Make vs. buy

Make it...

Time spent baking: 50 mins
The nearby Morton Williams (130 Bleecker St between Greene and Mercer Sts; 212-358-9597, mortonwilliams.com) isn’t too crowded on Sunday afternoons, so it took only about 20 minutes to get what I needed. And, because the recipe simply requires mixing dough and rolling it into balls, I made two batches in 30 minutes flat.

Cost of materials: $16.94

Frustration level: One. Only because I hate doing dishes.

Yields: 28 cookies

Buy it...

Time spent shopping: 25 mins
Eight minutes away, Batch (150 W 10th St between Greenwich Ave and Waverly Pl; 212-929-0250, batchnyc.com) sells similar cookies, only they call them Walnut Melts. A short walk and an even shorter wait in line, and I was back on my couch in about 25 minutes.

Cost: $59.17

Frustration level: I’m at a pissed level five. The buying process was easy, but it’s irritating knowing that, at $1.95 per cookie, I was paying more than twice as much what it cost me to make them.

Yields: 28 cookies

—Lisa Freedman