Cookie Monster Picks The Best Type of Cookie

I have to say, [sniffs]

the chocolate smells great.

Here, smell. [Cookie Monster sniffing]

[Cookie Monster yelling]

Om-nom, nommy-nom.

Nom, nom, nom-nom-nom.

[bright music]

Hi, I'm Chris Morocco.

Oh, and me, Cookie Monster.

Today we're gonna be tasting

and judging eight different cookies

to find out which type of cookie is the best.

Me love this game.

You think you can be cold, analytical,

judgmental, An-al-iti-cal.

make some hard decisions? Judge-mental.

Yeah, whatever you say.

In each matchup,

two cookies are gonna face off against each other

and one is gonna advance,

until we get to the ultimate winner.

So at the end of all this, we're gonna determine

which type of cookie is the absolute best.

Super important. Mm-hmm.

We gotta pace ourselves here.

Right? Of course.

Because we've got a lot of cookies to get through.

You no have to cookie-splain.

[Chris laughs]

We totally on the same page.

You like a cookie, me like a cookie.

There are gonna be cookies on the table.

We eat the cookie.

Enough talk about cookies. Let's eat cookie!

All right, why don't we at least try one

and see how this goes.

[Chris] No. Small bites.

[Chris] No. Just one at first.

Okay, fine.

[bell dings]

Where'd this come from? [plates clatter]

All right, Cookie Monster, we've got chocolate chip.

Oh, yeah. And we have oatmeal raisin.

Oh boy. Let's start with chocolate chippy.

[Chris] Okay. Small bite.

Let's just, you know, see where we're at.

Small bite, discuss, move on to the next cookie.

Yeah, yeah. Okay, here we go.

Cookie!

Om nom, nom, nom, [Chris laughs]

om, nommy-nom nom, nom nom.

Nom , nom, nommy-nom, nom, nom.

I think, you know, what we're seeing is like

the sort of brown sugar quotient

with just enough- Wait,

why your cookie's still on plate?

just enough white sugar to kind of set up like,

that structure we were talking about.

Little like crisper on the outside.

Little bit squishier in the middle.

Yeah, me got all that. Is that what you got too?

Me got all of that and a lot faster.

Now, I couldn't help but notice.

But you kind of got into that cookie a little fast.

Mm, thank you. It's...

Thank you. No, no I didn't-

Thank you for that.

I didn't necessarily mean it as a compliment.

Well, you know, that's how me do it. Ha-ha-ha-ha.

[Chris] Well, no, I think-

Everybody's got their own thing.

I think we're bringing like rational,

analytical Cookie Monster to this exercise.

Exactly.

[Chris] You're gonna get another shot at this.

Me gonna do it your way this time.

[Chris] Yeah. Oatmeal raisin, here we go.

Small bite.

Om-nom, nom, nom, nommy nom.

Nom, nom-nom, nom. Mm.

Mm. Small bite. [Chris chuckling]

That additional kind of nutty character from the oatmeal-

Mm. really shines through.

But we don't really have that

balancing element of the chocolate.

No. We get raisins.

You don't want to overwhelm with the raisins

'cause it does disrupt the bite.

It's a little bit chewy mixed in with the crunch.

It could be a little off-putting.

We have to choose a winner. Right.

You have to kind of play back

both of those cold-hearted, very rational tasting sequences.

[thought bubble pops] Yeah.

And decide which cookie really delivered-

Oh boy. Yeah. of the two.

Me gonna say chocolate chippy.

[Chris] I agree with you.

We on the same page?

[Chris] Yeah, we're on the same page.

I think chocolate chip.

[bell pings]

[Cookie Monster gasps] Ooh.

I love this. They just hand us cookies.

Yeah. Good day, huh?

This is a good day.

[Chris] As you will note, you've got snickerdoodle-

That's a snickerdoodle. And then you've got

a sugar cookie. This is the battle

of the sugar and butter based cookies.

So the snickerdoodle, you've got like that nice coating

of cinnamon and sugar. Yeah.

You're usually gonna find cream of tartar in there.

That acidifying element kind of gives you

an additional kind of blast of acidity,

which reacts with your baking soda.

What is cream of tartar, by the way?

Cream of tartar is, it's tartaic acid, right?

Is it cream of tartar or a cream of tar-tar?

Tar-tar. And I don't actually know what tartar sauce...

You not know something?

