Grocery Store Snickerdoodle Cookies Ranked

Steven Luna/Mashed

Snickerdoodles, those old-fashioned cookies with the wacky name, are vintage background players in the world of baked treats. Regardless of their lesser status, they always seem to hold their own when stacked up against better-selling competitors. If you think of them as sugar cookies bursting with cinnamon goodness and rich flavor to spare, you can easily imagine where they fit on the cookie family tree.

If you've forgotten how tasty snickerdoodles are — or if you've never made the discovery — there are several bakery-fresh and pre-packaged brands that give the humble vintage snack plenty of presence in grocery chains around the U.S. But what if you were to lay them all side-by-side to see how each one tasted in comparison to the others? Would you find out they all taste pretty much the same, or would there be a distinct spectrum of possibilities leading you in a definite direction toward snickerdoodle satisfaction?

I did a cookie run to all the grocery stores and boutique shops in my area to find all the snickerdoodles I could get my grubby little hands on. And in the grand tradition of happily consuming too much sugar, I bit into the whole lot to figure out where the best snickerdoodles lie and how much they'll set you back if you choose to indulge. Here's the rundown as my taste buds dictated it.

Steven Luna/Mashed

Lenny & Larry's offers a high-protein, plant-based cookie that super-sizes a single bake but lists it as two servings in the nutrition facts. It's a mighty tall order to expect somebody to eat half a cookie and call it a day, so anyone who ends up with this less than impressive buy in their cart will be forgiven if they just snarf down the entire thing in one sitting. After giving it a spin, I can say that buyer's remorse is likely to set in pretty quickly, even if they exercise restraint and only take a bite. Regret over a cookie has never been quite so immediate for me.

The texture is pliable but firm, the exterior is covered entirely in cinnamon and sugar sprinkle, and despite all of this, the cookie is one of the least pleasing snickerdoodles I've had the misfortune of tasting. I know I've eaten these in the past and I seem to recall enjoying them, but either the recipe changed or my palate upgraded. Now, there's a dirty taste underneath everything that may come from the additional protein. Either way, it's nowhere near worth the $2.69 I paid for it.

Steven Luna/Mashed

Quest makes high protein meal replacement bars intended for fitness eaters and workout fiends to replenish their macros. The company has branched out into protein infused cookies, one of which is a snickerdoodle selection. Maybe to those who've become numb to the strange vitamin and protein flavor found in many workout-style bars, this cookie tastes like a real win. But those of us who remember what a proper cookie should taste like know that this snickerdoodle is a minor crime against the baking world.

The idea is to bring a more snackable alternative to its health-minded catalog. But judging by the single taste I took, it seems like the food scientists here have a long way to go before they reach a proper level of enjoyability. Maybe this is a wise purchase if you're running behind on your protein intake and you need a boost. But if you have any taste in cookies whatsoever, you'll erase the experience from your memory and look for a better representation of what snickerdoodles can be.

Steven Luna/Mashed

There's a reason these Walgreen's snickerdoodles are only $1.99: They're as bottom-of-the-line as a cookie can be. There's little to speak of in the way of flavor, and the texture is drier than a proper 'doodle should be. I get the sense that these are cookies for the desperately hungry shopper who isn't terribly concerned about authenticity or freshness — or happiness, for that matter. They just need something to quell their hunger, and in their disoriented state, cheap snickerdoodles sound like just the thing.

I had to know what made these treats so incredibly ordinary. I scoured the ingredients list to see if there were any strange elements tossed in (or left out) that somehow whiffed what should have been a snacking slam dunk. Instead of butter, I found palm oil as the main source of shortening, but further down the list was something called "butteroil" that piqued my curiosity. Apparently, this is a form of milk fat taken from butter or sweet cream, which I would guess is an attempt to elevate the flavor and consistency. I can't be certain that butteroil is what derailed this doodle all the way off its snicker, but I can't be certain that it isn't, either. It's definitely an ingredient you didn't know was in snickerdoodles, and neither did I. We're all much wiser now.

Long story short: Nice! snickerdoodles aren't actually all that nice at all. Don't worry about the butteroil, just find a better snack.

Steven Luna/Mashed

The Homestyle brand seems to be a space filler at Walmart, closing in the gaps between bigger brand-name cookies and the chain's own Great Value offerings. It's not a particularly impressive line of treats, but does stand out among the others for its uniquely cheap $1 price tag. Anyone who knows a bargain when they see one understands the risk they take with the quality of lesser-priced goods. In the case of Homestyle snickerdoodles, that risk doesn't pay off, even if you get six cookies for a buck. As I taste-tested them, I couldn't help imagining what better buys I could achieve if I saved my dollar and spent it somewhere else along with a few other dollars.

If I could have, I would have combined Homestyle snickerdoodles for last place with Nice! for one simple reason: they're literally the same cookie with a different label. The packaging and the cookie inside are otherwise identical, which means the taste in texture are also identical ... which means they're both equally bad. They just happen to be half the price.

Instead of this sneaky lesser-brand going 2-for-1, it's really going 0 for 2 instead. Give it wide berth as you work your way toward better snickerdoodles.

