You are looking at a picture of the best cookie I’ve ever eaten.
Last July 2010 I was in New York for 2 days only. It was way too short and we tried to cram in as many restaurants as we could. On our last day we had lunch at Jin Fong in Chinatown. After lunch we were supposed to go back to New Jersey to get our car parked at my cousin Virgil’s house then drive to Baltimore to attend my niece Lucy’s party.
In the car Virgil asked me if I was able to go to all the places on my list. I told him almost all except Levain Bakery. He immediately turned the car around and insisted on taking me 5 miles in the opposite direction just to fulfill my wish. Thank goodness it was a Sunday and New York traffic was light. What a great cousin!!!
I was surprised to see how small the space in the basement was. I was also amused to see an all female staff in shorts churning out the most fragrant delicacies.
They had several products but I only had eyes for the cookies. I’ve read so much about these cookies from magazines, blogs and tv shows that I couldn’t wait to try them.
I bought one each of the chocolate chip walnut and dark chocolate chip cookies and two pieces of the dark chocolate peanut butter chip cookies since I love peanut butter.
my cousin Virgil
This was the only picture I took of the cookies that’s why I haven’t posted this entry. I enjoyed eating all the cookies so much that I didn’t even think to take any pictures of my stash.
It’s a good thing my friend Tisay went to New York a few months ago and bought me some cookies. The cookies traveled from New York to Hong Kong and remained tightly wrapped in the freezer until it arrived in Manila almost a month later.
The cookies remained in my freezer waiting for a special occasion before I ate it. That’s how I am with precious food. I can patiently wait for the right time before eating it. So on the eve on my ‘really serious’ diet I got two cookies out of the freezer, took pictures of them and ate it.
You can see that the giant cookie weighed 5 1/4 oz or 149 grams. That was one big cookie. It was really worth $4 a cookie.
The cookies from the freezer were still very good. It was a bit crumbly but still very fresh. From the first time I ate the cookies in New York to the ones I ate in Manila I was amazed how the consistency of the cookie was the same from the edges to the thick middle. I expected a crisper edge and a softer middle.
The regular chocolate chip cookie with walnuts was so buttery and filled with an abundant quantity of soft walnuts. The dark chocolate chip was the ultimate in chocolate goodness.
But my favorite was the dark chocolate peanut butter chip cookie. Not too crisp, not cakey, very fudgy and studded with lots of real peanut butter chips that tasted like drops of Jif peanut butter and not like those artificial tasting chips others use. It was like eating a Reese’s peanut butter cup only better.
dark chocolate peanut butter chip cookies
Forget cupcakes. I live for cookies specially the ones from Levain Bakery. Be sure to include a visit to Levain Bakery if go to New York and don’t forget to buy me six dark chocolate peanut butter chip cookies please.
Levain Bakery
167 W 74th St # A, New York, NY 10023, USA
telephone: 212-874-6080
Shoot First Eat Later 