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Astoria is known for having incredible restaurants and bakeries, but when I lived there, I had to wonder: Was I biased? At the time, everyone raved about Levain Bakery’s softball-sized cookies in Manhattan, but I would line up outside of Chip City—then known as Chip NYC—for one of their gooey-on-the-outside, chewy-on-the-outside treat. Back in 2017, not long after Chip opened, I deemed it the “best cookie in New York City.” Years later, I can say: It wasn’t just a proximity thing. These cookies are that good.
What Makes Chip City Cookies Different?
Massive, $4-and-up cookies are everywhere these days, with endless options from Levain to Gideon’s Bakehouse to Crumbl but what sets Chip City apart is that it tends to always offer a few failsafe, classic cookies (like chocolate chip and white chocolate macadamia nut) as well as dairy-free options and at least one specialty cookie. (The specialties range from fun pop culture collabs, like a Rugrats-inspired one for ’90s kids, to riffs on iconic desserts, like strawberry shortcake and blueberry cheesecake.) The mix-ins-to-dough ratio is just right, and the menu changes every week, providing some newness to keep you coming back for more. Though honestly, the classic chocolate chip is delightful enough to have me making repeat visits.
With such a tightly edited selection of cookies, they’re almost always guaranteed to be good—provided they’re not overbaked (some of the newer stores have had issues with this, where they’re a bit dry).
Crumbl Vs. Chip City: Which Cookies Are Better?
Crumbl has more locations and a wider variety of cookies, but if you’re going by the overall taste and quality of the cookie, Chip City has the superior sweets. In my experience, Crumbl’s cookies are heavy on frostings and overall sweetness, whereas Chip City has more complex flavors, taking care to ensure the cookie is balanced without becoming cloying. I also enjoy that the cookie is a bit denser, with a near-molten core and chewy—yet not crisp—edges.
OK, But How Big Are These Cookies?
They’re not quite as massive as Levain‘s or Gideon’s (which clock in at 6 ounces apiece), but they’re still easily shareable. Each one weighs 5.25 ounces, according to the company’s website.
How Many Calories Are in a Chip City Cookie?
A nearly half-pound cookie is like a meal in and of itself. So, as you might expect, each one will set you back between 570 and 680 calories, with the classic chocolate chip cookie clocking in at 610 (the plant-based chocolate chip cookie tips the scales at 680, and the lowest-calorie option is the Oatmeal Apple Pie flavor).
How Much Do Chip City Cookies Cost?
Expect to spend about $4.50 per cookie. (Pro tip: Bring your own milk—a glass will set you back at least $2.50, and that money is best spent on…more cookies, obvi.)
How Can I Get Chip City Cookies for Free?
Sign up for their rewards program, and every time you purchase, you’ll earn points that can be redeemed for merch, drinks—and yes—cookies. You can give them your phone number when you check out to collect your points, or use the Chip City app (which also allows you to order cookies for pickup and delivery).
What Are the Best Chip City Cookie Flavors?
I’m biased toward chocolate chip cookies, but I love how well-balanced the vanilla, dark chocolate and brown sugar notes are. I tend to avoid any flavors with a graham cracker base (like the s’mores), because they’ve been a bit too dry for my taste. (I’m not crazy about Funfetti either, since it just tastes like too much sugar cookie. If it had more of a custardy core, like a chess pie, I’d probably feel differently.)
That said, here are my fave flavors:
- Chocolate Chip — The dark chocolate chips are key.
- Chocolate Peanut Butter — The peanut butter cuts through the richness of the almost brownie-like cookie.
- White Chocolate Cranberry Oat — The dried cranberries and white chocolate chips are generously mixed into every bite of this cookie, which is surprisingly moist and gooey for an oatmeal dough. (Most of the time, when oatmeal cookies are this big, they’re dense, cakey and dry.) The only thing that’d make it better? Sub the white chocolate for dark, in our opinion.
- Banana Nut Oat — Like banana bread, only in cookie form, with toasted walnuts and a smattering of chocolate chips.
- Oatmeal Apple Pie — One bite, and it’s instantly fall. The chewy, honey-spiced oatmeal cookie is the perfect wrapper to a baked apple core.
- Blueberry Cheesecake — It’s like a moist blueberry scone with a tangy cream cheese frosting center.
What’s the Chip Crookie?!
The Chip Crookie is a croissant-cookie mashup that’s a bit pricier than the store’s typical cookies. (A crookie costs $6 apiece, whereas the typical cookie is $4.50.) It tastes a lot like a fresh croissant stuffed with cookie dough, and it’s only available at select locations from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
What Does a Crookie Taste Like?
I worried this would taste like a burnt, dried-out croissant mashed with gritty cookie dough, and thankfully, that is NOT the case at all. The Chip Crookie is buttery, soft and flakey, with a semi-molten dough core. I prefer the triple chocolate Crookie to the chocolate chip variety, just because it has a better chocolate-to-buttery flavor ratio to me.
Where Can I Find Chip City Cookies?
Chip City has stores in seven states, spanning 33 locations as of March 2024. (Two years ago, when I wrote this post, they had just 12 and were only in New York!) You can find them in NY, NJ, MA, MD, CT, VA and FL. The company also ships its cookies nationwide via Goldbelly.
