Cookie lovers, rejoice! It’s been a long time coming, but Midnight Cookies has finally left its coveted spot inside California Chicken Grill for a new location at 3345 SW 34th St. — just a few doors down from Tropical Smoothie Cafe. The owner of Midnight Cookies, Jonathan MacAllister, said the relocation will attract more customers.
“We’ll have an actual storefront, which will be more noticeable and be able to attract the casual passerby,” MacAllister said.
As the scrumptious cookie shop is not a chain establishment, Midnight Cookies still offers a distinctive method to the creation of its cookies. However, instead of baking endless trays of cookies in hopes of selling them all in one day, the cookies are made to order. That’s right — fresh out of the oven just like your favorite pizza joint. This idea of fresh-baked cookies came from Jonathan MacAllister’s wife, Jennifer, who is also the co-owner.
“As she test-baked early on, we found that the taste of a fresh-from-the-oven cookie was so much better than cookies that sit in display for hours,” Jonathan MacAllister said. “The warm, melty goodness led her to suggest that we bake everything fresh to order.”
April Burnett, an employee of Midnight Cookies, said that it is the freshness of the cookies that makes their cookies stand out from others.
Midnight Cookies has a variety of cookies while at the same time keeping traditional flavors for those not daring enough to try its ever-changing cookie creations. The traditional flavors include chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, snickerdoodle, peanut butter and sugar. Cookie creations at Midnight Cookies are one-of-a-kind treats that can’t be found anywhere else in Gainesville -- or anywhere for that matter. The key lime pie cookie, for example, is made with fresh lime juice, lime zest mixed with graham crackers, white chocolate chips and then topped with key lime pie filling. The birthday cake cookie is made with cake flavoring, sprinkles and white chocolate chips.
However, what probably makes Midnight Cookies stand out from the rest is the fact that its dough is made from scratch in the store.
“Our cookies are original recipes made in-store from scratch,” Jonathan MacAllister said. “We had a competitor come in and ask us which company we order our dough from, and we had to simply point to some flour on our clothes. Plus we feature so many unique flavors you simply can’t find anywhere else.”
John Lowery, a 21-year-old mechanical and aerospace engineering junior, said his favorite cookie is the cookies ‘n’ cream.
“When you get it right out of the oven, it is soft and warm and the perfect blend of crunchy cookie pieces and sweet cream,” he said.
And what about vegan cookies? Don’t worry. Midnight Cookies has the perfect solution to making cookies that fit your needs. Cookies can be tailor-made by simply replacing the butter with vegetable shortening and soymilk instead of eggs. Some vegan cookie options include chocolate cookie crunch, which is a mixture of crushed Oreos in a chocolate-based dough topped with more crushed Oreos. A second vegan option, bananas foster, is a banana-flavored cookie with a hint of rum extract, cinnamon and walnut. Not to mention this banana creation is topped with fresh banana and brown sugar for a caramelized topping.
So whether you like traditional cookie flavors or fantastic original cookie creations that change as frequently as a college student’s mind, Midnight Cookies is the one place that offers delivery or pickup for uniquely delicious, warm, freshly made cookies that will get your taste buds tingling. Now it just has a shop all of its own.
For more information about the delivery options, deals or current flavors, visit www.midnightcookies.com.
