Generic vs Brand Ingredients in Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is a comprehensive study to see if ingredients matter and make a difference in baking chocolate chip cookies. We compare generic vs. brand ingredients to see how they affect baking cookies. Do cheap vs. expensive ingredients make a difference in cookies?

I am a baking nerd! I love to study the “whys” behind baking so I can create my own recipes and know what is going to work and what isn’t and creating the perfect ratios for each particular cookie recipe. I have probably tried every type of chocolate chip cookie recipe on the planet!

I have a passion for perfecting chocolate chip cookies so I decided to dig deeper into the science of ingredients and see how using generic, budget-friendly options compare with their more expensive, premium counterparts.

Chocolate chip ingredients, especially chocolate chips, butter, and eggs, have gone up significantly in price over the past few years so I wanted to see if there was a big difference in quality.

By comparing generic and premium brands, we examine how ingredient choice impacts the final result. Do budget-friendly, cheaper ingredients or expensive, high-end ingredients make a noticeable difference?”

Chocolate chip cookies may look simple, but ingredient quality may impact flavor, texture, and appearance. Here’s a breakdown of my baking journey, what I discovered, and why it may be worth considering ingredient quality when baking your next batch of cookies.

I was inspired by Handle the Heat where she analyzed her favorite cookie recipe and determined if ingredients mattered. Thank you for your inspiration, Tessa! I wanted to use my own Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe and use the exact same method except use the cheapest ingredients in the grocery store vs the most expensive ingredients and see which one tastes better.

What do you think and what has been your experience?

Do ingredients matter in baking?

Every ingredient in chocolate chip cookies—flour, sugar, butter, eggs, chocolate, and leaveners—serves a purpose and impacts the final product. For example, brown sugar and sugar act differently even though they are both sugar. Since brown sugar has molasses in it, it contributes to a chewier texture while granulated sugar gives cookies a crisp edge.

For this experiment, I made two batches of cookies using the exact same chocolate chip cookie recipe but substituted generic ingredients in one and premium, brand ingredients in the other and we ranked them on appearance, taste, and texture.

Generic Ingredients (cheaper) vs. Brand Premium (expensive Ingredients:

Here are the ingredients and cost breakdown of the ingredients we bought for the cookie experiment. The prices listed were for large quantities (ex: 1 lb. butter, 5 lb. sugar, dozen eggs, 5 lb. flour, etc) so the price listed on the bottom is NOT for one batch of cookies.

Kroger Butter: $4.49 ($2.25 per batch of cookies)
Kroger Brown Sugar: $2.59
Smart Way Sugar: $3.29
Kroger Eggs: $3.59
Private Selection Vanilla Extract: $5.49
Kroger All-Purpose Flour: $2.69
Kroger Baking Soda: $1.19
Kroger Cornstarch: $1.99
Kroger Salt: .79
Kroger Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips: $2.99

TOTAL: $29.10

Kerry Gold Butter: $8.49 ($4.25 per batch of cookies)
C&H Brown Sugar: $4.19
C&H Sugar: $5.49
Nellie’s Eggs: $4.99
Nielsen-Massey Vanilla Bean Paste: $28.99
King Arthur All-Purpose Flour: $6.49
Arm & Hammer Baking Soda: $1.79
Argo Cornstarch: $2.99
Morton Salt: $2.99
Guittard Super Cookie Chips: $6.99

TOTAL: $73.40

How does the type of flour used make a difference in baking cookies?

Flour acts as the foundation for most baked goods, and different flours bring unique textures due to their gluten content, which affects chewiness, tenderness, and structure. Generally, I use all-purpose flour in my baked good recipes unless specified.

1. Cake Flour (6-8% Gluten): Low-protein and finely milled, cake flour is often used for delicate baked goods. Its low gluten level minimizes structure, creating very soft and tender textures. I use it in my Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe. In cookies, it can lead to a light and soft crumb, often with a slight “melt-in-your-mouth” feel.
2. All-Purpose Flour (10-12% Gluten): The versatile choice, with a moderate gluten level that provides a balanced structure suitable for cookies, cakes, and bread. For cookies, it yields a chewy texture without being overly soft or hard, making it ideal for classic chocolate chip cookies. I use all-purpose flour in the Best Chocolate Chip Cookies.
3. Bread Flour (12-14% Gluten): Known for its high protein content, bread flour builds a more resilient, chewy structure. In cookies, it gives a dense, chewy consistency with a slightly crisp edge, adding more “bite” due to the higher gluten. Many bakers opt for bread flour when aiming for a chewier, more substantial chocolate chip cookie. There are some cookie recipes that use bread flour but I don’t have any on Modern Honey.
4. Pastry Flour (8-9% Gluten): Sitting between cake and all-purpose flour, pastry flour is often used for tender items like pie crusts. When used in cookies, it produces a soft and crumbly texture.

How does the type of butter affect cookies?

What is the difference between using a more expensive European butter, such as Kerrygold, compared to a store brand or generic type of butter? Does the type of butter you use affect the final chocolate chip cookie recipe?

Yes! Using European butter, like Kerrygold, in chocolate chip cookies can indeed affect their texture and spread. European butters have a higher butterfat content (around 82-84%) and less water than standard American butters, which generally have 80% butterfat.

What does this mean?

