What is it about chocolate chip biscuits that prompts such snack love? Is it the bonus of a biscuit with delicious added extra chips, or do just we love and worship chocolate in all its forms?
So it’s settled, we all love choc chip biscuits. But which one to choose? Those sneaky food people know we love them and have flooded the market with options. Thankfully for you, a judging panel, otherwise known as my family, took on the Herculean task of wading through supermarket chocolate chip biscuits for a winner, or maybe more accurately our favourites, and some absolute shockers to avoid.
Here’s how it went.
Cadbury Classic Choc Chip, $5
A plain biscuit with chocolate chips – it’s good but kind of basic at the same time. Lacks imagination from one of the world’s most successful chocolate companies. Wasn’t expecting bells and whistles, just not to be underwhelmed. Only six in the packet. 7/10. They would have got another point, but six in the packet is insane.
Standout feature: a bit squishy; tastes like when you didn’t leave your biscuits in the oven for long enough. Cadbury does helpfully point out ‘soft centre’ on the packaging, but it’s still a bit weird. The CWA judges at the local show would definitely give it a fail.
Cadbury Double Choc, $5
Chocolate biscuit with chocolate chips. Does what it says on the pack, chocolate with chocolate chips. A considerably richer taste than its plain cousin above, but as a result one was enough, which makes me sad.
Standout feature: as above.
Coles Choc Chip Cookies, $2.50
Using the dreaded ‘cookies’ in Australia, so a point off for that for a start. Good to go with a cuppa or glass of milk because they are so dry they suck the moisture from your mouth. Cheap, and it shows. 3/10
Standout feature: these are very small biscuits, so you can eat one or two and pretend you are dieting.
Coles Ultimate Chocolate chip cookies, $5.50
Urgh, again with the word cookies. Plain biscuit with chocolate chips. This is Coles’ luxury in-house brand, and it can hold its head up high. Crunchy in a good way, a generous allocation of choc chips and a decent-sized biscuit. 9/10
Standout feature: the packaging says 40 per cent choc chips and they delivered.
Bisko Bakehouse Shortbread Bites Choc Chip, $4.50
Shortbread biscuit with chocolate drizzle and chips. This one was the winner for me. It’s a cute little shortbread biscuit, drizzled with chocolate, and studded with choc chips. Am I letting my unashamed love of shortbread influence my decision? Probably, but I don’t care. 10/10
Standout feature: went back for more after all the testing and the family/judging panel clearly agreed with my assessment because they were all gone. They gracefully allowed me to get rid of the empty packaging.
Urban Cookie Premium Salted Caramel Choc Chip, $5.50
I was expecting a lot from this biscuit and it failed to deliver. It does have a palate-pleasing mix of crunchy biscuit and soft centre, but that’s about it. Good texture, which is about the most lukewarm thing you can say about a biscuit. 4/10
Standout feature: the standout that wasn’t a standout was that the salted caramel flavour seemed to be completely absent. Just because you say it’s so, doesn’t mean it actually is so.
Woolworths Gluten Free chocolate chip, $2.90
This biscuit further confirmed my enduring sympathy for celiacs. It was ghastly, but I guess if you can’t eat gluten, you might give it a try. One of my panel of judges, otherwise known as my daughter, gave it the ultimate insult: “It’s like airline food.” Burn. None of us could finish even one, and the remainder in the packet went into the bin. 1/10
Standout feature: not only did it taste bad, it also had a bad aftertaste.
Serious Cookies choc chip, about $10
I held out great hope for these because the packaging is cute with a serious-looking bear on the front, but boy oh boy was I disappointed. The biscuit also looked adorable, but it was rock hard. A bonus for vegans, as it is entirely plant-based, but other than that I’m scratching my head at the appeal. Maybe others in the range are better. 2/10
Standout feature: thankfully, only available in supermarkets carrying a ‘gourmet’ range so you won’t see it much.
Twix Cookies Caramel & Chocolate cookie, $5.50
Okay, I give up with the fight against the word cookie at this point. Another fail for me. I love a good crossover product, but this isn’t one of them. Just far too sweet with no back-up flavour, which made them boring. Bit stingy with the choc chips too. 3/10
Standout feature: does taste like a Twix, but not in a good way.
Olina’s Bakehouse Bakehouse Artisan Cookies Chocolate Chip, $5
Generally I’m aggressively against highly processed food being called ‘artisan’. I mean really? Do you really have a bunch of artists out the back of your factory making this food? However, in this instance I’ll let it slide as these are actually pretty good. Super yummy, but also super rich. Delicious salty aftertaste. 8/10
Standout feature: good homemade appearance, so you could totally fake that you made them yourself.
Baker’s Finest Choc Chip Cookies, $3
A small biscuit, dare I say too small? Okay, but that’s about it. A member of our panel of judges classed them as ‘meh times three’, which I am given to believe means they were not overwhelmed, not underwhelmed, but just whelmed. Solid 5/10
Standout feature: despite their rating, they do become kind of addictive because they are so small you eat quite a few.
Woolworths The King Of Chunky Chocolate Chip Cookies, $3.80
Bold name for a supermarket own brand, but why not? This is a good biscuit with a homemade appearance. Crunchy in a good way and priced competitively. Another biscuit you could totally try and fake as your own. 8/10
Standout feature: a good dupe for a more expensive brands that rhyme with Dadbury’s.
Arnott’s Premier Choc Chip Cookies, $5
There’s a reason Arnott’s is Australia’s most popular biscuit brand, and this line is a good example. I bet a metric tonne of research went into this one biscuit and it shows – it’s near perfection. Very generous with the choc chips. 9/10.
Standout feature: is the world getting you down? You have the antidote with this biscuit.
What’s your favourite biscuit? Why not share yours in the comments section below?
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