Okay.

I think we may have officially lost the plot.

The chocolate chip cookie challenge started out reasonably enough. I wanted to test a bunch of different chocolate chip cookie recipes and see which one people actually liked best.

Then I decided to add a store-bought cookie.

That was already questionable.

Then I bought Chewy Chips Ahoy.

So, yeah.

We’ve gone further.

Hear me out.

I wanted a store-bought cookie in the competition, but I didn’t want to use a bakery cookie. That seemed like cheating in a completely different direction.

Chips Ahoy is known for chocolate chip cookies. That’s kind of their whole thing.

And I picked the Chewy version because, honestly, out of all the cookies sitting on a grocery store shelf, these seem like they have the best chance of passing for something that came out of somebody’s kitchen.

At least from the packaging.

I’m not exactly sure what that says about my standards.

I bought them at Walmart yesterday while I was picking up some ingredients I needed for the other recipes.

And I stood there and thought:

Yep. These belong in the challenge.

Of course I giggled.

Because at this point, why not?

And apparently these cookies are precious now.

When I got home, my daughter wanted some.

I told her no.

Which is ridiculous because I absolutely could have let her have one.

But I didn’t.

I was saving them.

For science.

So there they sat in my kitchen, completely untouched, while I continued making homemade chocolate chip cookies.

I feel like that says a lot about how seriously I’ve taken this whole thing.

Or possibly that I have lost my mind.

This one is actually a little nostalgic for me.

Unlike some of the other cookies I’m testing, this isn’t a cookie I picked because it sounded interesting.

This is the kind of cookie we actually had at my house growing up.

My mom didn’t cook.

I’m not exaggerating.

We had Hamburger Helper. We had steaks cooked so well done that I honestly thought for years that I hated steak. (Turns out I love a medium-rare steak.)

We had pizza. And because we lived out in the country, the pizza place didn’t deliver to us. So sometimes we were basically our own delivery drivers.

My dad learned to make chili and cornbread, and he actually loved making it.

And then there were cookies.

My dad called himself the Cookie Monster, so there were usually cookies around.

Eventually, when I learned how to cook, I started making homemade cookies for him.

Which is probably part of why chocolate chip cookies have always been one of those foods that feel a little nostalgic to me.

But when I was a kid?

Nobody was making eight different batches of homemade chocolate chip cookies in my kitchen.

We had the convenience kind.

And I was born in the 80s, when convenience packaging was basically having its moment.

The 90s didn’t exactly slow it down.

So maybe this cookie has a little home-field advantage.

But this is still a blind test.

The Chewy Chips Ahoy cookies are going into an airtight container just like everybody else.

They’ll get a letter. A, B, C, whatever order I eventually decide on.

They’ll be served whole, because obviously I’m not going to cut a Chips Ahoy cookie in half and pretend that’s normal.

They’re not getting warmed up. Except that it’s hotter than the hinges of hell outside right now and they’ll be outside all day.

They’re not getting dressed up.

They’re just getting taken out of the package and put into the competition.

And nobody helping with the taste test knows they’re eating Chips Ahoy.

Nobody.

That’s the fun part.

I’m actually curious whether someone will recognize it.

And if they do?

Well…

I’m not sure I’m admitting anything right away.

And before somebody accuses me of cheating…

I’m not cheating.

I’m testing.

There’s a difference.

At least that’s what I’m telling myself.

And if you’re going to judge this cookie, do not read the ingredient label first.

Actually, don’t read the Pillsbury ingredient label either.

Let’s just agree right now that we’re judging cookies.

Not ingredient lists.

Because if we start reading those, this whole experiment is going to get real uncomfortable.

Here’s what I really want to know.

I want this cookie to lose.

I really do.

I want the homemade recipes to win.

I want somebody to bite into a cookie and say, That’s it. That’s the one.

And I want that cookie to have started with flour, butter, sugar and somebody’s actual recipe.

But if Chewy Chips Ahoy ends up in the middle?

I’ll probably giggle.

If it ends up last?

I may feel a little vindicated.

If it somehow wins?

I don’t even know.

I might just shake my head and laugh.

Because what can you do at that point?

You can’t argue with a blind taste test.

And that’s exactly why I’m doing this.

Eight chocolate chip cookies.

Some homemade.

Some decidedly not homemade.

Nobody knows which is which.

And eventually, we’re going to let the cookies speak for themselves.

Although if Chewy Chips Ahoy wins this thing, I reserve the right to question everything I thought I knew about chocolate chip cookies.

That might be the most entertaining part of this whole experiment.

The challenge continues. 🍪