This higher fat content can create richer, denser cookies with slightly less spread, as the lower water content means less steam during baking. In contrast, cookies made with generic butter may spread more due to the additional moisture and can turn out thinner, slightly greasier, and taste less rich than their European counterpart, which will affect the final texture and flavor.

In this experiment, I found that the cookies with the European butter, Kerrygold, had less spread and a richer, buttery flavor.

The chocolate chip cookies made with the Kroger butter spread slightly more, were a tad greasier but still made a delicious cookie!

Analysis and Results:

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough: The premium expensive dough was slightly smoother and richer in color due to the yellow color of the Kerry Gold Butter. The taste of the premium expensive cookie dough was richer and taste testers preferred it over the generic, inexpensive cookie dough.

The cookie dough made with generic ingredients was lighter in color and lighter in flavor. It had an airy taste, and the chocolate chips were decent but not at the level of the Guittard Super Cookie Chip Chunks.

Chilling the Dough: I am a huge fan of chilling cookie dough for many reasons — chilling allows the flavors to meld and prevents overspreading during baking. It deepens the flavor of the cookie dough and gives it caramel, toffee notes. I found that chilling the dough helped develop the flavor of the cookie dough made with the cheaper, generic ingredients and made it taste a little more similar to the cookie dough made with the expensive ingredients.

Baking Results: The chocolate chip cookie experiment results were similar to what I thought they would be. The type of butter used does play a large role in cookies due to the fat and water content. Even the gluten percentage in the different brands of all-purpose flour can range from 10-12% which can affect the texture of the cookies.

The more expensive chocolate chip cookies did fare better in the taste test. The interesting feedback we got is that the adults definitely liked the cookies using the brand ingredients and kids seemed to prefer the cookies using the generic ingredients. This could come down to the type of chocolate used and the Guittard Super Cookie Chips have a slightly more semi-sweet flavor than the store brand chocolate chips.

One interesting note is that we placed the cookies in large gallon-sized Ziploc bags and did a second taste test the next day. The more expensive cookies did stay slightly softer chewier than the less expensive cookies. The less expensive cookies dried out faster and became crumbly quickly.

Which cookie looks more enticing to you? If you had to choose one, which one would you choose?

What ingredients do I typically use when baking chocolate chip cookies?

I like to splurge only on ingredients that I believe are the different makers especially good quality chocolate. I tend to use ingredients that are readily available to most of my readers.

Butter: I have tried all types of butter from Costco Kirkland Signature, Land O Lakes, Challenge, Trader Joe’s, Kerry Gold, Grassfed Butter from Costco, Kroger butter, and many more! I buy A LOT of butter so I generally use Costco butter but currently have Land O Lakes in my refrigerator right now as well. I use Kerry Gold for shortbread or butter cookies.

Sugar: I like to use C&H Sugar, Imperial, or sugars from Costco or Sam’s Club.

Eggs: I go through a lot of eggs so I buy them in 5-dozen containers from Costco.

Vanilla Extract: I like to use different types of vanilla depending on the recipe. For cookies, I like to use vanilla extract and I use a Mexican vanilla or Nielsen-Massey vanilla extract. For frosting, custard, pastry cream, panna cotta, creme brulee…I like to use vanilla bean paste for the most vanilla bean flavor.

Flour: I use King Arthur Flour or Kirkland All-Purpose Flour from Costco.

Chocolate Chips: I have tried every brand and type of chocolate chips that I can get my hands on. I use different types of chocolate chips depending on the type of cookie I am making.

If I want to have melted chunks of chocolate in my Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies, I use Trader Joe’s Belgium Pound Plus bars chopped or use chocolate disks from Orson Gygi, a baking store in Salt Lake City, Utah. I buy the Ghirardelli Stanford Wafers and Guittard Dark French Vanilla and Guittard Milk Old Dutch Wafers from Orson Gygi. I bring an extra suitcase so I can stock up on chocolate!

If I am wanting to use classic chocolate chips, I prefer to use Guittard or Ghirardelli chocolate chips because of their taste and quality.

What are my favorite cookie baking tools?

I am passionate about my baking tools because they do make a difference in the final product. If I talk to someone who is dealing with burnt cookies, the first questions I ask are, “what cookie sheets are you using” and “how long are you baking the cookies for?” Choosing the right baking sheet is one of the most important things you can do.

I suggest using light-colored baking sheets in all of your cookie recipes. You can get them in a 2-pack for a great deal at Costco and you can also find them on Amazon. Here are two of my favorites:
Nordicware Light Colored Baking Sheets 2-pack
USA Light Colored Baking Sheet

Parchment Paper Sheets

I love my Kitchenaid Mixer! It is one of my most used and most beloved kitchen appliances.

Kitchenaid 4.5-qt Mixer
Kitchenaid 7-qt Mixer

Here are some tools to make baking easier:

Large Cookie Scoop
Measuring Cups and Spoons
Cookie Spatula

I hope you love this cookie analysis! What are your thoughts? What cookie do you prefer? You can’t go wrong with either one!

It is good to remember that sometimes when you are baking a recipe on the internet and wonder why your cookie or baked good looks different than the online version…it may come down to what ingredients you use, what type of baking sheet you use, and the baking time.

The Best Cookie Recipes:

Here are some 5-star rated chocolate chip cookie recipes for you to try:

Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Crush Cookies

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

Best Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Browned Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies