I can’t choose. I won’t choose. And when I looked for a tie-breaker among friends — pushing treats from both HiFi Cookies and Pink Door Cookies into their faces and demanding answers — they couldn’t make a decision either. Yes, both cookie shops bake up bright, colorful and experimental creations. Mathew Rice at Pink Door tops his three-doughed banana split cookie with Runts candy and mini dehydrated marshmallows, for example, and Sean Newsome at HiFi has been to known to elevate his cookies with tempting fillings like apple pie filling, cake batter Oreo cheesecake and poppyseed cream cheese. Both delightful! And while the self-taught Newsome leans into the “what you can make at home only way better” approach — he also makes killer Rice Krispies treats and brownies and blondies, by the way — Rice brings his pastry chef training to the table by utilizing different extracts to make even a seemingly ordinary cookie burst with surprising flavors. Take Pink Door’s Blueberry Pancake cookie, for example. It manages to taste unlike any cookie I’ve eaten before, delivering notes of buttery golden-brown pancakes, maple syrup and blueberries simultaneously. My first bite was a real-life Willy Wonka moment, a delicious, perplexing mystery. So no, one is not better than the other. Trust me, I have done a lot of research (read: eaten a lot of cookies). When you’re on the East Side, go to HiFi. When you’re on the West Side, go to Pink Door. When you want to throw yourself a truly spectacular cookie party, you’ll hit up both.
Best Cookie
