Monday, October 29, 2012

Schmackery's - a cookie haven in Hell's Kitchen

Most New Yorkers avoid Times Square like the plague.  There's really not much reason to go, save for the occasional Broadway show or a trip to Carmine's for a special occasion.  So that will explain my reason for being in Times Square last week, a visit to good old 42nd street to see Bring It On the Musical.  While wandering around amongst the tourists before the show, we stumbled across a cookie shop I hadn't seen or heard of before - Schmackary's.
Zachary Schmahl, the founder, wanted to add a level of sophistication to cookies, and show the world the potential beyond plain old chocolate chip.  He opened up shop in May 2012, after spending years hand delivering his "Lip Schmackin' Good" home-baked cookies to his friends.  The name Schmackary's is a combination of Zach's name.  I thought it was kosher for some reason, but nope - the name was just a nickname of the baker.

The standard menu includes some of our favorites, but with a unique assortment of ingredients within.  For example, the chocolate chip cookie includes coconut and sea salt.  The menu changes daily with about 12 cookies on hand at all times.  Some of the other options include cookies and cream, maple bacon, oatmeal scotch, sch'mores, peanut butter banana crunch, peanut butter cup, red velvet, and white chocolate cherry.  There are two gluten-free options; lemon poppy and sweet corn.

There are seasonal flavors along with their traditional favorites; for Fall our options were caramel apple crisp, candied yam, blueberry cobbler, carrot cake and pumpkin spice.  The cookies come in 3 sizes - Schmall (a bite-sized option), Old-Fashioned (traditional style) & Schmack Snack (dee-dish).  There were also brownies, macaroons and bars that looked equally awesome, but we stuck with the Sch'mores cookie since that's their signature item and the guy at the counter said that's one of his faves.

The cookie base was graham cracker, and it had a layer of chocolate topped with toasted marshmallow.  The cookie portion tasted a bit dry, and the chocolate was underwhelming.  I felt that $2.75 was kind of overpriced for what it was.  But, it IS Times Square, and everything is double what it should be.  I would go back to try a different cookie and give it a second chance, since we did wait hours to actually try it and the marshmallow had solidified, but based on my original experience, I wouldn't put this high on my priority list of places to try.

Schmackery's is open Sunday-Tuesday 8am-11pm; Wednesday-Saturday 8am-midnight.
362 W 45th Street off of 9th Ave
www.schmackarys.com
646-801-YUMM