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While novelty cupcakes, doughnuts, and hybrid pastries ebb and flow in popularity, cookies are forever. We mean that in a very literal sense — the staple dessert has been around for centuries for good reason. The perfectly portable treats can easily be shipped and shared with loved ones. Understandably, cookie demand is at an all-time high right now for both baking and ordering online. Fortunately, hundreds of great bakeries and cookie purveyors are available nationwide. We rounded up the biggest cookie retailers and plenty of our favorites across the country.
Big Cookie Brands
These are the sites and smells you're familiar with; you've likely come across Mrs. Fields Cookies at the mall and Insomnia Cookies on your college campus or city streets. Mrs. Fields has hundreds of cookie package combinations and the classic cookie cakes we'd all prefer to birthday cake (No? Just me?). If you're near an Insomnia Cookies location, you can get fresh-baked cookies on-demand at the click of a button or in person until 3 a.m.
Other old reliables include David's Cookies, which has been around since 1979 and ships to every corner of the U.S., and Cheryl's Cookies (under the Harry & David brands umbrella) also sends great gift packages nationwide. They have classic flavors, traditional chocolate chip, M&M's, white chocolate macadamia, and frosted sugar cookies.
We can't start a mail-order cookies list without the classic New York cookie establishments. Zabar's is more or less an empire for several food categories, and the baked goods are no exception. We'd be delighted to receive a care package of black and white cookies any day. When it comes to Italian desserts, cookies included, Ferrara Bakery and Veniero's are New York institutions, as is Carlo's Bakery across the river in Hoboken (of Cake Boss fame).
Cookie businesses are sprouting up everywhere, with professional chefs pivoting to the mail-order business and home bakers scaling up. The following list is certainly not exhaustive, but it highlights several great options in each U.S. region. Read on for more of our favorites from coast to coast.
Local Cookie Brands
The Northeast
New York City has plenty of cookies to offer, and people all over are familiar with Jacques Torres's famous chocolate chip creations and Levain's massive, gooey cookies. There are also City Cakes' half-pound cookies with flavors like pink velvet and almond matcha and Brooklyn-based Carmen's Cookies, which offer small-batch options like orange clove and brown sugar date shortbread. Bang Cookies in Jersey City, N.J., has giant cookies (we're looking at Snickerchurro and the S'mores Cookie Cake). Further up in Vermont is Cookie Love, a family-run operation with great classic cookies. Mike's Pastry in Boston specializes in Italian cookies, while Top Shelf has great themed treats like "Green Monster Mint" and "Boston Lager Chocolate Chip." Further west in Pittsburgh, the veteran-run Operation Cookies has earned wide acclaim and supports the Gary Sinise Foundation.
The Southeast
Ali's Cookies in Atlanta offers gluten- and dairy-free cookie options, and every cookie is certified kosher. Northeast of Atlanta, Seven Sisters Scones does a modern take on traditional scones like jumbo-sized cookies in dozens of flavors. Sweet Girl Cookies is a favorite from North Carolina, and Miami has late-night Night Owl Cookies. Some of the best mail-order cookies hail from Bake My Day in Mobile, Alabama.
The Midwest
If you're looking for icing-drizzled treats, Monica's Bakery in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is a sure bet. Shatila Bakery in Dearborn does great Middle Eastern pastries, including baklava and arameesh. In Chicago, Big Fat Cookie has classic doughs and mashup flavors to delight any sweet tooth. The Cookie Joint's "cookie fries" are an inventive take on cookie shapes, perfect for dunking in a glass of milk. For ultra-large cookies, T-Rex Cookie Company in Minneapolis has you covered and then some. Ohio residents will know Sweet Mae's, where the stuffed cookies are filled with everything from marshmallows to peanut butter.
Texas and the Southwest
Texas is a land of many cookies, but to name a few: Kessler Baking Studio in Dallas was a 2020 James Beard Award semifinalist, Cookie Society in Frisco does a great holiday gift crate, and Tiff's Treats is a great Austin-based option with fresh baked cookies daily. In Salt Lake City, Ruby Snap Cookies has plenty of unique flavors on top of the classics (see: vanilla bean cookie with buttercream beet frosting).
The West
Seattle's local late-night cookie company is Midnight Cookie Co, offering traditional cookies, s'mores, Fruity Pebbles, and vegan cookie varieties. Salty Sweet in San Francisco ships nationwide in giftable boxes, great for holiday or birthday treats. The Baked Bear in San Diego offers cookie ice cream sandwiches as well as packs of cookies. Out in Bozeman, Montana, Elles Belles bakery has been putting out great cookies, hand pies, and cookie pies that ship nationwide. Last but certainly not least, Pipeline Bakery in Hawaii sells monster cookies, famous malasadas, and even mini cakes.