Steven Luna/Mashed

There was no reason to believe that Trader Joe's snickerdoodles would be anything less than spectacular, similar to most of their other in-store brand items. This is the chain where I get my favorite dark chocolate and the Oreo copycat Joe-Joe's, especially the chocolate dipped peppermint ones that show up whenever the holidays roll around. As a vintage cookie that deserves a comeback, a snickerdoodle from the same chain couldn't possibly go too far astray quality-wise, I reasoned. And they looked fresh-baked, too, though that couldn't possibly be true.

It turned out it wasn't true at all. I couldn't believe these cookies were actually as underwhelming as they first seemed; they were dry and tasted like nothing more than sugar cookies. So I gave it a little while, then went back for a second try just to confirm. The flavor came forward a bit this time around, but the texture was just too unpleasant to give Trader Joe's a higher ranking.

I'm sorry to report I paid $4.99 for a dozen. Reading the ingredients, it looks like the company uses margarine instead of butter or oil, which may be the reason for the diminished enjoyment. I'd be open to retrying them if Trader Joe's revamps the recipe. Until then, they're tastier than the worst snickerdoodles around, but they're not even close to the best.

Steven Luna/Mashed

As one of the pricier snickerdoodles in my round up, I assumed Cybele's would be one of the higher performers. It does boast about being gluten-free and vegan on the box, after all, and it rang up at $5.99 at the Sprouts in my neighborhood. All of those should be telltale signs of a high-quality cookie that aims to satisfy more than just the general populous, giving specialty eaters in search of a sweet snack something mighty to munch on.

I was a bit disappointed when I opened the box and smelled an off-putting chemical scent that didn't exactly scream "Eat these snickerdoodles now!" It's likely from the plastic wrapping that keeps these 12 bite-size cookies fresh while they sit on the shelf. It was difficult to get past when tasting the cookie, which is an admirable attempt at a snickerdoodle, all things considered. It has a soft, cake-like texture, with the requisite sugar cookie on steroids flavor that comes across as a little bit too sweet.

While this isn't a bad snickerdoodle, it does feel like the company could address whatever causes the plastic aroma and interferes with the enjoyment. If Cybele's can dial down the industrial scent in the box, the cookies waiting there could be total winners, especially for those who can't join in on the usual snickerdoodle party.

Steven Luna/Mashed

Add Freshness Guaranteed snickerdoodles to the growing list of impressive items from Walmart's bakery section. I broke off a bite and saw the soft chewiness that told me the assembly line had at least gotten the texture right. Then I went in for a bite and discovered it wasn't just the texture these tricky bakers had achieved; it was the whole cookie. The eggy-nutmeggy combination that gives traditional snickerdoodles a slight eggnog taste rose to the top, while the otherwise sugar cookie aspects stayed faithfully underneath.

It's never a bad day when you can pick up a package of 10 tasty cookies for around $3.50. In the case of Freshness Guaranteed snickerdoodles, it adds even more to the experience of enjoying these primo bakes. These would easily make a fan favorite at an office food day or on a party table where homemade items aren't a requirement. And if you happen to snag a pack to keep in your pantry so you can make the fun last after you get home, you'll still be spending less than $10 for two packages of superior cookies. Now that's a sweet celebration.

Steven Luna/Mashed

Tate's Bake Shop puts its wickedly buttery batter to its best possible use in the form of a thin and crispy snickerdoodle. Though the form and texture are slightly different than a traditional snickerdoodle, the impact of the flavor is so spot-on that there's no way this cookie could not be at the top of the list. It's rich and old-fashioned tasting with a modern gourmet twist that makes the green bag feel like a baked treasure.

If there's one drawback to these premium-priced cookies, it would be the familiarity in the flavor. If you've had any of the Tate's Bake Shop line, you'll easily recognize the template used in these snickerdoodles. I wouldn't call this a bad thing, necessarily, and it definitely works to the brand's advantage in this instance. In fact, it feels like the company may use the snickerdoodle arrangement as the starting point for its other cookies, which could make this the origin of the whole catalog.

However they came about, snickerdoodles from this popular grocery store cookie brand make for an A-1 purchase that justifies the slightly higher price point. At $5.99 or so for 14 cookies, you'll be spending your snacking money on the good stuff.

Steven Luna/Mashed

Snickerdoodles are one of my all-time favorites, so I was pretty particular about how proper the taste should be. There's nothing that will top a homemade snickerdoodle, so every option on the list would of course be second-best in comparison. But that also gave me a standard against which to rate store-bought versions amongst one another.

If a snickerdoodle on the list captured at least some of the homespun charm of a freshly made cookie, it popped up a little bit higher on the list. If the flavor and texture felt authentic and captured the unique combination of butter, eggs, and spices, that also gave the cookie more weight in the hierarchy. And if freshness and price were both agreeable and appropriate for the quantity and quality of cookies in the package, then that item would be ranked especially high. Taken all together, these aspects gave me a mental chart by which I could categorize and assign a number for each.

The sad surprise in all of it was discovering how many store-bought snickerdoodles seemed to be in a race for last place. Maybe it's just a way for these chains to use up the rest of their sugar cookie dough and make a little extra money, but there's something to be said for taking the snickerdoodle concept seriously despite the silly name.