Cookie monsters

It's been a slow, steady descent. Ever since Paris, My Sweet launched, I have been on a tear. There have been launch parties (macarons! brownies!), promotional tours (cookies in Philly! candy in San Francisco!), and gifts galore. There has not been a lot of restraint.

I'm not a girl to say no. Especially to freshly baked cookies that come wrapped in a bow. Specifically, Levain's six-ounce juggernauts of richness, sweetness and insanity.

Chocolate peanut butter chip: rich and savory. Good protein, right??

Oatmeal raisin: perhaps the sweetest, heaviest specimens ever sampled.

Double chocolate. Double dark chocolate. Like a sweet punch to the gut.

And good old chocolate chip. With walnuts to lend some seriousness.

At my various book events, people often ask what my favorite sweet in New York City is. It's a tough question with no single answer. It depends on my mood, the time of day, how chubby I'm feeling, what neighborhood I'm in—many things. But I always come back to Levain. Connie McDonald and Pam Weekes have created something deliciously decadent and all-around wonderful in Levain.