Midnight Cravings: Cookies

There are many nights where I am up late doing work (or pretending to do work but actually online) and would give anything for a cookie.  Now, if I were at home that would not be much of an issue.  I would simply figure out what ingredients we have and make some!  But I live in a dorm and I don't have a fridge.  That means there is no way I have the supplies to make some.  Then there is the option of getting those Nestle tube cookies that are more delicious than one should admit.  But they take so much work...

Insomnia Cookies's S'mores Deluxe

Then I remember that I happen to live in the city where the cookie debate seems to be in full swing.  The cookies in question?  Insomnia Cookies and Levain Bakery.  There is no lack of some healthy competition when it comes to businesses in this city, and people take their baked goods seriously anyways.  

Levain's Chocolate Chip Walnut

Personally, they both have their merits.  Insomnia cookies is open late and they have fancy flavors like s'mores.  Plus their peanut butter cookie has peanut butter chips in it-- major plus!  While Insomnia Cookies are really great at night (obviously), they're not the gourmet treat you expect from a New York bakery.  That's where Levain comes in.  At the only store of theirs that I have been to, they have only four flavors: Chocolate Chip Walnut, Oatmeal Raisin, Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip, and Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip.  These cookies are massive and to say that they are gourmet is an understatement.  At Levain, cookies are raised to the level of desserts with French names-- that is how seriously they are taken.

At the heart of the matter, it really depends on what you are looking for in your cookie.  Late night snack obviously means Insomnia.  A stroll through Central Park requires Levain.