We Tried 6 Grocery Store Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies And This Was The Best

Quick, close your eyes and think of a cookie. If it's near the holidays, you might imagine a gingerbread man next to a sugar cookie decorated to look like a Christmas tree or, more likely, a lopsided snowman. Any other time of the year, though, a chocolate chip cookie is probably what springs to mind. Even your phone thinks the same way, since a chocolate chip cookie is the emoji that pops up when you type the word "cookie."

While the cookie's origins are up for debate, there's no denying the facts: Of the many popular cookie flavors, chocolate chip cookies were uncovered to be the best in a Mashed exclusive survey. Whether it's straight out of the oven or pulled from a pack of Chips Ahoy!, there are almost countless varieties of chocolate chip cookies available. But today, we're going to focus on one: the grocery store bakery chocolate chip cookie.

I visited five grocery stores and came away with six varieties of bakery cookies. This is a ranking based on taste, though we will also explore the best value. After all, a quality cookie is key, but a great one at an even better value is every cookie lover's dream. Read on to find out which grocery stores bake up the best chocolate chip cookies and which ones miss the mark.

I live in Madison, Wisconsin, where my nearest grocery store (a wonderfully convenient three-minute drive away) is Metro Market, a sister store to Pick 'n Save under the Kroger family. Metro Market is a solid, if unspectacular, grocery store; it'll generally have what you need, but don't expect anything crazy. The bakery cookies apparently got that memo because they're just fine — not bad but not particularly exciting either.

A 24-pack will run you $5.99, which averages out to just over 24 cents per cookie, making it the cheapest option on the list. It's also the palest cookie I tried. Seriously, this thing looks like it needs some bronzer. I'm not sure this is a proper chocolate chip cookie as much as a sugar cookie filled with chocolate chips.

In terms of chocolate content, Metro Market is middle of the road, but the cookie portion lacks any kind of personality. It's chewy, which is a plus, but the use of white sugar rather than brown sugar gives this cookie a taste that's anything but memorable. If this were sitting out at the potluck, you wouldn't be upset about picking one up, but you'd likely regret it if there were tastier options available.

There are two key, and super obvious, elements to a chocolate chip cookie: the cookie itself and the chocolate that calls it home. Make a good cookie but skimp on the chips or chunks, and what's the point? On the other end, even a bevy of chocolate can't save a cracked, crumbling cookie, so a proper balance is key.

The good news for Hy-Vee is that the cookie itself is good. Soft and chewy, this is the thinnest of the cookies on the list, but that's not necessarily a negative because it has flavor thanks to the brown sugar that plays a prominent role. The issue is the chocolate chips, or rather the lack thereof. You would easily eat a Hy-Vee cookie and go entire bites without stumbling across a chocolate chip. Imagine eating a buffalo wing and never tasting the sauce or a pepperoni pizza that could be mistaken for plain cheese. The quality of the cookie is enough to give Hy-Vee a narrow edge over Metro Market, but I came here for chocolate chips, and I'm going to need to see more than what was offered here to be satisfied. At 33 cents per cookie ($3.99 for a dozen), this is the second cheapest cookie, and well, maybe you get what you pay for.

Walmart has the unique distinction of being the only store on the list with two cookies. This cookie is the standard Walmart brand, but the box store's higher-end brand, Marketside, will show up a bit later.

As it stands, Walmart makes some solid chocolate chip cookies. They're very soft and noticeably thicker than the Hy-Vee offerings. The chocolate chips are nothing special, coming in at a standard size, but they're well-distributed. No one is going to mistake this for a jam-packed cookie, but the chips are there and doing their job.

Visually, this is another of the lighter cookies, thanks to the use of white sugar, which also lends a slight grit to the cookie itself. You can actually hear the sugar granules when you chew. For $3.47, you can snag a 10-pack, which works out to about 35 cents per cookie, putting Walmart's chocolate chip cookies in the upper half of our value chart. If you've got a group to feed, this is a solid option, but if you're looking for quality over quantity, Walmart has more to offer.

It's no secret that Costco has some of the best baked goods and cakes out there, and while the cookies hold their own, they do have some room for improvement. At $9.99 for a 24-pack, the Costco cookies coming in bulk is no surprise, but their being only the fourth cheapest on the list is a mild shock. I would argue that a bit more heft than thinner options like the Hy-Vee and Metro Market versions makes Costco a better deal, but I was expecting a lower price point.

Still, the cookies are quite tasty. I wish they were a little more moist because these are the ones most likely to fall apart in your hand. Thankfully, a heaping helping of chocolate chunks offsets any major cookie flaws. Seriously, I dare you to find any kind of chocolate-free bite on one of these things. Visually, this is a good-looking cookie, too, with a uniform color and shape. A Costco cookie is never going to steer you wrong and is the best option I sampled if you're feeding a crowd, but the next two cookies are better where it counts: on the taste buds.

Walmart is back, and this time, quality is the name of the game. With just six cookies in a package for $5.24, Marketside cookies are 87 cents each, nearly twice the cost of the second-priciest option. Thankfully, they're worth every penny.

These are some big cookies! Not only are they large, but they're also thick. A deeper golden brown than many of the others, thanks in part to the brown sugar used, the Marketside chocolate chip cookies still maintain a decently chewy texture, though they're closer to fully cooked than underbaked. The same mild grittiness that came through in the Walmart cookies is present here, too, but the overall taste of the cookie cancels out any textural concerns.

The star of this show, though, is the chocolate. Like Costco, Marketside opts for chunks rather than chips, and the results are extremely positive. I was never left wanting more chocolate, and in a thick cookie that brings plenty of its own flavor, that's a recipe for success.

Apologies to anyone who doesn't live in Wisconsin, but the best cookie on this list comes from a Wisconsin-based grocer. You can add Festival Foods chocolate chip cookies to the list of Wisconsin foods you need to try alongside cheese curds and a proper old fashioned.

Visually, these are not the hottest cookies on the list. They're pretty flat and relatively dark in color, especially around the edges. You'd be forgiven for assuming they would be hard or even a little overbaked, but the reality is that the color comes from one very important and unique ingredient: toffee.

Festival Foods adds toffee to its cookies, and the result is a tender, chewy cookie with a depth of flavor unlike any others I sampled. The chocolate chips are well distributed and solid in their own right, but this is a cookie carried by the base. My wife also sampled everything and made her own list, and this was the one spot (other than placing Metro Market last) that we agreed on. At 50 cents a piece, these are the second priciest on the list, but $4.99 for a 10-pack seems like a steal given this kind of quality.

In total, I brought home 86 chocolate chip cookies, and I can honestly say that while some were great and others only good, none were bad. Maybe it's a product of the simplicity of the chocolate chip cookie, but I think you'll be hard-pressed to find one that originates from a grocery store bakery and is inedible. Still, the results will vary, and the two keys to a great cookie remain a proper ratio of chocolate chips or chunks and a cookie that, at worst, doesn't drag the chocolate down, and at best, elevates the entire experience. Of course, if you've got the time, you could also bake your own cookies at home and choose from the plenty of different ways to make them.

I purchased all of the cookies from their respective stores on the same day. After taking pictures, I began sampling. My evaluation was based on taste, texture, and appearance. None of the stores were aware of this review when baking the cookies.