By Thomas Sellers Jr.
I survived the 2019 Girl Scout cookie season.
Back on Jan. 2, the country was swarmed by dozens and dozens of girls with the trademark green vest using their customer service skills to entice us into buying those cookies.
With about 12 options, most U.S. Americans have a favorite Girl Scouts cookie. Don’t worry — my top choice from the pack will be featured in this week’s Best Sellers’ List.
The time has finally come for me to break down the most delicious cookies I have encountered in my 37 years of life. The history of the cookie goes back centuries.
The name cookie derives from the Dutch word koekje, meaning small or little cake. Cookies have matured into a guilty pleasure we run to for a quick, sugary treat.
While it does take longer to bake cakes, cookies have earned their spot as a piece of Americana. Instead of indulging in a full piece of cake, grab a couple of cookies to satisfy your sweet tooth.
Cookies come in many different forms, flavors and interpretations of well-known classics. While the chocolate chip cookie can have an entire top 10 to itself, I’m going to spread the wealth and love for my favorite cookies.
10. Peanut butter
BEST VERSION:
Alma Sellers
I’m not a fan of peanut butter. But I understand its power of protein. It is a substance for me to reload after a workout.
While I use peanut butter as a resource instead of a treat, I grew a soft spot in my heart for my mom Alma’s peanut butter cookie. She uses either Jif or Peter Pan to make the creamiest peanut butter cookies. A peanut butter cookie generally originated in the United States back to the 1910s.
Whether crunchy or smooth, the peanut butter must be fresh in order to make topnotch cookies.
9. Samoas
BEST VERSION:
Girl Scouts
The best cookie the Girl Scouts offer each year, Samoas are hard to resist. I must confess, I can eat a whole sleeve of Samoas in about 5 minutes.
Now if I need a quick fix, they sell bootleg Samoas in the grocery. Samoas are a delicate recipe and take care to make. The perfect ratio of coconut, caramel and chocolate can make your soul smile.
8. Chocolate chip
BEST VERSION:
Memphis City Schools
This entry is on the same level as Michael Jordan, Erica Kane, Hulk Hogan and McDonald’s of cookies. It is well known and the standard. It’s the first thing you think of when you hear the word cookie.
I love a good soft chocolate chip cookie, fresh out of the oven. Back around 1938, Ruth Graves Wakefield added chopped up bits from a Nestlé semi-sweet chocolate bar into a cookie. Magic was created.
Now we enjoy variations of the recipe with different types of chocolate. You can add ingredients like nuts or oatmeal to the chocolate chip cookie. There is even a vegan version of the legendary cookie.
Most people love a good chocolate chip cookie. Whether solo, with milk or in a bowl of ice cream, chocolate cookies are iconic. But the reason why it ranks No. 8 on my list is because I’ve had too much of a good thing.
Despite my having a few too many chocolate chip cookies, I still love the aroma of a couple here and there.
7. White chocolate
macadamia nut
BEST VERSION:
Subway
This cookie is more about texture than flavor. Although they are one of the most delicious cookies to ever grace this Earth, white chocolate macadamia nut is a combination of crispy and chewy. A good white chocolate macadamia nut cookie has slightly crisp edges with a soft and chewy center. The best ones are loaded with extra white chocolate chips and macadamia for a sweet boost in each bite. I like to eat the edges first and then chump down on the interior.
6. Snickerdoodle
BEST VERSION:
Betty Crocker
I am not a big fan of butter or sugar cookies. But I absolutely love a soft, chewy snickerdoodle. So what is the different between a snickerdoodle and its inferior cousins? Mostly taste. While snickerdoodles and sugar cookies share a lot of basic ingredients (flour, sugar, butter), there is one key ingredient that’s critical to the signature snickerdoodle — cream of tartar.
Most believe the cookie came from the Germans. The word snickerdoodle does sound German. Some foolish folks ask where are the chunks of Snickers bars? After laughing at them, I offer them the dumpling treat.
