I hate all packaged soft cookies. They taste like the chemicals they use to keep them that way. Bakery cookies are a different story. Now, a soft cookie that is great are the lemon ricotta cookies at Nordstrom Cafe. They have a cakelike consistency, with crispy edges and a great lemon frosting. Perfect in every way.

You know what makes those cookies so soft and delicious?

1.) Butter (or shortening). Lots of it.
2.) Letting the dough come to room temperature before baking.

Home made? Chocolate chip + peanut butter chip, to my wife's friend Katie's recipe.

Bakery? Linzer cookies (raspberry or apricot, or better still, one of each) from La Marjolaine in Sunnyside.

Store-bought? The fudge-covered Oreos they have around Christmas.