Chocolate chip cookies are the great unifier: we all love them.
A good chocolate chip cookie has a slightly crunchy exterior with a soft, chewy interior. The cookie itself should be full of flavour — buttery and caramelized, with hints of vanilla. The chocolate chips should only accent an already-good cookie. A common pitfall is when the cookie is too sweet, and the chocolate makes it even sweeter; there's no flavour, only sugar.
It's safe to say that I'm somewhat of a cookie snob. I've often found that store-bought options are simply not as good as those I can make myself.
But I don't always have time to make cookies, and have you seen the price of butter and chocolate these days? It's not cheap, so store-bought cookies are often the way to go.
On a mission to find out what's worth it and what's not, I compared chocolate chip cookies from Costco, Walmart, and No Frills. It honestly wasn't even a competition — one is a clear winner.
Costco cookies
The landslide winner
Alyssa Wiens | Narcity
Costco does a lot of things well, including chocolate chip cookies. These were the landslide winner and probably the only option I'd opt to buy again.
Costco's Kirkland-brand chocolate chip cookies come in a larger package with chocolate and white chocolate macadamia nut options.
Right away, I could visually tell that these would be better than the other two options. The cookie part was darker brown, which might indicate they've used brown sugar, which also gives a richer taste. The cookie part was very tasty — sweet, but not too sweet, with a buttery depth of flavour. The chocolate chips were not super sweet and came in big chunks.
Texturally, it was more on the crunchy side, but the inside was still soft. It wasn't the perfect contrast, but overall pretty good. To me, this had the most "homemade vibes" and was the only cookie I went back for seconds for!
- Price: $11.99 for 24 cookies, or $0.49 each (44 grams each)
- Nutritional info: 209 calories, 9 grams of fat, 28 grams of carbohydrates, and 2 grams of protein
- Rating: 8.5/10
This doesn't get full points because I think the texture could be a bit better, and it's also just a lot of cookies. As someone who shops for one, Costco portion sizes are often too much for me, and I simply don't need 24 cookies at one time.
Walmart cookies
So many Walmart cookie options
Alyssa Wiens | Narcity
Coming in second place are Walmart's Fresh Market cookies. I will say up top that "fresh" isn't a word I'd use to describe these. They had that artificial taste that often comes with store-bought baked goods. The cookie portion didn't have much flavour; it was way too sweet. There were a lot of chocolate chips, which I'd usually list as a pro, but it made the cookie over-the-top sweet.
That said, I thought the texture was pretty good. It was a soft cookie throughout, which I would always prefer to something over-baked and crispy. One plus for Walmart is that they do have different size options, so you can get a small or big pack of cookies according to your needs.
- Price: $5.46 for 10 cookies, or $0.54 per cookie (39 grams each)
- Nutritional info: 180 calories, 8 grams of fat, 26 grams of carbohydrates, and 2 grams of protein
- Rating: 6/10
No Frills cookies
No Frills cookies.
Alyssa Wiens | Narcity
Last up and last place are these No Frills cookies, Farmer's Market brand. They were very similar to Walmart's cookies in that they tasted kind of fake. The individual chocolate chunks were bigger, which is nice, but the cookie was still too sweet overall.
This ranks lower than Walmart because of the texture. It was crispy throughout, almost a little stale. If I can't have a crispy exterior and a soft interior, then I want it to be chewy throughout. So the texture here just didn't hit the spot for me. Cookies came in a small or large pack, and they had a few different flavour options, too.
- Price: $6.00 for 12 cookies, or $0.50 per cookie (38 grams each)
- Nutritional info: 170 calories, 6 grams of fat, 27 grams of carbohydrates, and 2 grams of protein
- Rating: 5.5/10
Looking at price-per-cookie and nutritional information, these three options are very similar. Costco is the cheapest but also the most calorie-dense, and only by a small margin. So, the real test is what matters most: taste and texture.
So while they all get a passing grade because they're chocolate chip cookies and I like sugar, Costco is a clear winner here. Anytime I can't be bothered to make my own, this will be my new go-to option!
The opinions expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Narcity Media.