Feature

Chocolate-Chip Cookies

With all due respect to Famous Amos, Mrs. Fields, and Mom, the House of Toll has gone way upscale. So who’s complaining?

By Rob Patronite

1. Levain Bakery
In a WWF-like league of their own, these Hulk Hogans of the cookie world weigh in at six ounces. But their mutant size doesn’t detract from flavor. Dough junkies take note: They’re a little underdone in their capacious middles. (167 West 74th Street; 212-874-6080; $2.75.)

2. Ruby et Violette
Deceptively ordinary-looking, but sweet and fragrant and bursting with hand-cut chunks of chocolate, not to mention that elusive soft-chewy texture. Cookie queen Wendy Gaynor has 40 variations: espresso, dried-cherry, even cantaloupe. (457 West 50th Street; 212-582-6720; $1.25.)

3. Balthazar Bakery
Before renaming them Toll House, their 1930s inventor called them “chocolate crispies.” Balthazar’s super-crunchy, almost-burnt-edge variety with walnuts must be a tribute. Substituting Valrhona for Nestlé morsels, though, is a serious upgrade. (80 Spring Street; 212-965-1785; $1.25.)

4. Tuller Premium Food
Another Nestlé naysayer: Tuller, the little Cobble Hill gourmet store that could, uses chopped walnuts and Schokinag, a fancy German chocolate with a high cocoa content, to deliciously deep effect. (199 Court Street, Brooklyn; 718-222-9933, $1.75.)

5. Pret a Manger
Yes, it’s a British fast-food chain, but they make a mean cookie—heavy on the chocolate with a good balance of textures and a nice caramel finish. Get ’em early, while they’re hot. (Nine Manhattan locations; address info available at www.pret.com; $1.25.)