I am, to be perfectly blunt, something of a totalitarian when it comes to my cookie preferences. Not counting a fresh-baked giant chocolate chip cookie harkening back to my days visiting those Mormon “Home and Family” nights in college, I’m pretty set in my preferences. And while I make every effort to at least try cookie flavors and brands that my taste buds have not yet met, I seldom waste time, money, and artery space on cookies which I don’t instantly find amazing after the first go round.
This being the case, browsing the cookie aisle is often a maddening experience in the lessons of opportunity cost. Always intruiged by new products and long-standing brands and flavors I’ve yet to try (what exactly is a Mallomar, anyway?), I nevertheless feel pulled — almost, shall we say, in a gravitational sense — to my tried and true favorites. More often than not, this leads to the original (non-double stuff) Oreo when it comes to sandwich cookies, and Voortman and Keebler when it comes to all other treats (including, may I add, Vanilla Wafers.)
Healthy? Not really. But it’s a cookie, it’s not supposed to be healthy. Besides, if it was healthy, what would be the point of buying vegetables and keeping the existence of farms — not to mention those uber-chic ”no farms, no food” bumper stickers — going? That being said, when I buy a box of cookies, it usually comes down to taste and cost as opposed to nutrition. It definitely helps to have a little more fiber, less sugar, and no hydrogenated oils (especially if I’m going to eat the entire box like, right now), but at the end of the day I want something I’m actually compelled to eat and buy again.
I’m not stating this just so my views on cookies can be known to all of the dozen or so readers who have made it this far. Rather, I use it as a preface for a blind taste test I’ll be conducting each week (starting this week) between WhoNu cookies and my favorite brands. In the interest of full disclosure, I want to point out WhoNu is sporting the costs for all of their cookies, and at the summer I’ll be holding a giveaway for WhoNu coupons.
We’ll get things kicked off next Monday with a head-to-head matchup of chocolate chip cookies, chewy style. Is there anything better (well yes, an Oreo, but we’ll get there later)? But before we kick things off I’m asking you: What’s YOUR favorite brand of packaged chocolate chip cookies? And to the eternal question…crispy, or chewy?
