Food: 15 Ways Restaurants Have Changed Over the Past Decade

Lenny & Larry’s The Complete Cookie may be marketed as a cookie, but our tasters thought otherwise. It tasted more like protein powder than anything else (the cookie contains 16 grams of protein), with an off-putting texture similar to Play-Doh. This could pass as a protein bar, but not as a cookie.

Goodie Girl cookies are gluten free and made with quinoa, rice, corn starch and tapioca. They were very small and hard as a rock with a button-like shape, and many tasters were put off by their dry texture. Several tasters noticed the addition of cinnamon, but it didn’t do much to salvage this underwhelming cookie.

These gluten-free cookies are made with several peculiar ingredients, including a nut and seed flour blend, tapioca, coconut sugar, arrowroot, konjac root and tiger nut (which is actually a root vegetable). All of those ingredients lent the cookie a strange flavor that didn’t score many points with our tasters. One even went so far as to say that it “doesn’t taste like chocolate or a cookie.” The texture was also slightly stale.

The secrets to a New York City bagel

There are multiple theories as to why New York City bagels are the gold standard. Some people will tell you it’s the perfect calcium-to-magnesium ratio of the New York City water used to make them, so much so that one of the most popular bagel shops in Colorado recreated the water for its recipe more than 1,700 miles away. The Most Iconic Breakfast Foods in America Others say it has much to do with hand-rolling the dough and letting it slowly ferment for up to days at a time — creating true depth of flavor — and then boiling it briefly before baking. This gives the bagel a chewy, glossy crust and doughy, soft interior.

These cookies are gluten free, nut free, soy free and milk free, and are made with a flour mix of rice, buckwheat and millet. Our tasters had no issues with the thin and crispy texture, but there was an odd sweetness to these cookies, and our panel nearly universally agreed that the aftertaste was strange as well.

The cookies that made talent agent Wally Amos a legend haven’t held up very well. Most tasters agreed that our batch was dry and rocklike, and that the flavor was bland. They struck many tasters as “classic,” however, and there were plenty of chocolate chips to go around. The general impression was that they were nothing special.

This cookie was crisp, crunchy and buttery, but also tasted burnt. Our tasters also weren’t sold on the overall texture, which was a little bit gritty.

While this cookie was indeed soft and chewy, we didn’t get much in the way of real chocolate and found it to have an artificial chemical flavor. It was also overwhelmingly sweet.

33 Things You Should Never Say Over Text

Some things are better said in person. Here are some of the bad texts that you should never send to your boss, your beau, or your BFF.

Whole Foods’ $3.99 offering fared surprisingly poorly. Though they're made with organic wheat flour and organic chocolate, our tasters found these cookies to be bland, dull, slightly sandy in texture and sorely lacking in chocolate chips. They were also too crumbly and dry.

Linden’s is a classic hard chocolate chip cookie, and it reminded many of our tasters of their childhood. There wasn’t much in the way of chocolate flavor, though, and it was a little bit too hard and brittle.

This cookie had a nice, soft chew, but our tasters weren’t sold on the use of milk chocolate as opposed to semi-sweet chocolate. We were looking for a deep chocolate flavor, but the milk chocolate chips just drew attention to the fact that the rest of the cookie was lacking in flavor.

Like the Montauk, our tasters would have preferred a richer flavor here as opposed to that of milk chocolate. We didn’t mind the soft, cakey texture, but if we had been blindfolded, we probably wouldn’t have guessed that this was a chocolate chip cookie.

This is the most popular chain restaurant on Google Maps

Google Maps is turning 15 years old. The in-app and online tool, which launched Feb. 8, 2005, is celebrating the milestone by revealing which restaurant chain users searched for the most in 2019. Drive-thru heroes like Chick-fil-A, Starbucks and McDonald’s all have massive cult followings, but the top spot went to one of America’s favorite pizza chains instead: Domino’s. When Each Chain Restaurant Stops Serving Breakfast According to Google’sWhen Each Chain Restaurant Stops Serving Breakfast

This cookie was very soft and chewy, with a nice buttery flavor, but the vanilla flavor overwhelmed that of the chocolate.

Our tasters generally found the tiny cookies inside the big plastic tub from Trader Joe’s pretty enjoyable. They were light and crispy, and the fact that they were bite-size made it easy to eat too many of them. They didn’t have much of a “pop,” however, and were lacking in chocolate chip flavor. They also contain coconut, which a couple tasters picked up on.

We loved the robust dark chocolate flavor of these cookies, as well as the big chocolate chunks. If you like dark chocolate, you’ll love these. Our only (minor) quibble was that they were a little too hard.

Keebler’s offering was pleasantly crunchy instead of dry and crumbly, and there were plenty of high-quality chocolate chips evenly distributed throughout. The pronounced flavor of molasses and a hint of salt also came through.

This cookie had almost too many chocolate chips. While some enjoyed the crunch, others thought it was too hard and brittle. We all agreed it would pair well with a glass of milk, though.

We liked the softness and the small size of these cookies, as well as the nice chocolatey flavor. There’s a good reason why these addictive little cookies are so popular.

Antibiotic resistance: a natural compound in green tea would help fight it

© Medisite Antibiotic resistance: a natural compound in green tea would help fight it Antibiotic resistant bacteria are a real threat to global health. In the next 30 years, the number of people who die from it could rise to 10 million. Researchers have just discovered a promising new avenue to combat them. By combining a polyphenol found in green tea with an antibiotic, they have overcome one of these superbugs.

We really liked the texture of these -- right in-between chewy and crunchy -- and we liked the large chocolate chips and big chocolate flavor.

Tate’s was a polarizing cookie, but it still did extraordinarily well. These were thin and crispy and had a distinct homemade flavor, with plenty of butter, brown sugar and vanilla. While high quality, the chocolate chips themselves weren’t as plentiful as in the other cookies, however, and some tasters complained that the cookies were too crunchy and borderline overbaked.

It’s no surprise the cookies in the famous blue package came out close to the top. The cookies had a pronounced vanilla flavor and no shortage of chocolate chips, and they looked great as well. It’s pretty much impossible for any chocolate lover to not like these cookies.

These cookies have everything we look for in a soft cookie: big chocolate chunks, a satisfying texture, lots of vanilla and brown sugar flavor, and an overall home-baked feel. They’re also just the right size to have one and feel satisfied. If you find these in the supermarket, snag ‘em.

And the winner is … Pepperidge Farm’s Farmhouse Dark Chocolate Chip! We really liked the crisp but not crumbly texture, high-quality ample chocolate and notes of butter, brown sugar and vanilla. While thin, they still retained plenty of body, making for a top-notch, well-balanced cookie that could have been baked at one of the best cookie shops in every state.

More from The Daily Meal:

101 Best Cookie Recipes

Regional Desserts You Need to Try

The Best Trader Joe’s Desserts of All Time

20 Reasons You Should Eat Dark Chocolate Every Day

The Ultimate Creamy Peanut Butter Taste Test