Mange à Trois: L.A. Cookies

Deluscious Cinnamon Sugar Cookie
www.delusciouscookies.com

If Bill Cosby believed that chocolate cake was breakfast-worthy (it has eggs and milk and flour, right?) then this cookie is an excellent way to start your day. Think cinnamon toast, crisp and generously buttered. Like a cinnamon-sugar donut, you'll want to dunk it in a cup of coffee, lick your sugar-coated fingers. I found mine at Food+Lab but they are sold around town, online, and for Angelenos-only, they can be delivered to your door with glass bottles of cold milk.



Chocolate-Chip Cookie with Fleur de Sel
www.artisancheesegallery.com
Studio City

I grew up in an eat-the-batter household. In a rare display of rule-breaking, my mom would let us devour chunks of raw dough. Deliciousness trumped fears of Salmonella. Consequently, I prefer my cookies barely cooked--or at least tasting as such. Hence, my affection for the Chocolate-Chip Cookie at Artisan Cheese Gallery. Baked fresh each day, with love and fine ingredients (Valrohna chocolate, fleur de sel), the cookies are so soft they seem undercooked, and I mean that in a good way. Get over the $4 sticker shock. Each melty chocolate, gooey, doughy bite is worth millions.




Li'l Merri's
www.cakemonkey.com

Known for their gourmet spin on childhood faves, Ding Dongs and Pop Tarts, Cake Monkey also makes a stellar version of Little Debbies. Called Li'l Merri's, these sandwich cookies are composed of super-thin, yet remarkably soft, oatmeal cookies filled with delectable maple vanilla buttercream. Until Cake Monkey gets a stand-alone shop, you can find them around L.A. (check out coffee shops Intelligentsia and Paper or Plastik). Order some for your next party or have them delivered nation-wide, like my caring costume crew did (much to my nephew, Robert's, delight).