The Premium Grocery Store Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies That Outrank Aldi, But Not Costco

A good chocolate chip cookie is the fundamental marker of a good bakery, and every grocery store bakery offers at least one. In fact, many of these are delicious (and much cheaper) than what you would otherwise find at local bakeries and cafés. When we tried premium grocery store chocolate chip cookies from all the biggest chains, Whole Foods came in a respectable third place, beating out Aldi's fourth-place offering. However, the brand was still overshadowed by Costco, which came in second.

The chocolate chip cookies from Costco and Aldi were more affordable than Whole Foods, which gives them an economical advantage. But while Aldi's chocolate chip cookie had a wonderfully soft texture, the flavor wasn't on par with Whole Foods' brown butter chocolate chunk. The latter is beautifully caramelized with rich notes from the brown butter base and the intense chocolate notes of the high-quality chunks. At the other end of the spectrum, Costco beat Whole Foods in not only price, but also because the bakery offered two stellar chocolate chip cookies whereas Whole Foods only has the one standout.

Still, fans praise Whole Foods' brown butter chocolate chip cookie, noting that it's worth its price. The brown butter imparts a nuttiness into the cookie, offering more depth of flavor that puts the dessert on par with professional bakeries. The plentiful chocolate chunks were rich and delicious, and the texture of the cookie was perfectly crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside.

In a separate taste test of all of Whole Foods' cookies, the brown butter chocolate chunk cookie came in first place. Naturally, customers have just as many rave reviews for the chocolate chip cookie on social media. "It's sweet but a little bit salty," noted one Facebook reviewer who loved the contrast of crispy edges and soft chewy center. "This cookie is an absolute game changer. It has such a good caramel flavor to it." On Reddit, another user commented that the cookie had "good sized chocolate chips and soft too," adding that, "It tastes homemade, quite rich." To that effect, according to other Whole Foods customers, the chain even sells the brown butter chocolate chunk cookie dough so you can bake them at home.

Whole Foods is known for using natural, organic ingredients and putting a lot of care into its baked goods and prepared foods, justifying that elevated price compared to Costco or Aldi. And you can take advantage of Whole Foods' many other wonderful products to accompany a bakery-worthy chocolate chunk cookie. For example, try making a cookie ice cream sandwich with Whole Foods' slated caramel ice cream — which came in second place in our ranking of Whole Foods ice cream flavors — or pair your cookie with one of these 365 brand coffees for an equally rich, robust, and bitter complement.