A Chocolate Chip Cookie Taste Test in 15 Easy Steps
I have spoiled my children and ruined them for mediocre baked goods. In doing my blog research, I thought it would be fun to go in search of the best chocolate chip cookies in Walkable Seattle. My goal was to do a taste test and then write about each cookie, ranking them from best to worst or..."least best". (Thinking of trademarking that term)
Leading up to the taste test, we had sampled our share of chocolate chip cookies around town. Sure, Starbucks and Specialties also offer a tasty chocolate chip cookie but we were looking for something only available locally and baked on site.
There are no clear winners and no losers of our taste test because Holy Cats, these are all so good! There wasn't a single "least best" (Okay, I've thought it over. I won't be trademarking that term)
Keep reading to follow my detailed and self indulgent take on our process or feel free to skip to the end for the results of our taste test.
Step 1
Assemble a less than scientific panel
Our Less Than Scientific Panel
Combined qualifications
Step 2
The Gathering of Cookies.
After extensive research, Luke and I gathered 6 of our favorite Chocolate chip cookies in Walkable Seattle. As a family, we have sampled a ridiculous amount of chocolate chip cookies over the years. We took our list and and had narrowed it down to 7. Sadly (Yellow Leaf Cupcakes were sold out of their Chocolate Chip Cookies so they will have to remain legendary)
Once my purse was full of freshly baked cookies, we headed back to the lab (my condo) to prepare our experiment.
Step 3
Label the cookies and try not to get confused.
Step 4
Get confused.
Step 5
I have spoiled my children and ruined them for mediocre baked goods. In doing my blog research, I thought it would be fun to go in search of the best chocolate chip cookies in Walkable Seattle. My goal was to do a taste test and then write about each cookie, ranking them from best to worst or..."least best". (Thinking of trademarking that term)
Leading up to the taste test, we had sampled our share of chocolate chip cookies around town. Sure, Starbucks and Specialties also offer a tasty chocolate chip cookie but we were looking for something only available locally and baked on site.
There are no clear winners and no losers of our taste test because Holy Cats, these are all so good! There wasn't a single "least best" (Okay, I've thought it over. I won't be trademarking that term)
Keep reading to follow my detailed and self indulgent take on our process or feel free to skip to the end for the results of our taste test.
Step 1
Assemble a less than scientific panel
Our Less Than Scientific Panel
- Mark 46- IT Professional, Disney Enthusiast and 1989 Student of the month recipient for excellence in Badminton.
- Deonn, 44-Actress, Writer, Tour Guide and accidental Ordained Minister with Universal Life Church
- Gina-23-Education Administrative Assistant, Fluent in Korean and keeper of a killer impersonation of Fran Drescher.
- Luke-15-Student, baritone player, sports fan and the proud owner of a learner's permit.
- Clara-9-Unemployed
Combined qualifications
- Liking chocolate chip cookies
- Extensive experience with eating chocolate chip cookies.
Step 2
The Gathering of Cookies.
After extensive research, Luke and I gathered 6 of our favorite Chocolate chip cookies in Walkable Seattle. As a family, we have sampled a ridiculous amount of chocolate chip cookies over the years. We took our list and and had narrowed it down to 7. Sadly (Yellow Leaf Cupcakes were sold out of their Chocolate Chip Cookies so they will have to remain legendary)
- Sugar Bakery (Lower Queen Anne/Uptown)
- Cow Chip Cookies (Pioneer Square)
- Macrina Bakery (Belltown)
- DeLaurenti (Pike Place)
- Grand Central Bakery (Pioneer Square)
- Dahlia Bakery (Belltown/Downtown)
Once my purse was full of freshly baked cookies, we headed back to the lab (my condo) to prepare our experiment.
Step 3
Label the cookies and try not to get confused.
Step 4
Get confused.
Step 5
Taste the cookies and rate them on a scale of 1-6. This was, of course, the favorite step among all members of the Less Than Scientific Panel or LTSP
Step 6
Tally the scores on Post-It Notes.
Step 7
Realize that half of us have scored in ascending order and half of us have scored in descending order.
Step 8
Argue with LTSP
Step 9
Agree upon the ranking system. 1-6, with 1 being the best.
Step 10
Re-tally the scores after correcting the original scores
Step 11
Realize that there is no consensus and it is impossible to rate all of these ridiculously delicious cookies.
Step 12
Finish the leftover pieces of cookies and second guess our original opinions.
Step 13
Re-score and realize that the left over cookie pieces may have been mixed up and not on their originally labeled plate.
Step 14
Brainstorm a better system for the next taste test.
Step 15
Write blog post about our failed Chocolate Chip Cookie Taste Test.
We weren't able to rank these the way I had originally envisioned but there was one clear winner in our taste test. 3 out of 5 panelists ranked Cow Chip Cookies as their #1 favorite cookie making them the winner.
*Cow Chip Cookies*
Cow Chip Specializes in nothing but cookies and they were the clear winner of our 1st Annual Chocolate Chip Cookie Taste Taste. Their cookies are the priciest that was sampled but also the largest. They are soft and gooey and quite delicious. 4 out of 5 panelists highly recommend this cookie. The 5th one was not a fan as she prefers a less chewy and more firm cookie.
Pretty much everyone else was tied for 2nd. This is just a guess because, with the exception of my nine year old, who took copious, detailed notes, we confused ourselves, misplaced Post-Its, scored differently and moved cookies to the wrong plate.
DeLaurenti offers a more firm and less chewy cookie that was more to the liking of the 5th panelist. This particular sample was lacking an abundance of chocolate chips, which I actually enjoyed. If you are looking for a more well-done cookie, than DeLaurenti would be a good choice.
Macrina serves up a consistently tasty chocolate chip cookie. They bake them throughout the day and we were lucky to land one that was fresh out of the oven. Their large and hearty cookie is crisp around the edges and soft and chewy in the middle and filled with chocolate chips and brown sugar goodness.
Similar to Macrina, Grand Central has a good sized, hearty, brown sugar laden cookie. This cookie was probably the most generous with the chocolate chips, making Grand Central Bakery my daughters #1 choice. This is one that we hadn't sampled much before, so I am excited to go back and try it again!
I love everything that I have ever tried and Sugar Bakery and their Chocolate Chip Cookie is no exception. Sadly for my daughter, they are a little inconsistent on their cookie to chocolate chip ratio. The sample we tried was a little low on the chocolate chips but downright delicious anyway. Their cookies are moderately sized and moderately priced and you can upgrade by getting one with bacon!
When the name super chef Tom Douglas is attached to something, your hopes are high and you are rarely disappointed. This cookie seems a little more like a sugar cookie with chocolate chips with perhaps a little less brown sugar. We were divided on this cookie. Half of us rated it very high and half of us rated it towards the bottom. Clearly, half of the panel was wrong because this was my personal favorite.
The problem with assembling six of our most favorite cookies is that we loved them all! You can't go wrong with any of these six cookies. We love the chocolate chip cookies from Yellow Leaf and Storyville Coffee though we couldn't get it together to include them in the taste test.
Clara and I are also a fan of the incredibly delicious but a little bit elusive London Plane Salted Chocolate Chip Cookie that is available at various coffee shops in the city.
As always, feel free to let me know if you have a favorite. I'm sure there are plenty more chocolate chip cookies to sample!
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