The 7 Best Cookies in L.A. You Have to Try
It's a crumby town, and here's your guide
Cupcakes, Cronuts and all those fad desserts may have had their time in the spotlight (for good, delicious reason), but we’ve never stopped loving the cookie. Ooey-gooey or crunchy with a glass of milk, here are our seven favorite cookies in Los Angeles (and yep, there’s a Cheetos one in there).
Best Dark Chocolate: République
This fancy French brasserie has the best dark-chocolate-chip cookies in town. The so-called “chewy cookie” is a dark-chocolate-and-walnut affair with the softness of a brownie within a crisp thin crust. Magnifique!
République, 624 S. La Brea Ave.; 310-362-6115 or republiquela.com
Best Milk Chocolate: Valerie Confections
Secrets of the cult fave Durango cookie include the addition of high-quality cocoa nibs and a dusting of smoky salt. (It’s got that sweet-salty combo thing going on that really wakes up your palate.)
Best Decorated Sugar: The Village Bakery and Café
Here is a sugar cookie perfectly lightly browned on the edges with a satisfying, just-sweet-enough flavor balance, frosted to Instagrammable perfection.
3119 Los Feliz Blvd.; 323-662-8600 or thevillagebakeryandcafe.com
Best Junk Food Cookie: Cookie Good
We’re always happy to see fun creations like red velvet, cinnabun and Cap'n Crunch on the ever-changing menu. But the Cheetos cookie has our hearts. The chewy deliciousness dyes your fingers a little bit orange and the nostalgia pours in.
2448 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica; 424-280-4100 or cookiegood.com
Best Seasonal Treat: RÖCkenwagner
Lebkuchen, that spicy white-frosted little mound of a Christmas cookie, was originally baked by German monks. Now it’s a big seller at German bakery Röckenwagner’s two West Side locations.
12835 W. Washington Blvd., 310-577- 0747; 1121 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice, 310-399-6504; rockenwagner.com
Best Oatmeal: Red Bread
It’s called the “cracked cookie” because it looks like five miles of bad road, with masses of oats, Tcho chocolate chunks and toasted Cali walnuts. The bumpy texture and perfectly balanced sweet-spicy taste mean eating just one is tough…but you don’t have to if you order a dozen and freeze half the batch.
Available to order at eatredbread.com
Best Snickerdoodle: The Flour Shop
This sugar cookie dusted with cinnamon and sugar has that elusive home-baked goodness. But it is actually baked in a chef’s home kitchen and shipped to you by special order (with snazzy packaging, so it makes a great gift).
831-566-9332 or theflourshopla.com