I chipped my tooth while eating a chocolate chip cookie earlier this year. As this article’s headline already spoils, this incident only strengthened my love for these butter and chocolate monstrosities even more.
Okay, so you may be wondering how exactly that happened. The thing is, I like cold, day-old cookies. I think the cookie’s moisture is lessened and its sweetness and texture become more complex overnight.
If you’re curious which cookie culprit I’m talking about, this one was from ’Mo. Its chocolate chunks turned rock hard after a night in the fridge and I bit right into it. Next thing I knew, I had a shattered tooth.
While that unfortunate cookie incident forced me to take a leave from work and get an immediate dental fix, it didn’t stop me from continuing to eat my unhealthy breakfast choice. I simply let it warm up, soften for a few minutes, and proceeded to finish what I started.
It’s a stupid story—but one that I think would help establish my credentials to round up part two of this cookie digest. I loved Belle’s cookie list but I noticed most of her favorites were shipped from Makati. This Fairview girl just wasn’t willing to pay for the expensive delivery fee, and so I tried to search for the best home-baked cookies in my area.
I honestly didn’t know where to start. I’ve never ordered cookies from home bakers before.
Pre-quarantine, I’d get myself a cookie whenever I could. I’d buy a box of cookies from ’Mo whenever I pass by a stall in the mall. Before I get my bill at Scout’s Honor, I tell them I’d like a box of 1 Bite 2 Bites and a Deep Dark Secret to go. My Cold White Brew always came with a Dark Chocolate Craft Cookie at Bo’s Coffee. And on birthdays, a Double Chocolate and Chocolate-dipped Cookie always found themselves with my Purple Oven cake of choice.
My favorites are what you’d call basic. But I knew what I liked from a cookie—dense, fully incorporated dark chocolate chunks (chocolate chips sticking out is a disgrace!), buttery but not flat, chewy with a bit of bite.
I knew the best way to get started: recommendations from friends. Once the suggestions were in, I searched for them on Instagram and committed to scrolling through their feeds. My algorithm eventually helped me out after a couple of saved posts and I was surprised to find that there was just too many cookie bakers based in the North!
Here are the ones I enjoyed biting into the past month, ones that have me clearing my future dessert schedule so I can have more:
The Marshmallow Test
This one filled my room with the scent of vanilla, an instant trigger of endorphins. I was immediately drawn to MDJ’s Birthday Cake and S’mores cookies because I have the attention and appetite of a child and its oversized toasted marshmallows looked so inviting. Spoiler alert: One piece is definitely not enough.
You’ll really get to taste the classic Yellow Cake batter mix in their sprinkle-loaded cookie version. It’s also on the chewier side of the cookie meter. On top of that it’s unapologetically sweet but the vanilla-boosted, marshmallow stretchy dough is a real treat. The Birthday Cake is for your inner child and the real kids in your home.
Their S’mores cookie is soft and comforting. This take on the campfire favorite really makes you slow down on the chewing so you can appreciate its mix of flavors. The sweet, caramel and cinnamon taste of the graham bits really lends the dough more body, while its crumbly texture gives it a good sensorial mix. There’s also a handful of Hershey’s chocolate chips in every bite.
Grandma’s Cookies
I judge a cookie by the way it looks and Chef Kin’s Chocolate Chip Cookies are beautiful! When you open a box of cookies, you immediately smell its dark chocolate goodness while it reveals the most gorgeously textured golden brown color.
These taste as rustic as it looks. In my head, I imagine this is the cookie kids boast about, something they look forward to whenever they spend weekend afternoons with their grandmothers. It’s the type of cookie that feels like it’s been perfected through time and generations, a classic that everyone would enjoy.
It isn’t sweet at all, even though each one is loaded with different intensities of dark chocolate chunks and chips. It also has that distinct density of flavor—a thick and creamy taste in every bite—which reminds me a lot of oatmeal cookies.
I’m happy to report you can hoard dozens of these and they taste the same more than a week after! This is just the type you’d love to fill up a cookie jar with—you never want your home to be without it.
The OG
Ocho’s The Godfather cookies are palm-sized perfection. We tried different cookies every week and this was among my sister’s favorites. She loved it so much she would wager for a piece whenever we played some games (she’s 5, if you’re wondering). I’m not surprised though, this one is really a standout.
The Godfather has all the elements of a good classic: Quality butter you can taste, an insane amount of chocolate chips that make your cookie gooey at the center, crisp on the edges but with a perfectly soft under-baked middle.
What’s amazing about this cookie is that it retains its texture even after a night in the fridge. You’ll still get to enjoy that soft and gooey inside and its instant-melt-in-your-mouth chocolate chunks. It comes with a handful of flaky sea salt and I think my sister reviewed it best: It’s good, but with salt it’s better!
Cookie Experiment
Heart Baker Biang’s newest experiment, the Dekada Brownie Cookie is one tough cookie to crack. Its flavor profile is something I still think about weeks after tasting it. Is it a cookie? A crinkle? A circular brownie? Although, one thing I’m certain of is that this complex creation is worth a try.
It only uses handmade bean-to-bar chocolate from Dekada (hence its name), mixing 50 percent to 70 percent variants for a decadently rich cookie. This one definitely has that unique and prominent fruity, earthy, and bittersweet flavors of our very own locally-grown cacao.
It’s gorgeously chocolatey brown—smooth and shiny all over except for its salt-encrusted center (Maldon Flaky Sea Salt, because this recipe only calls for the best). I like describing this creation as truffle batter—chocolatey as the bite-sized bits, fudgy as a brownie, as dense as a cake pop. It’s a chewy chunk of goodness you can’t quite describe until all its flavors melt in your mouth.
Runners-up under this category are Heart Baker Biang’s Chocolate Mint Chip (a taste of the holidays all year round) and Chef Kin’s Choco Butternut Crinkles (Dunkin 2.0 with the richness of a classic crinkle).
The Levain Copycat
This one is a household favorite and I’m sure your families would love it too. I didn’t think anything could excite me in quarantine until I received a box of Fresh Doughly cookies (no exaggerations here). What they bake is what you’d call a cookie mound—giant, perfectly domed and textured, fist-sized cookies. It reminds me a lot of the iconic Levain cookies people line up for.
Let me take you through its cookie anatomy: It’s chewy overall but it doesn’t fall apart. Its batter got a bit of that dense, cake-like texture but still balanced with the right amount of gooeyness. The middle is generously filled with chocolate chunks that it feels like a molten lava treat. And as the perfect finishing touch, it’s topped off with a pinch of salt.
✺ Photos by Vinz Lamorena
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