Consumer Reports Puts Chocolate-Chip Cookies to the Taste Test

Plus, top stand mixers for homemade cookies, bread and even ice-cream

YONKERS, N.Y., May 4 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- What does it take for a store-bought chocolate-chip cookie to win high marks from Consumer Reports' trained sensory panelists? A top-rated cookie is well-blended, flavorful, and has a good chip-to-cookie ratio. In its June issue, Consumer Reports unveils two very good chocolate-chip cookies: Health Valley Mini and Keebler Chips Deluxe Original. And, for consumers who can't live without homemade cookies, Consumer Reports names two CR Best Buy stand mixers, the KitchenAid Classic and the Hamilton Beach Eclectrics.

Consumer Reports tested 13 packaged chocolate-chip cookies. Health Valley cookies were slightly buttery, while the Keebler cookies were a little like shortbread and cost just 22 cents a serving, about half as much as their top competitor.

Nine other cookies were good, including those from Great Value (Walmart), which cost just 7 cents per serving. The Great Value cookie tested by CR may differ from the cookies now available in stores (CR learned at press time that Walmart was reformulating this cookie). Other good cookies include Nabisco's Chips Ahoy! Real Chocolate and Real Chocolate Reduced Fat (both will be made with different ingredients by this summer), Trader Joe's Dress Circle Crispy Crunchy, Back to Nature Chocolate Chunk, Pepperidge Farm Nantucket Soft Baked Chocolate Chunk Dark, Mrs. Fields Semi-Sweet, Newman's Own Organics Champion Chip Cookies, and Famous Amos Bite Size.

Price per serving runs the gamut from 7 cents a serving to 54 cents. CR found no taste benefit to going organic, noting a wide variation in quality among the three organic brands it tested: Health Valley, Newman's Own, and Archer Farms. The Archer Farms Organic Petite (Target) and Pamela's Products Chunky Gourmet All Natural (wheat and gluten free) were rated "Fair." CR gave these cookies low marks because they were bland, very dry, and tasted slightly stale.

The Right Mixer For Homemade Cookies, Bread, and Even Ice-Cream

Stand mixers are the go-to appliance for mixing big batches of cookie dough, kneading bread dough, and whipping cream until it's light and airy. For a price, one can add attachments that transform a mixer into a grinder, ice-cream machine, or fresh-pasta maker. CR recently tested 18 stand mixers which cost from $40 to $500, and found four that rose to the top in performance. Each of the four cost $300 or less, out-whipping the priciest of mixers. The KitchenAid Classic K45SS ($200) aced CR's ratings and is a CR Best Buy. It handled CR's tests for two-loaf bread-kneading, cookie-dough, and whipped cream and meringue tests with ease. The Hamilton Beach Eclectrics 6322 ($180), also a CR Best Buy, was very good but not quite as adept at kneading bread as the KitchenAid.

Other standouts -- especially for consumers who want to add a dash of color to their kitchens -- include the KitchenAid KSM450 ($270), which is available in black and red, and the KitchenAid Artisan KSM150PS ($300), which comes in more than 30 colors.

JUNE 2009

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SOURCE Consumer Reports