If you see me around the holiday season, feel free to offer me a batch of German delights.
5. Lemon snowflake
BEST VERSION:
Betty Crocker
I love lemon cake. And if I need a quick fix, I won’t turn down a lemon snowflake cookie. This joyous treat is hard to find in the supermarket. Thanks to the Internet, you can find a few recipes to try. All of them have the basic foundation for the fluffy, cake-like treat with a few twists.
The key is to make sure it is light and luscious in order to melt in your mouth. The lemon flavor should be bold with a zesty kick underneath the powdered sugar. Ideally, you want a lemon snowflake cookie during the winter. But it is also delicious during the spring and summer too.
4. Double chocolate chip
BEST VERSION:
Various sports banquets
While I can turn down a chocolate chip cookie all day, I have to summon every bit of willpower I have to resist a double chocolate chip cookie. It’s like an action-packed version of a chocolate chip cookie. The Double-C is a brownie waiting to happen.
The main differences are cocoa powder and dark chocolate. Those two key ingredients will make me wake up in the middle of the night to retrieve a Double-C out of the refrigerator.
3. Oreo
BEST VERSION:
Nabisco Oreo
Back in 1912, Chelsea, Manhattan, was the birthplace of one of the most iconic desserts to ever grace many U.S. American stomachs. The Oreo is a brand in a league of its own.
Originally the concept of two chocolate wafers with cream between them was known as a Hydrox cookie. But by the roaring ’20s, Oreo took over the market.
The Oreo is known as the “Chocolate Sandwich Cookie.” The Oreo is the bestselling cookie in the United States. And it’s one of the best-tasting cookie ever created. Milk is his bride. Cookies and cream ice cream is his pride and joy. And the Oreo has inspired many other variations. Its flavor has been modified countless times. I am still waiting to meet a bad version of the Oreo.
2. Oatmeal raisin
BEST VERSION:
Lenny’s
They say old people love raisins and oatmeal. I guess I’ve been old since 1986. When I first discovered the oatmeal raisin cookie, I fell in love. Her tender exterior, flaky texture and plump raisin caught my eyes. Then it was time to eat … no, devour the cookie. One cookie turned into two and then three.
That 5-year-old boy had grown into a man who bakes his own version of the cookie. It is still hard for me to resist oatmeal raisin cookies once I spot them on a platter.
Soft and chewy are giveaways that you have a great cookie in your hands. But the best way to tell you have a fantastic oatmeal raisin cookie — when they stick to each other.
1. Fig bars
BEST VERSION:
Little Debbie
My childhood babysitter, Ms. Lois, enjoyed her “The Young and the Restless.” She would put us children to sleep by 11 a.m. and pop her television on CBS for her soap opera. Of course I was the first to wake up about 30 minutes later.
Ms. Lois would be drinking an adult beverage while nibbling on some Jackson’s Fig Bars.
“You don’t want these. I don’t know any kid who eats these,” she said to me as I stared at the pack of cookies.
So she gave me one and I loved it. I loved the fig bars so much I ate half of them.
“My little boy likes these. I guess I have to share now.”
Ms. Lois kept a cabinet with a week’s supply just for me. She shared this news with my Mom so my lunches would feature the cookie.
My classmates mocked me for having old people cookies. But I enjoyed Fig Newton, Kroger, Walmart and the best of all time, Little Debbie.
Little Debbie made the fig bar scrumptious and like a cake. But the other brands are a pleasure because it takes me back to being in Ms. Lois’ embrace watching her daytime dramas.
Whether it was the California fig, strawberry, apple or even blueberry, biting into one of those soft cookies keeps the memory of Ms. Lois alive in my heart.
Sometimes to be the best sweet treat takes a the loving touch of a sweet woman.
THOMAS SELLERS JR. is the editor of The Millington Star and both the sports editor and a weekly personal columnist for Journal West 10 Media LLC. Contact him by phone at (901) 433-9138, by fax to (901) 529-7687 and by email to [email protected].
