If there is one classic comfort food in this world, it’s got to be homemade chocolate chip cookies. I mean, whose mouth doesn’t start to water at the thought of warm cookies fresh out of the oven? Or who doesn’t love to walk into a home that smells like fresh baked cookies?
But everyone’s got a different recipe and every baker claims that theirs is the best! So which one really is? I put this to the test. 10 cookie recipes, 40 taste testers, which one really is the best?
Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe:
The Experiment:
Here’s how it went-For several months I have been watching Pinterest for chocolate chip cookies recipes that claim to be the best and I have been secretly pinning them to prepare for this test.
This week I baked 10 recipes that each claimed that they are the best or “the perfect” cookie.
For the experiment I printed out each recipe and followed it as closely as possible. I baked them all in one day so that none would have an advantage of freshness and I served them all at room temperature so that they were on equal footing.
Then I had about 40 friends over to taste each one. Each friend ranked the cookies-telling me their top 3 favorites and why they liked them.
Then I tallied the results and today I will tell you which cookie won Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe Ever.
Meet the Contestants:
These are the cookies that were tasted. They are listed in the order that they were labeled at the event, but the order was random.
Cookie A: Life Made Simple Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies:
Cookie B: No. 2 Pencil Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies:
Cookie C: Deliciously Sprinkled Best Chocolate Chip Cookies:
Cookie D: Love From the Oven Brown Butter Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies:
Cookie E: Over the Big Moon Caroline’s Chocolate Chip Cookies:
Cookie F: Two Twenty One The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies:
Cookie G: It’s Always Autumn Perfect (Never Flat) Chocolate Chip Cookies:
Cookie H: I Heart Naptime Double Chocolate Pudding Cookies:
Cookie I: NY Times America’s Favorite Cookie:
No Image
Cookie J: Averie Cooks The Best Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies:
The Test:
I had about 40 taste testers-people of all ages from kids to grandparents-come to my house and taste test the cookies. The cookies were broken into quarters and labeled just with a letter to identify them.
Taste testers were asked to taste each cookie and rate their favorite. They tasted in any order that they wanted and had milk to “cleanse the palette” in between.
I asked them to rate their top three cookies-in order of favorite-and tell me what they liked about those cookies.
And the Winner Is…
Before I tell you who the winner is, let me first say that every single one of these cookie was amazing! Every single one had votes for favorite cookie.
You want a good cookie? Try any of these!
But, the overall winner of the cookie taste testing contest, the cookie chosen by my taste testers was:
The NY Times Best Cookie Recipe!
Apparently The NY Times knows what they are talking about, because this cookie was the clear winner!
My taste testers loved the taste of this cookie the best. It is crispier than the others and many taste testers said they felt like it was a good dunking cookie. It also has a light, buttery flavor.
Two notes: This recipe calls for two types of flour. I didn’t follow that-I just used my regular all purpose flour and it still won the taste test. Also, it was supposed to be refrigerated overnight and I didn’t have time to do that, so it was chilled for a few hours instead.
Oh, and one more thing. This is not a pretty cookie. It was definitely the ugliest cookie I tried. Apparently looks don’t matter.
Runners Up:
Want to know the second place cookie? This was my personal favorite.
Love From the Oven’s Brown Butter Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies:
Again, this cookie was supposed to be chilled and I didn’t have the time to let it chill as long as it should, but it was still great! This one has brown butter in it and I sprinkled it with Kosher salt before baking (optional in the recipe). Some tasters didn’t like the saltiness-leave that off if you don’t prefer it like that.
This was a very nice looking cookie.
Third Place:
We had a two way tie for 3rd place:
No. 2 Pencil Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies:
I Heart Naptime Double Chocolate Pudding Cookies:
My taste testers loved the soft, chewiness of these cookies AND, the No. 2 Pencil Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies have a mixture of milk chocolate and semi sweet chocolate and the I Heart Naptime Double Chocolate Pudding Cookies have a mixture of semi sweet and white chocolate chips. My taste testers liked the mixture of chocolate here.
So-there are your winners! I really want to make it clear though that every single one of these cookies really was fantastic. Make any of them and you will impress your friends!
Happy Baking!!
