks from Kinderhook. Photo via Facebook.
BLACK PEPPER SHORTBREAD COOKIES FROM KINDERHOOK: Shortbread is traditionally half flour, half butter and sugar—in other words, divine. The Baltimore-based Kinderhook takes it to another astral plane with these sweet-with-a-kick cookies. Somehow they seem to both crumble and melt at the same time, with turbinado sugar on the outer edge adding a bit of a crunch and a hint of pepper finishing it off. I can’t recommend them enough.—Rachel Sadon
Kinderhook Snacks can be found at Uprising, Glen’s, Union Kitchen Grocery, Smuckers’ Market, and a number of other local establishments.
Pastries at the Fine Sweet Shoppe via Facebook.
TOLLHOUSE MINI CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES AT FINE SWEET SHOPPE: On any given afternoon in Eastern Market you’ll see a line of kids—okay, and adults—clutching dollar bills in their sweaty little hands in front of the bakery case at Fine Sweet Shoppe. Fine has been baking up bread, cakes, cookies, and other treats since 1960. While the case is full of everything from Russian tea cookies dusted in powdered sugar to crusty melt-in-your-mouth palmiers, if there’s one absolute standout cookie it’s the Tollhouse Mini Chocolate Chip, perfectly sized to fool you into thinking that you’re really not being an irresponsible snacker because, hey, they’re tiny. What makes them so special is that they have a texture really close to raw cookie dough, baked just enough to soften the chips, with a pale golden color. They’re only sold by the pound, so a 1/4 pound will set you back a couple of bucks and, yes, it’s enough to share, if you can bear to part with any.—Kristen Hartke, adapted from another article.
Fine Sweet Shoppe is located at Eastern Market on Capitol Hill, 225 7th Street SE.
