The Best, Simple Cookies In NYC | NYC

We love over-the-top pastries, but deep down, we're suckers for a good cookie.

We're generally sticklers for the classic chocolate chip–with a glass of cold milk–for its nostalgia factor. But we've uncovered two local cookie purveyors whose wares challenge Tollhouse's supremacy.

Lomaxine: Jesse Floyd turned to her grandmother's recipe book for standout cookie flavors such as cherry-marzipan, triple ginger and chocolate sable ($6 for 5 ounces). Our favorite is her lime meltaway. The cookies are made with a batter containing powdered sugar, which gives the cookie a tender crumb that dissolves on the tongue, leaving behind a serious citrus tang. Available online and at New York Mouth online

Alfajores by Jessy's Pastries: We've sampled these traditional Peruvian sandwich cookies before, but with this version, we think Oreos have met their match. Jessy's Pastries riffs on the basic recipe–sweet dulce de leche filling between two shortbread cookie rounds–in three delicious ways: rum-infused, coconut-rimmed and the rich Nutella-filled. Available online, at Gourmet Guild, Hester St. Fair and Artists & Fleas.

We're readying our cookie jar.