I usually bake my own cookies — but sometimes a craving hits and you just want to pick some up at the store.

As a professional baker, I've probably made thousands of chocolate-chip cookies from scratch.

Chocolate-chip cookies were also one of the first things I learned to make as a kid and I've since spent a lot of time refining my own recipes for different versions of the classic, from soft and chewy to crispy and lacy. 

So, of course, I have strong opinions on what makes a good chocolate-chip cookie.

I don't like them overly sweet, which typically happens when there's not enough bitter-but-balancing chocolate folded into the dough. Soft centers and crispy edges are ideal, but there are certainly a lot of differing viewpoints on cookie texture.

Although I usually make big batches of my own dough to store in the freezer for a rainy day, I also understand that when a craving hits, you want a store-bought option that will satisfy.

So, I tried chocolate-chip cookies from the bakery section at four national chains near me in Seattle — Costco, Kroger, Safeway, and Walmart. Here's how they stacked up. 

At Costco, I picked up a 24-pack of cookies for $8.99.

I could tell at first glance the chain's cookies — from its Kirkland Signature brand — were loaded with 1/2-inch chunks of chocolate. 

The cost of each cookie came out to only 37 cents. Notably, though, Costco's bakery is only accessible to members for in-person shopping. Memberships to the wholesaler start at $60 per year and come with lots of discounts and special perks. 

The cookie's surface was a rippled texture filled with nooks and crannies of chocolate.

Texturally, they were soft in the center with slightly firmer edges — but, overall, they're ideal for those who like cookies soft and chewy.

The cookies also had a pleasant and prominent vanilla flavor. I also appreciated their golden color, which might be indicative of more brown sugar being in the dough. The other cookies I tried were paler. 

It was soft and moist, but the color reminded me of a sugar cookie.

The color led me to guess that Walmart doesn't use a lot of brown sugar in its cookies. Brown sugar is what gives chocolate-chip cookies deep toffee and molasses notes.

This cookie was also much sweeter than the others, likely a result of a lot of white sugar in the dough, which is sweeter than brown sugar. 

There was also very little chocolate — just a few small bits — which left the cookie feeling unbalanced even though it had a great soft center. 

Safeway's cookies were the crispest of the bunch.

The center of the cookie was soft, but the thinner edges had a pleasant snap. That said, the cookie didn't have a lot of chew.

In terms of chocolate, these fell somewhere in the middle of the bunch. They had a decent amount of chips but were not loaded with them. The chocolate chips in the cookies also fell on the sweeter side.

Overall, the cookie was a little one-note, coming off as just sweet. Not unpleasant, but also not the best cookie on the market, in my opinion.

A pack of 16 cookies from Kroger cost me $3.50 with a store card (or $5.49 without).

The cookies I got at Kroger were labeled with Fred Meyer, a local northwest chain owned by Kroger. Although Fred Meyer and Kroger merged in 1998, some stores and items — like these cookies — still represent the Fred Meyer brand. 

At first glance, I could tell they were filled with lots of semisweet chocolate chips.

With my card, each cookie came to only 22 cents. Without it, they were 34 cents each. 

Overall, I think you should head to Costco's bakery section for chocolate-chip cookies.

As a professional baker who makes chocolate-chip cookies daily, I felt Costco's cookie came the closest to tasting homemade.

The soft texture, vanilla-forward flavor, and ample dark-chocolate chunks set it apart from the others.

The Fred Meyer cookies from my local Kroger were a close second place. Walmart's version felt a little too much like a sugar cookie to me and Safeway's fell a bit short. But, really, it's hard to go wrong with a cookie from any of these chains. 

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7o8HSoqWeq6Oeu7S1w56pZ5ufonyjrcqeqWabn6K9or7ErGScoJ%2BYvK2t055knKCZpXqku86koJ6rXZy%2FsK%2FEq7Bmq6Skv6Z50Z6top2nYr2pu9Ooqg%3D%3D