Can 8 People Agree on Chocolate Chip Cookies?

[lively instrumental music]

[Narrator] We've gathered a panel of eight people

from tweens to professionals,

to blind-taste test some of the most popular brands

of packaged chocolate chip cookies.

First on the list is Chips Ahoy Original

chocolate chip cookie.

[Frank] This looks very familiar.

It smells too sweet.

I want softer, bigger.

Looks dry. [panelists murmur]

This is gonna sit like a rock.

I'm wondering how many chemicals are in this.

Let's go for it. [lively music continues]

[Narrator] Now, let's hear from the panel one by one.

Got that really nice vanilla flavor

and you have chocolate chips in every bite.

These small 4,000-count chocolate chips.

I do feel a little bit of molasses in there as well.

Maybe some brown sugar.

This is a cookie you wanna enjoy with a glass of milk.

[lively instrumental music]

It looks familiar.

Tastes familiar. No flavor.

I mean, there's flavor, [chuckles] but it's like not,

[chuckles] not the one that I would choose.

And it makes a noise

when you tap it on the plate. [cookie clangs]

It's a no for me.

Just looking at it before I picked it up, it looked awful.

It looks dry and brittle.

When I took a bite out of it, it actually split in half.

I prefer cookies that are moist and chewy.

This is definitely not it.

I definitely recognized this cookie

and then as soon as I tasted it, far too dry,

kinda to be expected.

I don't expect too much out of packaged cookies,

but I expect a little bit of something.

I feel like when I looked at it,

I knew I wasn't really gonna like it.

It kind of feels like a little stale,

like it was sitting in the package for a while.

I like my cookies soft and chewy.

I've spent a lot of my life doing things

that are physically difficult.

I don't want it from my cookie.

Eating this cookie without a glass of milk

or any liquid feels like a form of punishment.

It is so [chuckles] dry.

As soon as I picked it up,

it snapped in half like a cracker.

It's a cookie. It's not a cracker.

It's too dry and it's too sweet,

so you can't really eat it without a milk.

[somber instrumental music]

[scores whoosh]

[Narrator] That was a tough round for the crispy classic.

Maybe they'll like a softer cookie a bit better.

[lively instrumental music]

Hey. Look at this.

Soft. Way, way better.

[Narrator] Let's go with Pepperidge Farm Montauk

milk chocolate.

It looks super good 'cause it looks chewy.

It's also bigger. [panelists chatter]

[lively music continues] [plate clangs]

Yeah, my kinda cookie.

Mm. Very synthetic.

I like the appearance of this cookie.

I like that there are chunks

and they're kind of hidden in

these little peaks and valleys.

Like there's a little bit of a landscape that's happening,

and it got me excited

and I was happy that I could immediately kind of bend it

and see there's a little bit of like elasticity.

It's a chewy cookie. It's soft.

I will say, the texture on this one is really good.

I like how it's soft and chewy,

but it definitely is a little too sweet for me personally,

especially with that smell that it had.

It's like a very like sickeningly sweet brown sugar

kind of maple, very strong sweet scent.

So, this cookie's really interesting.

It's a really soft texture.

For me, what that tells me

that it's probably made with shortening instead of butter,

and because it's made with shortening,

all the other ingredients, so any kind of sugars

or that vanilla, is amplified.

It's not a premium cookie for any sake of it,

but gets the job done.

I do appreciate a soft and chewy cookie.

It's kind of sitting in my mouth a little funny.

You can just tell that it was made in bulk

in the processed cookie kind of taste.

Not really made with love, but made. [chuckles]

Well, it's a soft cookie, which is a plus.

The texture, plus.

The chocolate chips are not falling off. Plus.

The trade-off here does seem to be, however, the taste.

It definitely tastes like chemicals,

so that's a knock against it.

Again, I'm wondering what kinda chemicals are in this.

I like that it is soft compared to the other cookies.

When I tasted the chocolate, it felt so synthetic.

It just tastes very, very artificial.

I wasn't able to take more than one bite.

I'm not gonna knock it for what this cookie

is not trying to be.

It's a good cookie for what it is,

and I would absolutely eat it.

I think it was interesting, people were saying

that there's this like waxy film

that's coating their mouths,

shortening, they melt at a higher temperature

than your body temperature,

so it's gonna have that kinda effect.

[Narrator] Overall, the panel liked the softness,

but for some, the texture left a bad taste in their mouth.

[graphics whoosh] [gentle instrumental music]

[text box chimes]

[napkins rustle] [lively instrumental music]

[panelists murmur] Let's go back to the world

of the crispy cookie

with Tate's Bake Shop signature chocolate chip cookie.

Ugh, off to a bad start.

Too dry. [panelists chatter]

I'm not gonna like it. Yeah.

[cookie clangs] This is the, oh. Mm.

It actually is better when you bite in

versus what it looks like at first.

This cookie really delivers on those dairy notes

from the butter.

It like melts in your mouth so nicely.

I really love the scarcity of the chocolate chips.

The texture of it, like the cross section, it's exactly

what you expect from a crispy cookie.

I though that it kind of looks homemade.

I don't know if it's the kind of golden brown color on it,

but I actually really like this cookie

despite what I said about not liking crumbly dry cookies.

This was a whole journey.

I'm team chewy all day,

but when I tried it, I really appreciated the taste.

I got some really warm brown butter notes

and I really, really enjoyed the dark chocolate flavor.

But then after chewing it, there was like a very bitter

kind of like chalky almost baking soda aftertaste

that is still in my mouth that is so off-putting.

The chocolate chips taste like it's dark chocolate

and I do like it.

If I were to pick a packaged cookie that's crispy,

I would probably pick this one.

I did like that it's kind of glistening in the light.

I don't know [chuckles] if you can tell.

I could eat these. This is a solid one.

This cookie is not my cookie

and I'm not this cookie's human.

No, thank you.

[Narrator] Tate's was definitely not a match

made in heaven for the soft-cookie lovers.

Yasir still gave it a six

while Robert is holding firm with his one.

[gentle instrumental music]

[text box chimes]

With a total of 42.7, Tate's, so far,

seems to be the panelists' favorite.

[napkins rustle]

Ooh, this is fun. Oh.

[panelists murmur]

Look at that. I don't know about this.

[Narrator] Now, we turn to something

that's a little outta the box

with the Trader Joe's Dunkers.

Biscotti? I don't know what that is.

Feels alien.

Feels like I need coffee to stir.

It smells like coconuty. Let's give it a taste.

[lively instrumental music] [cookies crunch]

Mm. [Yasir coughs]

[Skylar chuckles] [Yasir's coughing continues]

[lively music continues]

I am very excited

because this is the only cookie so far

that I've had before and I love it.

I feel like such a liar that at the beginning I said

that I liked soft and chewy cookies

and so [chuckles] far, both my favorites are really crispy.

It serves a purpose

and I think it's really around a beverage.

Ducking it in some milk, ducking it in your coffee

in the morning.

I do love the bottom enrobed portion of this cookie.

I think that adds a fun uniqueness

and I do like the texture.

I can imagine like maybe eating this

with like an English breakfast tea with milk in it,

but I don't have that in front of me.

Relying on it having to be dipped in something,

it does not win any points.

I'm gonna have to give this one to the dogs.

[text box chimes]

It's obviously burned and it's too dry.

I don't really like the chocolate.

Yeah, it's too dry for me.

That chocolate chip is a different color

than the other one because it's so burnt.

I didn't even wanna eat this side of the cookie.

I like this one. [chuckles]

A little bit of coconut in the topping here.

That's what I'm getting out of it.

I like coconut. I like chocolate.

It's a beautiful cookie. Where can I get them?

[whimsical instrumental music]

[Narrator] This cookie may have Becca rethinking

her entire cookie philosophy.

Here we have Sofiia's first zero of the day.

The surprise hit with one of our most critical panelists.

The Dunkers were a big disappointment for most.

[whimsical music continues]

Ah. So tiny.

[panelists chatter] It's a baby.

[Narrator] Maybe Famous Amos will sit a little bit better

with the panel.

It's very cute.

She's cute. She's petite.

[whimsical music continues] [cookies crunch]

[cookie clangs]

It's pleasant. It's a little too much.

[whimsical music continues]

So, imagine this, middle school,

you're at your school vending machine.

D4 is the choice of this cookie.

I would buy a bag of this before gym class

before I had to run the mile,

and me and the Twilight girlies would just enjoy the bag

and crush it during our 60-minute mile.

Is it a great cookie? No, but it's nostalgic.

It hits all those like touch points in your heart,

so I can't like knock it too much, you know?

These would always come in a bag with like other bags

of different snack options,

and this is always the one that I wouldn't pick.

Having it again is really solidifying the fact

that I still would never pick that bag.

It just tastes kind of like cardboard. At least it's small.

I just don't like how it's small and hard.

Tried really hard to like this cookie.

I went beyond the part that it's hard

and I looked at the butteriness and it was good.

The chocolatiness was good.

The balance between sweet and salty was there.

I would especially like it more if there was

a cup of coffee or a cup of tea.

You shouldn't have to be able to dunk it in anything.

The cookie should stand on its own.

Maybe that's because I've never had Chips Ahoy,

but it feels kind of the same.

Not really bad,

but just nothing that makes you really excited to eat it,

so darn. [defeatist instrumental music]

[scores whoosh]

[Narrator] That was a tough round for Famous Amos

with the panel giving us our overall lowest scores

so far today.

Not famous to me.

[text box chimes] [lively instrumental music]

[Narrator] Maybe we can turn things around

by going back to the softer side of cookie

with Grandma's Soft-Baked Gourmet chocolate chip cookies.

[lively music continues]

[napkins rustle] Ooh.

[panelists chatter]

They're soft. [chattering continues]

Yay, soft. Time to taste.

[lively music continues] Yep.

Mm. Ooh.

It's very good. Very good.

It starts to get a little chalky though,

once you're chewing it down. Mm.

When I bit into it, I just immediately thought

of raw cookie dough

and it reminds me when you eat ice cream,

like the chocolate chip cookie dough,

and you get those good big chunks.

And then there's a little bit of like a synthetic kind of

chemical aftertaste, but not unpleasant overall.

I don't think any of the soft cookies

are escaping the chemical taste allegations,

so I think we're just gonna make that a given,

but it does have a really good

and interesting taste.

Almost like it stabs your mouth with like a flavor.

I like it a lot.

You know, I think this cookie has a great amount

of chocolate chips in it.

I do feel like it's the texture of it, it's very sandy.

Leads me to think it's like a shortening-based cookie

and it's sweetened with some like corn syrup,

like some dark corn syrup in there,

to really get that like soft texture.

I do get a lot of vanillin

and it's mostly artificial.

Overall, not one of my favorite cookies of the day.

I think I would want it to be a little bit less sweet

and less dense.

Well, I do like that it's chewy.

I'm gonna say it's a little bit moist.

I like the flavor of it.

I'm not sure there's like cloves in it or allspice,

some kind of flavoring that's not normally

in a chocolate chip cookie and I find it pleasant.

I like this. Not the usual nastiness.

Where can I get 'em?

This is a soft cookie. I love a soft cookie.

So, that made me happy from the beginning.

There's like a sandiness to it. I like it.

It's just an interesting kinda texture.

I can even hear it crunching.

It's really funny, I also picked up on a raisin flavor.

I know there's no raisins in here.

So all in all, it's a very interesting cookie

and I would definitely eat another one.

Okay, so I do like the softness.

The initial flavor kind of just tasted like I bit into

like a butter stick with some vanilla extract.

I prefer this over the crunchy cookies, the crispy cookies.

[Skylar chuckles] [whimsical instrumental music]

[Narrator] Overall, the panel seemed to like the softness

of this cookie,

but the texture left a little bit

of a bad taste in their mouth.

Let's see how that translates into their scores.

[whimsical music continues]

This is Grandma's. Ah.

Don't know her. Never met her.

Hardly know her.

[Narrator] This cookie's complex flavors

mystified the panel.

[whimsical music continues]

[quirky instrumental music]

I know what this is.

[Narrator] Last up, we venture into the bakery aisle

for the Kirkland Signature chocolate chip cookie.

Just looks homemade.

I like the chocolate chunks.

Gonna break it up. [gasps]

Yeah. I feel like this is going to be good.

It looks the best I love the chocolate chip.

And let's taste it up.

[quirky music continues] [cookie clangs]

[panelists munch]

Yeah. Ah, that's a good cookie.

Mm-hm. The chocolate chip melting

is quite divine.

I think for a store-bought cookie,

this is a really solid expression

of a chocolate chip cookie.

The softness. The chewiness.

I appreciate the chunks.

It's soft and it's chewy.

You can really taste the dark chocolate in it,

and I like the pieces of chocolate,

that it's different sizes.

It was a little too soft for me.

I think the flavor development was lackluster.

Could have used some different extracts

or even salt to enhance the flavor.

I think there could have been a little bit more complexity

in the flavor, especially the bites without the chocolate.

A little more salt would have helped,

but pretty solid.

So, this one, very familiar with more recently in my life.

I think I really like the softness of it

and it tastes less processed than the other ones

that come in the bags.

I do like the chocolate chunks.

It feels more real, but there are too much chunks going on.

I do really like the crumble though.

It's the way the cookie crumbles. That's how I like this.

And, yeah, I'm gonna be finishing this.

I feel like this is kind of quintessentially

a perfect cookie,

like everything I would look for in a cookie.

It is quite chocolatey with a little bit

of like vanilla flavor in there.

I think I would recommend it and it's good.

I like that this cookie is soft and chewable.

I don't like how it smells.

I don't like how it tastes,

'cause I'm not comfortable with this is actually

a real chocolate chip cookie.

Prove it to me. Show me.

This looks like the platonic ideal

of a store-bought cookie,

and it kind of almost is, I would say.

Thank God for the chocolate chips

because if you did not have a chocolate chip

or a robust amount of chocolate chip in your bite,

it's rather flat.

Maybe like number two or three on my personal list,

but I think across the board, objectively,

is maybe the best store-bought cookie.

I'm really happy that this was the last cookie

'cause it is my favorite cookie

and I don't buy a lot of cookies, but I would buy this one.

[whimsical instrumental music]

[Narrator] Okay, let's turn to the panelists' scores

and see if it do in fact Kirkland.

Something tells me we may have a winner on our hands here.

Let's look at those scores.

[whimsical music continues]

My favorite was Kirkland by Costco.

My favorite was Kirkland by Costco.

My favorite was Kirkland from Costco.

My favorite was from Costco.

My favorite was also Kirkland.

Dunkers from Trader Joe.

My personal favorite has to be the Tate's.

I like the Trader Joe's Dunkers the best. [laughs]

[Narrator] Glad Skyler reminded us

that is how, indeed, the cookie crumbles.

[whimsical music continues]

What are your favorites?

Join us next time when our intrepid panel

takes on boxed brownies.