Want another amazing cookie recipe? This is my personal best: Double Chocolate Mint Cookies! Try these-I promise you will love them:
How about a cute apron to wear while you make them?
Hannah Flack says
Sunny days are amazing when you’re in the mood to get out and ENJOY life! But cloudy days are a good excuse to stay in and cook and snuggle 😉 Love how puffy and cheesy this quiche looks. yuuuuum!
Amber says
YES! You are my kind of person. 🙂
Rebekah says
On the NY times recipe it calls for 2 different bread flours but you said you used 1 all purpose how much did you use? The recipe is confusing to add the 2 together. I added 8 1/2 plus 8 1/2 oz for 17 oz all purpose but it says but the cups are off it called for 2 cups minus 2 tablespoons and the other flour 1 2/3 cups yet it says 8 1/2 for both is it 17 ounces all purpose??
Cammie says
Thanks so much for posting this, what a fun idea! The NY Times recipe has been my favorite for years. I would definitely recommend chilling it for at least 24 hours, you will be surprised how much the flavor changes, it’s like at totally different cookie and 100 times better, they also turn turn a nice caramel color and aren’t so light. I use the bread and cake flour and I always weigh it, otherwise I’ve found I don’t put enough in and turn out too flat. These definitely arent an ugly cookie!
mindi says
How fun! Chocolate chip cookies ARE THE BEST treat in the whole world! I can’t wait to see Melissa (No. 2 Pencil), at school and tell her congrats! I will definitely be trying these recipes. Thanks!!!
Christy says
hi! So my daughter and I made the New York (winner )cookies a few years ago at Christmas…we used both the flours and waited the( I want to say 2 or 3 days) time before cooking. As an experiment we tried them along the way. Yes they were good initially, but over time they became insanely good… The flavored changed. Worth the wait. Every single person asked me for that recipe.
Amber says
Good to know!
Liz Gossom says
I went with your favorite and I so don’t regret it! that browned butter gave the cookies an amazing flavor. Thanks so much! These will be a big hit with my family over Christmas!
Christi @ Love From The Oven says
I’m so glad you liked the cookie recipe! 🙂 We loved them. They are a bit salty, but I adore the salty sweet combo! Absolutely one of those where people can leave out or back off on the salt. Thanks so much for sharing!
Kelly O. says
what a GREAT POST!!! I too am always on the hunt for THE BEST chocolate chip cookie! Your findings are very useful! I am going to link to your post on my blog (if that’s okay?)
Laura says
So fun!!!!!!! Why don’t I live near you anymore? I’ll have to try the NY times kind. I never have because I think mine are the best.
Amber says
The NY times are interesting. A Different consistency than all the others. Crispier and buttery. I don’t know. See what you think.
Abbey says
You’re brilliant. What a good idea!! I always wonder about these things, so this is a REALLY cool way to do it!! Bravo, smart gal!
Sarah says
Not surprised in the least! It’s the only one that probably went through a panel of taste testers ahead of time, as opposed to a blogger’s family favorite. However, you don’t have Laura’s recipe in there, so maybe it’s not a true winner just yet… 😉 I keep meaning to share it! I do maintain that paradise bakery (now woody creek) has the best cc cookies on earth, however. Soft and freaking amazing! Warm cc cookies are my ultimate comfort food! Amazing post idea!
Breanna says
This is so fun! Thanks for doing the legwork for the best cookies out there! P.S. You’re right, I love your double chocolate mint cookies!
Michelle@TheRibbonRetreat says
This is the funnest post EVER! I love this idea and how super clever you are! Next time…let me know when you are in need of a taste tester…I will make sure to clear my schedule just for you! 🙂
Great job Amber! Off to bake some cookies! 🙂
PattyV says
Who doesn’t like chocolate chip cookies? They are my favorite cookie by far. I love a soft, slightly underdone, moist and chewy one. The recipe I use is on the back of Ghiradelli’d 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Baking Chips and it meets all my desires. Give it try, you won’t be able to have just one!
Amber says
I like my cookies just the way that you just described!
Christina Marcano says
I love it. What a fun project. And talk about a lot of work. I am a fan of ccc and love a good recipe. <3
Mary L. says
Love this! I have always stuck with the same cookie recipe (why change it when it’s always a hit?) but I think it’s time to try something new!!! Thanks for the inspiration!