During the Victorian era, cookies were known as "sweet biscuits" and were eaten only by paupers, who were forced to substitute rich, hearty tallow with inexpensive sugar. Relish this sweet substitution with today's Groupon: for $22, you get a 24-cookie gift box (a $50 value) from Insomnia Cookies, a Manhattan-based cookie-delivery service. Shipping is included in the value of today's deal. You can also pick up your cookies at Insomnia's 8th Street storefront in Greenwich Village.

Insomnia Cookies began as a project to feed fresh-baked cookies to hungry college students spending the wee hours studying, partying, or studying parties for an anthropology course. Cookie gift boxes can be shipped nationwide; their baked bounty is stored in a chocolate-brown box topped with a satin ribbon. Inside, your mother, father, or long-lost identical twin will discover 24 deliciously soft cookies in an assortment of signature flavors that includes chocolate chunk, snickerdoodle, white-chocolate macadamia, double-chocolate chunk, M&M, oatmeal raisin, and peanut butter. Include a message in the complimentary greeting card, or leave it as blank as a haunting memento to the delicious flavors that words cannot express.

Reviews

Insomnia Cookies has generated a lot of media buzz for its late-night cookies. The New York Times, the New York Post, Daily Candy, and Gotham magazine are among the media outlets that have featured it. More than 100 Yelpers give Insomnia Cookies an average of four stars:

• Chocolate chunk, macadamia, peanut butter, and oatmeal rounds have zero regard for portion control or calorie counting — which means they are absolutely delicious. – Daily Candy
• Need to hurry and procure a birthday party gift or treat for someone special? Think of Insomnia Cookies and its new store as your last-minute lifesaver. – Cristina Greeven Cuomo, Gotham