No. Whoa!

Hey, easy, easy. Do we have that on camera?

Mr. Bigshot. Don't...

Don't tell Dan.

Why don't we start with the snickerdoodle.

Me love a snickerdoodle.

Just a, just a small bite.

You really get that cinnamon.

That's where we were talking about, you know,

that kind of like that retronasal.

Oh! Om-nom, nommy nom!

You really pick up that brightness though, right?

You know, from the cream of tartar?

Mm-hm! Something just like,

a little bit extra nuance going on there.

[lips smacking] Wait a minute. Me tasting it.

It's not just monolithically sweet.

No.

And I like how you have the cinnamon

that kind of adds like that extra

kind of something flavor-wise. You feel the cinnamon.

All me senses are going crazy.

[Chris] Well, let's get into sugar cookie.

Me just gonna watch, maybe gonna learn.

What do you think? No jump in there.

The head motion.

[cookie crunching] Om nom, nom, nom, nom.

Nommy nom, nom, nom, nom.

Mm. It's just a little sweet.

It not enough.

No balance.

Me have cookie...

Oh yeah, you've got cookie in your armpit there.

I think it's snickerdoodle by a mile.

By a hundred miles. Yeah.

Chewy, crispy- Cinnamonny...

mini, mini, mini.

Cinnamonny. It's bright.

[Chris] That word. Love it.

Yeah. Okay, moving on.

Moving on. Bring in the cookies.

[bell pings] What do we have here?

Oh, me think me know.

That the S'mores cookie

and that the chocolate cookie with sprinkles.

Double chocolate. Can something have too much chocolate?

No, the more chocolate the better.

But what about balance? What about, you know...

That's why you put the sprinkles on.

[Chris laughs]

I don't know. S'mores to me is always one of those things

that's better in theory than it is in reality.

You're camping.

It's always cold no matter what time of year.

[wistful music] Yeah.

You know, the marshmallow burns,

[fire crackling] the stick sets on fire.

Mosquitoes are mauling you...

Remind me not to go camping with Chris.

You know, it's interesting that they take a S'more,

which isn't really a cookie,

but they turned it into a cookie.

You turn something into a cookie

because everybody has had a cookie

and everybody can relate to it.

Right? So I think fair game. You like it?

Turn everything into a cookie.

Good, 'cause me working on a lasagna cookie.

Yeah, I... You want to try it?

Maybe you can publish recipe in Bon Appetit magazine.

They will love it.

We'll put it through the ringer first in the test kitchen

and get back to you.

But yeah, I love where this conversation is going.

Let's keep it going.

We just, we're just percolating with ideas here.

[Chris] Shall we try the double chocolate?

Why not? All right.

So to me a double chocolate is,

it's like a chocolate chip cookie, but just...

Me listening. Keep talking.

Om nom, nom, nom, nom. [Chris laughs]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, exactly, yeah.

Nom, nom, nom.

Oh yeah, yeah, precisely. Yeah.

Om nom, nom-nom. [smacks lips]

Are you sure that there can't be

too much chocolate in something though?

You know... Like where's,

where's the balance coming from?

You're right.

Me gonna agree with you.

It's a little one note. Okay. What next?

Smells like S'mores.

I'm getting like, I feel like me at campfire right now.

Wow.

You really go to a place. [bright music]

Look at him work.

Amazing. Excuse me.

Om nom, nommy-nom, nom nom, nom-nom!

Nom, nom, nom, nom.

[Cookie Monster sighs]

I gotta say, the marshmallow really added something.

That over the top vanilla, you know,

kind of candy like aspect of a marshmallow,

which is just totally tempered

and then balanced out by the toasting process.

[Cookie Monster] Me think S'more cookie the winner.

[bell pings] This category to me

is a little bit of a wild card.

[Cookie Monster] Yeah.

There's nothing quite like gingerbread,

it kind of occupies its own space.

And same thing with a black and white cookie.

You know, sort of like icon of sort of New York delis.

And you know what me love to do with gingerbread cookies?

What?

Me like to do this, excuse me.

[Chris chuckling] [bright festive music]

♪ Me like to put little gingerbread puppet show on ♪

Come on, Chris. Get down here.

Hold up your gingerbread.

[Chris] Hi. Hi.

Uh, it Christmas time and me so excited for Santy Claus.

How about you?

I'm super excited. Yeah.

