Suburban cookie queen

Warning: this isnot an article about fruits, salads and that oh-so-trendy kale. We shall, forthe love of cookies, stay on the topic. Covered with flour and smacking herlips, happy with her freshly baked batch of masterpieces, Ruchika Vyas standsat the doorstep, welcoming us into her warm Juhu residence, spatula in hand.

A quick glanceat the 25-year-old in front of us and we are catapulted into a world wherehunger remains nothing but a mythical sensation and cookies rule the roost. IfCookie Monster and Martha Stewart had a love child, it would be prodigy cookiebaker Ruchika Vyas, who reminds us that no matter how bad life gets, heavenlyNutella and sea salt cookies exist. Baking from the comfort of her residence,this London College of Fashion alumnus suffers from a compulsive need to attainbaking perfection, one that overpowers that all-consuming dread of addinginches to one's waist. Having converted more than one, some of her loyalists goall out to root for that House of Cookies nectar. Juhu-resident Masaba Gupta,the fashion designer behind some of those sought-after, quirky prints, wasquick to review Vyas's cookies, "Yummy in tummy! I ate them all! Ruchika hasofficially ruined my waistline!" Juhu-resident Kunal Saha goes a step furtherby wishing he could "give it 6 stars instead of just 5!"

"Byprofession, I am a fashion stylist and I have worked with some of the leadingglamour magazines in the city," shares Vyas, before adding the obvious "but myheart remains in baking cookies." Vyas' love for cookies is one that hasreached the pinnacle with some of her innovative recipes. Red velvet whoopiepies? She has them. Eggnog cheesecake? Vyas has made them and how! Shortbreaddipped in chocolate?

Definitely. Vyas' cookie menu is also extensive: thoselittle frisbees in jars go from chocolate chip to white chocolate to oatmealraisin to all the other possible sweet-meets-greasy combinations that thestylist could think of, all for the gustatory contentment of her friends andcustomers. But what caught our attention were her peanut butter kisses–cookiesloaded with peanut butter and sealed with a Hershey's kiss–what we have decidedto call 'bite-sized perfection'. Perfectly 'dip-able' (pardon our etymologicalcreation but it is for the love of cookies) in a glass of milk or sometimeslarge enough to have us stuffed to the brim, cookies and Vyas's love for themshow us just how life, at the end of the day, can be sweet no matter what.