How the cookie crumbles...

There is no shortage of chocolate chip cookie options in San Francisco, ranging from supermarket 10 cent cookies to gourmet $3 cookies. So the challenge for the hedonistas this time was, "What is your favorite chocolate chip cookie?"

THE COOKIE FACE OFF

THE TASTERS:
Dave, Dean, Eric, Joyce, Michele, Oliver, Ray, Shipra, Thao, Tiffany, and Timothy

THE CONTENDERS:
Nominated by the tasters

Listed clockwise starting from the top left:

1. Homemade with 66% Tcho chocolate discs (Tiffany, Dean)
2. Nestle Toll House cookie dough (Michele)
3. Hot Cookie (Joyce, Eric)
4. Anthony's Cookies (Joyce, Eric)
5. Whole Food Bakery (The Waldin's)
6. Dandelion Chocolate (Dave)
7. Subway (Michele)
8. Mrs. Fields (The Waldin's)
9. Anthony's Cookies - Gluten Free (Joyce, Eric)

THE TEST:
There were too many contenders for the tasters to do a full rank order, so the 9 cookies were grouped into 3 groups (Michele, Shipra, and Thao did an informal, ad hoc ranking as to place the top contenders in separate groups for the first round). Then, the winner from each group advanced to the championship round to determine the ultimate winner.

Testers were blindfolded or simply asked to closed their eyes. The test administrator randomize the order and gave the testers bite size pieces of cookies. After tasting all 3 cookies in the bracket, tasters ordered their preference. The procedure was repeated for other groups.

Four contenders advanced to the championship round (slight change in rules, since 1st and 2nd place in Group 3 were separated by only one point we agreed to advance both cookies).

THE RESULTS:
Drum roll please...the top three chocolate chip cookies are:

1. Homemade (~$1.00 per cookie)
2. Anthony's ($1.50 per cookie)
3. Dandelion ($3.00 per cookie)

Special thanks to Joyce for administering most of the test, Ray for building a web app to collect the data, and all the testers for breaking their diets.

We look forward to Baby To-Ku joining the tasting crew soon.