Relive Your Childhood Dream - The Cookie Hunt in Bed-Stuy

When people recall their childhood, they often remember smells more profoundly than sounds, or even sights.

Something about waking up to the smell of brewing coffee has been imprinted in our memories forever. And, of course, everyone can remember the smell of cookies baking in the oven, even if they haven’t tried a cookie in years.

The melting chocolate, or cinammon scent of oatmeal is as memorable as your first day of school.

So when was the last time you treated yourself to the childhood favorite - a warm, freshly baked cookie?

Almost every cafe in Bed-Stuy offers cookies - soft oatmeal raisin or crispy pecan - and everyone seems to have their all time favorite. I’m madly in love with the soft baked, chocolate cookies with chocolate chips. How can you go wrong?

But I’ve asked around, and I’ve met a chewy peanut butter fan, a crispy walnut fan, and even a basic, crumbly sugar cookie fan.

I’ll admit, this top five wasn’t easy. I wanted a list where everyone could find their cookie. Turns out, there are too many cookies in the world, even too many in Bed-Stuy, to do that.

So here are a list of my personal neighborhood favorites:

5. Heavenly Crumbs
The Monster Cookie is a crispy, hard  (but not too dry) cookie that is filled with a ton of flavors, including coconut, walnuts, raisins, dark and semisweet chocolate chips. If you want to opt for something a little softer, try their oatmeal cherry cookie, which has slightly sweet and sour dried cherries, and delicious, sugary, chewy texture. Both are $1.50.

4. Crave
I love the oatmeal cranberry cookie at Crave which is big, thick, and soft for $2. The vanilla flavor is subtle and compliments the mildly sugary taste. A great choice if you are an oatmeal cookie lover. 

3. Daily Press
Daily Press has two kinds of cookies that I highly recommend. The cookies are thick and cakey, with a slightly crisp outside and soft center. The peanut butter cookie has a full buttery taste and is packed with peanuts, and peanut butter for an incredibly rich, peanut butter flavor. The chocolate chip cookie is classic, with gooey, melting chocolate chips inside a sweet cookie. $1.75 each.

2. Bedford Hill
At Bedford  Hill you can get a dark chocolate, only semi sweet, soft cookie that has a wonderful, rich flavor, and is soft, almost like a brownie. The cookie is filled with crystalized ginger pieces that offer a sweet, spicy, taste to every bite. Delicious for $1.50 each.

1. Ms. Dahlia's Cafe

Okay, it's true.  The main reason I choose the chocolate chip (or should I say chocolate chunk?) cookie at Ms. Dahlia's is that it is a gigantic version of the classic chocolate chip cookie. Not overly sweet but simply packed with huge chunks of chocolate, this cookie has a well crisped outer crust and soft baked center that will definitely satisfy your cookie craving at $2.