We love over-the-top pastries, but deep down, we're suckers for a good cookie.

We're generally sticklers for the classic chocolate chip--with a glass of cold milk--for its nostalgia factor. But we've uncovered two local cookie purveyors whose wares challenge Tollhouse's supremacy.

Lomaxine: Jesse Floyd turned to her grandmother’s recipe book for standout cookie flavors such as cherry-marzipan, triple ginger and chocolate sable ($6 for 5 ounces). Our favorite is her lime meltaway. The cookies are made with a batter containing powdered sugar, which gives the cookie a tender crumb that dissolves on the tongue, leaving behind a serious citrus tang. Available online and at New York Mouth online

Alfajores by Jessy’s Pastries: We’ve sampled these traditional Peruvian sandwich cookies before, but with this version, we think Oreos have met their match. Jessy’s Pastries riffs on the basic recipe--sweet dulce de leche filling between two shortbread cookie rounds--in three delicious ways: rum-infused, coconut-rimmed and the rich Nutella-filled. Available online, at Gourmet Guild, Hester St. Fair and Artists & Fleas.

We’re readying our cookie jar.