I’m still recovering from my Thanksgiving Day inability to say no to anything—including three kinds of potato dishes, four different pies, and a surprisingly exquisite carrot souffle, not to mention the usual turkey and its attendant accessories—so I don’t necessarily want to see food ever again. But because Ruby et Violette, the chocolate chip cookie shop I’ve nursed a crush on for years, is now selling some of the best holiday food gifts ever, I thought I’d bring this to the attention of anyone who might be looking for presents right around now—not for me, of course (me? nooo…well, maybe just one).
Ruby et Violette’s thing is that they do different spins on chocolate chip cookies. The shop—on a block of Hell’s Kitchen you’re not likely to be on unless you live there or are hunting for this store—is like an obsessive, impeccably styled little cookie boutique. Sounds a bit silly, but once you walk in it’s impossible not to get sucked in and want to try all the many (many) takes on chocolate chip cookies: The Sour Cherry version, or Espresso Bean, or Red Velvet, or Malted Milk, or Molasses, or Toasted Coconut, and on and on. Most of the flavors are absurdly delicious (although a couple, like the Root Beer Float riff on a chocolate-chip cookie, are a little too weird). Right now the must-try fall/winter cookies are out: Gingerbread, Eggnog, Rum Raisin, and a few others. You can get them solo as a post-November-gluttony, pre-December-gluttony present to yourself, or as part of a box set if you’re looking to kill off the holiday gift-shopping blues before they start.