We all have our talents.

Some people take those "talents to South Beach" to win N.B.A. championships, while others use their uncanny ability to spot the perfect blend of chocolate chips and the ratio of chewy to crispy to track down the best chocolate chip cookies in New York City.

In case there was any confusion about which talent we're harboring, it's the first one.

Kidding! It's the second one. Cookies. We love them. We seek them out; it's often a Pavlovian response when we see one (for non-psychology buffs, that means you start to drool.)

Let's be honest, for most of us, this love rooted from the days of Yore the 80s when you would mix up Nestle Toll House with your mom, and often even forgo the baking process to drown yourself in a sea of raw dough.

Side note: no one gave a damn about consuming raw eggs back then, and if you were to give us a bowl of cookie dough right now, we still wouldn't.

But back to what we do care about: cookies.

The city is full of these delicious, circular- baked goods, but let us remind you there's a difference between being a cookie connoisseur and a cookie monster-- aside from being blue and a muppet.

And that difference is defined via these 5 establishments.

Behold, the Holy Grail of Cookie Consumption! (In no particular order, that is.)

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 1. Levain (167 West 74th Street)

If you've ever heard of a chocolate chip cookie, or New York City for that matter, chances are you've been hearing about these "slap me in the face incredible" chocolate chip cookies. These cookies live in infamy.

Naturally, we were intrigued, but at the same time, it's like when you go to see an overhyped movie: you can't help but be skeptical. How can they possibly be that good?

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(Side note: My first Levain cookie was consumed while sitting in Strawberry Fields, and it was a true religious experience. And not because of the John Lennon part. They are that good.)

One thing to keep in mind: these might be the most dense chocolate chip cookies on the planet.

You have to actually eat them in phases -- we refuse to split it, and so should you. Just make sure you have somewhere you can lie down afterwards. You'll need it.

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2. Ovenly (31 Greenpoint Avenue - Brooklyn) 

Fact: we had no idea of the wonderful-ness that was Ovenly due to its Brooklyn location. Until, that is, we sampled their sea salt chocolate chip cookies from Van Leeuwan's in the East Village.

Any New Yorker can relate to something being so good, it makes you cross a bridge.

Oh, and for people who care about this, they're vegan!  And for people who care about taste, they've got that covered in spades by using the perfect amount of coarse sea salt on their chewy, chunky cookies.

Should you sample one at Van Leeuwan's, know they will make an ice cream sandwich for you on request. Also, know if you don't request the sea salt caramel ice cream as the filling, you're a fool.

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3. Birdbath Neighborhood Green Bakery (various NYC locations) 

Not to play favorites, but to totally play favorites, this is our favorite cookie in the city.

There, we said it.

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To say it's stupendous hardly seems to even do it justice. It's the perfect size (slightly bigger than a fist, but not a full hand print); it's the perfect texture (a little doughy, but still somewhat crispy and chewy); it's the perfect taste. It hits every mark.

One time we asked someone who worked there why the hell they were so good. We just needed to know. We definitely asked her this with cookie smeared on our face. And she definitely laughed.

Birdbath sources these pieces of heaven from City Bakery, so you can also find these cookies there. But there's just something about the SoHo location's quaint feel that makes you feel like you're in your grandma's kitchen...and that kitchen is lined with crack...in cookie form.

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4. Baked (359 Van Brunt Street - Brooklyn)

Remember that cookie dough we all used to eat?

Well, odds are when (if) you actually managed to get some of it in the oven, you always liked the cookies to be a little undercooked. This isn't a theory. It's why you were eating the dough. It's science.

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Baked gets that. And therefore, they get you. Their cookies have a little bit of doughy-ness to them, like they have been just taken out of the oven, and it's awesome.

And now you don't even have to ride the train for an hour to get one in Red Hook (although, any excuse to go there will do fine, really).

They've opened up another shop in TriBeCa (279 Church Street, to be exact) to fill Manhattan-dwelling arteries with sweet, sweet chocolate.

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5. Maman (239 Centre Street)

This is the newest cookie to enter our lives, and therefore our calorie intake. We had our doubts. It's a posh little French bakery, and we're down home cookie type of peeps. But hot damn if it isn't fantastic.

It's thin, but not too thin and it even incorporates nuts in a way we find tolerable (that can be a big hit or miss).

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Take a seat in this cute little cafe you may just feel like you're a local Parisian sipping coffee and a cookie at your local spot.

Until you eat another cookie, and are so full you have to physically lean over... then it will be clear you're an American.

Check out 11 Famous Foods That Were Invented in This Wonderful City.

[Feature Image Courtesy: Tumblr]