All the Best Cookies from Our Taste Tests

Why bake cookies from scratch when you can just buy cookies that are as good as homemade—and others that are so clearly manufactured in a factory that they have a charm all their own? From the best chocolate chip cookies to the best coconut macaroons to even the best premade cookie dough, these are the best store bought cookies we’ve found in our taste tests.

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Best Chocolate Chip

Tate’s Bake Shop Chocolate Chip Cookies

Target

If you love soft-baked cookies, we’re sorry to inform you that crispy chocolate chip cookies are where it’s at. In fact, the best chocolate chip cookies we found in our taste test were these thin, crispy cookies from Tate’s. They’re crispy, yes, but they aren’t dry. They’re downright buttery. They’re also loaded with chocolate chips. This is one of the best cookies for chocolate lovers, for sure. 

Read the full ranking of the best chocolate chip cookies

Credit: Liv Averett / Target

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

Best Peanut Butter

Back to Nature Peanut Butter Creme Cookies

Instacart

Like most peanut butter lovers, we’re nuts about Nutter Butter, but these suspiciously healthy-looking sandwich cookies are actually even more delicious. Back to Nature Peanut Butter Creme Cookies have that perfect sweet-salty balance, and manage to be crunchy while still being nice and tender. Big bonus for plant-based peeps: They’re vegan!

Read the full ranking of the best peanut butter cookies

Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

Best Pillsbury Cookies

Pillsbury Ready to Bake Reese’s Mini Pieces Peanut Butter

Walmart

If you love peanut butter, you’re going to want to gobble up this Pillsbury cookie dough with a spoon—but if you can muster the restraint to get it into the oven, you’ll be rewarded with cookies that are pretty much perfect. They’re crispy around the edges, soft and gooey in the middle, and they aren’t too sweet. We also love that the Reese Pieces give the cookies a little extra texture and crunch. These are definitely the best ready-to-bake cookies for peanut butter lovers, but even the peanut butter hesitant people we shared them with loved them.

Read the full ranking of the best ready to bake Pillsbury cookie dough

Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

Nestlé Toll House Chocolate Chip Lovers

Target

If your prerequisite for good chocolate chip cookies is plenty of chocolate, Toll House is the way to go. We also love that the dough doesn’t have that unnatural, preservative-laden flavor you’ll find in a lot of other ready to bake cookie doughs. These really taste like cookies made from scratch by someone who has a heavy hand with the chips. 

Credit: Liv Averett / Target

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

Best Oreo

Extra Stuf Oreo Thins

Walmart

If you consider Oreos to be among the best cookies at the grocery store, but you’ve always had this nagging feeling that the cookie-to-creme ratio is a little bit off, Extra Stuf Oreo Thins are a godsend. As Jordan Myrick put it, these Oreos have “the exact amount of creme and cookie you want.” We tasted a lot of Oreos and these are the best Oreos of them all.

Read the full ranking of the best Oreo flavors

Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

Best Milano Cookies

Milano Chocolate Mint

Instacart

Milanos get written off by people who prefer soft cookies, but there is truly nothing better than a Milano dunked in milk, especially if it’s the Chocolate Mint flavor. They’re not as chocolaty as regular dark chocolate Milanos, but the layer of mint cream is so refreshing and goes perfectly with the flavor of the butter cookies. Mint Chocolate was actually the original Milanos flavor—and it still slaps.

Read our ranking of the best Milano cookies

Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

Best Lemon

Oreo Thins Lemon

Walmart

Once again, Oreo Thins win. The snap of the cookie goes so well with the bright, tart flavor of lemon in this version. We also love that these have just a touch of salt to offset the sweetness. The best cookies always have a little salt!

Read the full ranking of the best lemon cookies

Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

Best Oatmeal Raisin

Christie Cookie Co. Oatmeal Raisin Gourmet Cookies

Instacart

If you want store bought cookies you could swear are homemade, Christie Cookie Co. Oatmeal Raisin cookies are pretty much perf. Unlike a lot of other soft-baked cookies at the grocery store, these don’t taste like preservatives or chemicals. Plus, they’re packed with raisins and oats. They’re basically health food!

Read the full ranking of the best oatmeal raisin cookies

Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

Best Gluten Free Cookies

Tate’s Bake Shop Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Target

Tate’s makes the best chocolate chip cookies, so it’s no wonder their gluten free chocolate chip cookies slap, too. According to Jordan, “If you like the regular rendition of Tate’s chocolate chip cookies, you’ll like these because they taste exactly the same as the original.” If you eat a lot of GF foods, you know that’s not always the case. 

Read the full ranking of the best gluten free cookies

Credit: Liv Averett / Target

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

Best Ginger Cookies

Annas Ginger Swedish Thins

Amazon

The weather is cooling down, and that means it’s time to bust out the ginger cookies and tea. And if you’ve had Annas Ginger Swedish Thins, you know they have all the other ginger cookies beat. They’re so thin and so snappy and perfect for dunking into a hot bev. Tell the gingerbread men to get bent and buy these instead!

Read the full ranking of the best ginger cookies

Credit: Liv Averett / Amazon

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

Best Girl Scout

Caramel deLites/Samoas

Girl Scouts

When Girl Scout cookie season rolls around, we sincerely hope you’re stocking up on Samoas (aka Caramel deLites, depending on where you live and which GS bakery your cookies come from). These aren’t just the best Girl Scout cookies; they’re some of the best cookies, period. They’re crunchy but chewy, and absolutely covered in toasty, tasty coconut shreds. Yes, Thin Mints are great, but these are just so special.

Read the full ranking of the best Girl Scout cookies

Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

Best Macaroon

Sprouts Market Corner Two-Bite Coconut Macaroons

Instacart

If you need a reminder that coconut macaroons are really, really delicious, pick up a pack of these at Sprouts. They’re moist and tender and bursting with coconut flavor. Plus, unlike most coconut macaroons, a serving of these consists of two cookies rather than one. I literally can’t imagine eating just one macaroon.

Read the full ranking of the best macaroons

Credit: Merc / Instacart

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

Best Animal Crackers

Kroger the Wild Side Animal Cookies

Instacart

Yes, these are called “crackers,” but we all count them as cookies, right? They’re the best cookies when you want something that’s just a touch sweet but still plenty satisfying. And these Kroger animal crackers are basically perfect—they’re a little citrusy, a little vanilla-y, and have just the right amount of crunch. Some animal crackers are just too crackery, but these are definitely closer to the cookie end of the spectrum.

Read the full ranking of the best animal crackers

Credit: Merc / Ralphs

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

Best Shortbread Cookies

Walker’s Shortbread Fingers

Target

We recently did a mini taste test of shortbread cookies and it’s probably not  hugely surprising that Walker’s makes the best shortbread cookies. We tried both their fingers and their rounds, and there’s just something about the thickness and consistency of the fingers that makes them elite. They’re so buttery. Impossibly buttery. Man, these are just begging to be dunked into a cup of English breakfast tea.

Credit: Liv Averett / Target

Rating:

10/10

Sporks