Who is the tastiest cookie of them all? [Photos: Robyn Lee]
Our Preliminary Rounds:
It's been a long, cookie-filled few months on Serious Eats.
I've subjected my poor officemates and loyal tasters to more rounds of tasting than many would be able to stomach. We've nibbled our way through more than six dozen different cookies—some good, some bad, some transcendent. I don't think I ever properly appreciated the beautiful diversity of chocolate chip cookies, until now. The variations really are quite remarkable.
Still, some are indisputably better than others. After six formal blind taste-tests, hundreds of cookies behind us, and a final half-dozen follow-up taste-offs to ensure consistency—we're ready to declare a winner. The Top 11 Countdown, listed after the jump and in the slideshow above.
11. Yura on Madison
10. Alice's Tea Cup
9. Max Brenner
8. Pret a Manger
7. Baked
6. Dessert Club
5. Almondine
4. Blue Ribbon Bakery Market
3. Levain
2. Bouchon Bakery
And the winner... Tom Cat Bakery and The Roasting Plant
"A gorgeous cookie--bumps, nooks, and crannies. Chewy, crispy. An absolute ideal." There wasn't much we didn't love about the Roasting Plant's chocolate chip cookies--the winners of the Chocolate Chip Cookie Championship.
Their secret? We'd been assured the Plant baked their own cookies—and they do. But their dough? It comes from acclaimed NYC wholesaler Tom Cat Bakery. Their recipe uses pastry flour and Callebaut chocolate, and other shops, including Colador Café, Ground Support, and City Bean carry these cookies—but The Roasting Plant is the only place to bake them in-house, turning out fresh chocolate chippers at least four to five times a day. What can we say? It works. Score one for freshness.
Roasting Plant, two locations: 75 Greenwich Avenue, New York NY (map); 81 Orchard Street, New York NY (map)
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