The best cookies in Houston: Where to go when you need a sweet treat or guilty pleasure

From the classics like oatmeal raisin to newfangled varieties like Central Market's blueberry white chocolate chip, the Bayou City knows how to bake a mean cookie.

Here's a quick rundown of our favorites in no particular order.

Pondicheri

While our list isn't really ranked, Pondicheri still deserves top mention for cookie flavors that are as innovative as they are delicious. The cookie names speak for themselves really — Double Chocolate Hazelnut Basil, Pistachio Cardamom, Chocolate Almond Coconut Fresh Mint, Chocolate Oatmeal Chili, to note but a few.

Sinfull Bakery

Sinfull Bakery makes cookies for the 21st century, adding a healthy and socially-responsible edge to a classic guilty pleasure. But just because Sinfull's goods are organic and totally vegan, doesn't mean these cookies won't rock your world.

Go for the oatmeal raisin with its maple syrup-infused dough and rum-soaked raisins.

Fluff Bake Bar

Cordon Bleu-trained Rebecca Masson put Houston cookies on the map in 2011 with her drama-filled performance on the second season of Top Chef: Just Desserts. Do not miss her fluffernutter sandwich cookies.

Three Brothers Bakery

Serving up baked goods since 1949, Three Brothers is a Bayou City institution offering more than 30 varieties of non-dairy and kosher cookies.

Known for one of the best black and white cookie this side of Manhattan, the Three Brothers Cookie Chocolate Chewie is an unforgettable hybrid of cookie and brownie . . . complete with chopped walnuts sprinkled on top.

Tiny Boxwoods

Nothing beats sitting in the garden on a mild sunny day at Tiny Boxwoods, especially if you're sporting a latte and one of the cafe's beloved buttery cookies. The chocolate chip is a Houston must.

Paulie's

Paulie's has some amazing dessert options, but the Italian bistro's chocolate chip cookie is outstanding. Not only is it perfectly chewy, but there's additional chocolate dripped onto the top. Genius.

Michael's Cookie Jar

In eight short years, Michael Savino has become a cookie legend — a man who, according to his website, "couples the nostalgia of our collective childhood memories with the dedication and skill of a trained pastry chef."

The surprise is it's almost all true. Try the chocolate chunk or a classic sugar cookie.

Knowing full well that we've only just scratched the surface of Houston cookie culture, feel free to chime in with your favorites in the comments section below.

Sinfull Bakery

SinfullBakery.com

Sinfull Bakery

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NYT best dishes

Houston Mediterranean restaurant makes NY Times' best desserts list

Sayad Mediterranean Kitchen/Facebook

Sayad Mediterranean Kitchen is the only Houston restaurant on either list.

The New York Times included four Texas restaurants among its favorite dishes of 2025. Divided into two lists — The 23 Best Restaurant Dishes We Ate Across the U.S. in 2025 and The 14 Best Restaurant Desserts We Ate Across the U.S. in 2025 — the dishes are:

Bad Honey Bunny at Mercado Sin Nombre (Austin)
Ketan Hitam at Yeni’s Fusion (Austin)
Konafa Naama at Sayad Mediterranean Kitchen (Houston)
Picadillo Macaroni and Cheese at 2M Smokehouse (San Antonio)

Times food writer Priya Krishna, who authors the entries for all four Texas dishes, traveled to far west Houston to visit Sayad Mediterranean Kitchen. “The konafa, a signature here, arrives with a molten layer of cheese under a sticky-sweet layer of golden, nutty semolina. The craft is evident, the konafa gone in a few bites,” she writes.

Sayad Mediterranean Kitchen Konafa Naama Don't skip dessert at Sayad Mediterranean Kitchen.KSayad Mediterranean Kitchen/Facebook

In Austin, Krishna praises the rice pudding at Yeni’s Fusion. “This barely sweet version, lush with coconut milk, aromatic with pandan and as soothing as warm porridge, is the gentlest way to end a meal,” she states.

Already hailed as one of America’s best breakfast spots by Bon Appetit, Krishna singles out a honeybun at Mercado Sin Nombre. “The coiled honey bun at this semi-clandestine cafe looks almost cartoonishly perfect, and the heady scent of cardamom and honey hits you before you even take a bite. Somehow, it tastes every bit as plush and elegant as it appears,” she writes.

The picadillo mac and cheese at 2M Smokehouse showcases how the San Antonio restaurant incorporates Mexican flavors into traditional Texas barbecue. “Imagine Hamburger Helper, but spicier, punchier and even more luxuriously creamy. It’s not easy to one-up the singular, thickly spiced brisket here, but the picadillo mac and cheese — which runs as an occasional special — holds its own and then some,” Krishna writes.

The New York Times regularly shines its spotlight on Texas restaurants, In September, it named four establishments — ChòpnBlọk (Houston), Isidore (San Antonio), Lao’d Bar (Austin), and P Thai’s Khao Man Gai & Noodles (Austin) — to its list of America’s 50 Best Restaurants.

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