The bakery case at The Buttered Tin always features a delectable trio of sandwich-style whoopie cookies: chocolate chip with vanilla buttercream, peanut butter with rum-caramel buttercream, and oatmeal raisin with cream cheese. Other cookies rotate daily, and range from a classic M&M to the best-selling lemon cream, a soft butter cookie made with cream cheese and lemon zest and finished with a lemon glaze. Chocolate lovers will appreciate the chocolate salted caramel cookie, a brownie-like cookie featuring a caramel topping, dark chocolate drizzle, and a touch of sea salt.

Stepping into the Pasticceria at Cossetta Alimentari feels like a budget-friendly trip to Italy. A gleaming marble pastry bar imported from Tuscany is filled with diminutive Italian cookies including intricate checkerboards, pine nut-studded pignoli, and delicate lace cookies. Pick out a couple to savor with an espresso or create a custom assortment to take home. There’s also a selection of biscotti (try the chocolate almond) and delectable macarons in flavors like raspberry, lemon, and red wine.

Based on the namesake of Bread and Chocolate, it’s fitting that the bakery’s best-selling cookie is a chocolate chunk generously loaded with bits of chocolate. Other delicious options include oatmeal raisin, snickerdoodle, peanut butter, ginger, and an amaretto cookie with almonds, chocolate chunks, coconut, and liqueur. The shortbread flavor changes daily—salted caramel is a customer favorite.

Patrons can feel good about indulging at Cookie Cart, a non-profit that provides a first job experience for teens. The focus is on classics like chocolate chip, M&M, ginger snap, and peanut butter oatmeal. Several flavors are available in a convenient “mini” size, about half the size of a regular cookie. The popular Chicago-style butter cookie includes a dose of nostalgia: the shortbread is inspired by the cookies served in Chicago Public School lunchrooms.

The cookies at Sarah Jane’s Bakery may be even better than the ones grandma used to bake. Colorfully-frosted sugar cookie cutouts are the bakery’s best-selling cookie. A Minnesota-shaped version is always available, while other shapes shift with the seasons, from flowers to fireworks to fall leaves. Additional favorites include the M&M-chocolate chip and toffee-pecan cookies, plus ginger snaps offered in the fall and winter.

Cookies at Angel Food Bakery & Donut Bar feature some unexpected twists: coconut cookies get an extra boost of nutty flavor from browned butter, while the lemon sugar cookies include fresh thyme. The “Lumberjack” is as hearty as its namesake, with maple syrup, butterscotch chips, and candied bacon added to a chocolate chip cookie dough base. There’s also a vegan double chocolate sea salt cookie and gluten-free options that include the peanut butter “trust us” cookies, studded with whole roasted peanuts, potato chips, white chocolate chips, and a touch of yellow curry powder.

While A Baker’s Wife is best-known for their doughnuts and tea cakes, there’s also a respectable selection of two-hands-required cookies in nostalgic flavors. The M&M cookie, dense with candy-coated chocolate, is a customer favorite; other bestsellers include chocolate chip and snickerdoodle. Oatmeal raisin, molasses, and peanut butter round out the daily lineup.

Sebastian Joe’s is famous for premium handmade ice cream, but they also bake cookies. Snickerdoodle, chocolate chip, and oatmeal raisin are always on the menu, with peanut butter available occasionally. Although delicious on their own, the chocolate chip cookies are even better as an ice cream sandwich made with vanilla, raspberry chocolate chip, or Oreo ice cream. A root beer float-inspired ice cream sandwich pairs molasses cookies with vanilla ice cream.

Unique flavors and a focus on organic and natural ingredients make the Scandinavian-style cookies at Swedish Crown Bakery worth the drive to Anoka. The signature lavender dream, a sugar cookie with organic lavender, and the pistachio-cardamom shortbread are delicious twists on classic standbys. The bakery case also offers thumbprints made with organic strawberry and raspberry jam, gluten-free lavender lemon cookies, and Swedish raisin cookies. Plus it’s worth noting Swedish cookies are made with more butter than their U.S. counterparts.