Oh Crumbs!

One of my fave bloggers, Nat the Fat Rat, has been on a quest for the perfect chocolate chip cookie.  She lives in NYC, where apparently there are ample purveyors of cookies, all with different textures, chocolate-to-cookie ratios, crumbliness, and of course taste.

I'm a huge fan of the homemade chocolate chip cookie.  Chips Ahoy I could live without.  But when my dad, the good Reverend, gets it into his head to bake some cookies, you'll have me a) hoping they're chocolate chip (maybe with crasins, an added bonus) and b) that he'll send me some.

I mean, what do y'all think I had for dinner on my 21st birthday?

But Dad's baking notwithstanding, the ultimate cookie is hard to find.  Places like Starbucks and Au Bon Pain sell them, but they're out of a huge mix and do tend to taste processed.

What's a girl to do (when she doesn't want to bake an entire batch herself, because then she'd just eat them all.)

First, the Hotel Marlowe.

I have no idea what other sort of food you can get here.  I have been there once, because we were scouting local hotels for a venue to run a program.  And while we were there, the lovely events rep gave us chocolate chip cookies.

Fresh. Out. Of. The. Oven.

I have no idea if I can go there again and get another cookie.  I don't know if they sell those cookies, or if they just have them on hand as an afternoon staff pick-me-up.  I'd apply for a job at the Marlowe for those cookies.

(Perhaps its best for my waistline that I am never, ever, actually hired by the Marlowe.)

But recently, I found a pretty awesome alternative to a homemade chocolate chippy.  Folks, I'm talking to you about Tate's Cookies.

Tates of the light green wrapper.  Tates of the gourmet food specialty shops.  Overpriced, delectable Tates.

Flakey, buttery, crunchy cookie?  Check.

Ever so slight taste of salt? Check.

Melt in your mouth semi sweet chocolate? Check.

I am drooling just thinking about another Tate's cookie.  They never last long in the Intelligent Blonde house because, lets be honest, they're like crack.

(No, I actually said that to the dude at the corner store the last time I bought them.  "You ever try these" he asks.  "Yeah.  They're like crack."

I would like another packet of crack right now, please.