Who doesn’t love a good old-fashioned chocolate chip cookie? The classic treat and its siblings — oatmeal raisin, snickerdoodle, peanut butter, to name a few — have dominated pantries, lunch boxes, cafés, and bakeries for as long as we can remember. However, in recent years, the traditional cookie has been mutating into something even more delicious. Gourmet cookies are on the rise. Much like the cupcake bakery trend of the late aughts, cookie-centric bakeries are springing up left and right. These shops specialize in cookies that are bigger and better than your regular grocery store cookies. Thick, chewy, crumbly, sweet — these treats have it all.
Insomnia Cookies
This popular cookie chain is making its debut in Northern Virginia with a new location near the campus of George Mason University. Since its inception, the brand has focused on delivering cookies to college students, particularly the midnight snackers — they deliver from 10 a.m. to 3 a.m. daily. A few of their classic cookies include Double Chocolate Mint, Oatmeal Raisin, and White Chocolate Macadamia, among others. Deluxe options expand the menu even further, with divine creations such as Salted Caramel and Confetti Deluxe. 10669 Braddock Rd., Fairfax
MidnighTreats
MidnighTreat’s giant cookies, each weighing about a third of a pound, are made from scratch to achieve the perfect texture: crisp on the outside while chewy and soft on the inside. What started as a mission to provide NoVA with late-night cookie delivery has since evolved into a mission to make plant-based desserts that don’t harm animals. Every cookie here is 100 percent vegan, but you’d never know it. Some of their most unique creations include The Cinna-Roll and the Cookies n’ Cream. 11720 Plaza America Dr., Reston
Crumbl Cookies
Crumbl Cookies has six locations in Northern Virginia, so its famous pink boxes are everywhere. Crumbl Cookies opened its first store in Utah in 2017, and today, there are more than 300 Crumbl bakeries across the nation. Crumbl rotates through cookie flavors weekly, so there’s always something new and exciting to try, like Lemon Cupcake or Chocolate Toffee Cake. But for traditionalists, don’t fret: Crumbl serves their classic chocolate chip cookies daily. Multiple locations
Sophie’s Dough
Your mom may have warned you not to eat raw cookie dough, but clearly, she’d never heard of Sophie’s Dough. This gourmet shop serves edible cookie dough in a range of flavors from classic cookie to strawberry shortcake. The dough is made without eggs and with heat-treated flour, making it safe to consume in its gooey, uncooked state. Visitors can eat it straight from a bowl, or as part of many different cookie dough creations, such as in a Cookie Dough Sandwich or a Cookie Dough Cannoli, or even a Dough Shake if you prefer to drink your desserts. 6500 Springfield Mall, Springfield
Bakeshop
Although Bakeshop specializes in cakes, it would be a shame to overlook its extensive cookie list. Flavors include Classic Peanut Butter, Oatmeal Blueberry, and Snickerdoodle, as well as vegan versions of their favorite cookies. For those looking for something a little more delicate, Bakeshop also offers more than 50 different flavors of macarons. 100 E. Fairfax St., Falls Church; 1025 N. Fillmore St., Arlington
Feature image courtesy Insomnia Cookies
This story originally ran in our September issue. For more stories like this, subscribe to our monthly magazine.
