The Best Starbucks Bakery Item Is A Classic Dessert

The star of the Starbucks bakery case is an unassuming chocolate chip cookie, according to a Foodie feature writer, who ranked Starbucks bakery items by sampling all she could get her hands on. In fact, the siren's chocolate chip cookie is so good that it also ranks among the best chain chocolate chip cookies overall, standing tall among fellow standouts from McDonald's, Crumbl, and Chick-Fil-A. 

What makes this treat such a success in Starbuck's densely-populated pastry case? The key, said our reviewer, was a nostalgic taste that harkened back to childhood, with plenty of melty, sweet chocolate. "Instead of tasting like it's been packaged and held somewhere for a long time, it also tasted super homemade, an absolute necessity for chocolate chip cookies," she wrote, also praising the fact that chocolate chip cookies are a home run with Starbucks visitors of all ages, giving them wide appeal. While other Starbucks sweets got dragged for being dry or otherwise reminiscent of the fact that they are baked offsite before being shipped to stores, the cookie did a great job of making her believe otherwise.

Perhaps another reason for Starbucks's cookie success? Like celebrity chef Ina Garten, whose go-to chocolate chips brand is actually chocolate chunks, Starbucks uses both chocolate chips and chocolate chunks in its cookies. This ensures that every bite is generously spiked with the best part of a chocolate chip cookie, the gooey chocolate.

On Reddit, a Starbucks skeptic declared that its cookie made them a believer: "Not only is the Starbucks Chocolate Chip Cookie (Warmed) better than ANY Crumbl cookie [...] it is also superior to the Mcdonalds mcCookies [sic] and the Nestle oven cookies and your grandma's homemade cookies and probably your local cookie shop's too." TikTok user @kayleighleon, who professed to have not known that Starbucks sold cookies in the first place, couldn't stop gushing about the crispy consistency and rich, buttery flavor of the treat. Business Insider had a lot of the same compliments for the cookie that Foodie's writer did: "We loved the giant semi-sweet chocolate chunks in Starbucks' take on the chocolate chip cookie. This cookie tasted like it came from an actual bakery."

It's interesting to note that Starbucks's website features a recipe for a chocolate chip cookie, but reading the text of the recipe reveals a bog-standard cookie that only uses chocolate chips. Even the cookies pictured in the image accompanying the recipe have visible chunks, which makes us wonder where Starbucks's quality control was on this issue. The recipe touts a dismal 2.4/5 stars based on reviews and is classified as "hard" when, again... it's a chocolate chip cookie. Very confusing. Luckily, credible dupes exist elsewhere, which include the magic ingredient, chocolate chunks broken off a candy bar, and share some of the secrets to getting a light, airy cookie — don't overwork the dough!