[melancholic music] I do. Sometimes I fear

that gingerbread cookies are,

I don't know, old fashioned?

Like, are they that good?

You know, it's like you make 'em on like November 1st.

And they just kind of hang around-

[Chris] Yeah. Getting kicked from

one side of the house to the other until-

[Cookie Monster] Oh boy.

Now you're depressing me, gingerbread man.

I'm sorry. I... Oh, okay.

Me going back to plate to get eaten now.

Thank you for bringing me down.

[Chris chuckling]

Okay, Chris, that end of puppet show.

[chuckles] Sorry.

We tried.

Let's try gingerbread. Okay.

[Cookie Monster munching] [cookie crunching]

That went down pretty easy.

It pretty good.

Yeah. It's got... Not, not great.

Maybe be just depressed from your gingerbread story.

Well look, it doesn't have like that, you know, kind of,

mixed sort of set of textures

that I feel like I personally really value in a cookie.

The flavor is nice,

but how much of this do you truly want to eat?

It a cookie of the heart, it bring memories.

It not so much cookie of the taste palate.

[Chris] Well why don't we try the black and white?

[Cookie Monster] Oh yeah. We have another cookie to eat.

I do feel sometimes that like a black and white cookie

is more like cake than it's like a cookie.

It like frosting on a cake.

And do you know how you eat cake?

With a knife and fork.

[gentle music] Totally.

Okay lets' see how this goes.

Is it going to medium rare or is that...?

[Chris laughing]

Is that to your liking sir?

Hey, I have to say, the chocolate smells great.

Here, smell. [Cookie Monster sniffs]

[yells] Om-nom, nommy-nom, nom, nom, nom, nom, nom.

Nom, nom, nom, nom, nom.

Oh that yummy.

Wow.

You know, from now on we gonna just eat them all at once.

That's how you get the balance of the white and the black.

[Chris] No, it's still the chocolate for me.

Chocolate?

The white, that's too sweet.

I have to say, if I were voting just for the chocolate half,

I'd say unequivocally, hands down winner.

Yeah. I'd say the vanilla side is

kind of just along for the ride.

If you can kind of live with that sort of judgment.

I'm saying it's black and white.

Yeah. Me agree, black and white.

What... Oh. [bell pings]

Ooh, look at this. Me ordered milk.

You, you ordered this?

Me thought it a good palate cleanser.

Yeah, okay. I'll...

I mean, [sniffs] alright.

[lips smacking] [Cookie Monster sighs]

Can't think of when the last time

I actually drank straight up milk was.

Yeah, it's good, right?

Yeah. No, it's, yeah. It's good. And it's warm.

[Chris chuckles]

Which makes it even better.

It is! [laughs]

So warm. So warm.

Ambient temperature. Way too warm.

Me should have asked for cold milk.

Maybe next time.

[bell pings]

Okay, so this is round two. Yeah.

And things are getting serious.

The final four.

[Chris] So we've got chocolate chip.

Yeah. And we've got snickerdoodle.

Right. And I'm thinking, you know,

we barely need to even try these.

Maybe we don't even need to try them at all, right?

Because we can remember what they taste like.

Me forgot what they taste like.

[Chris] Oh, do you wanna just get, just...

Me need a little refresher.

Take a little taste again? Okay.

Me need a little refresher.

Om, nom, nom. [cookie pieces scattering]

Om, nom, nom, nom, nom, nom.

Oh wait. You ate the snickerdoodle too?

Oh, I thought we were going one by one, but...

Me ate them both. Me just wanted to get it over with.

Yeah... And choose me winner.

Sorry. Let me catch up to you.

I feel like it's the chocolate chip.

Yeah, me too.

It just pulls those, like,

that flavor spectrum in both directions.

Like that deep... You're there. You're there.

You're here, you're there, you're there.

Yeah, exactly.

Do you feel like the snickerdoodle is missing something

that the chocolate chip cookie has?

Chocolate chippies.

Chocolate chip.

How about snickerdoodle with chocolate chippies?

How about that?

Me want another chocolate chippy right now.

Let's move on to the next round.

[bell pings]

[Cookie Monster gasps] Ooh, okay.

Me remember these.

S'mores, black and white.

We don't have to try. We don't have to.

It's a choice. We don't have to.

I mean, we could.

We could want to try them. Yeah. I mean...

I mean, we could want to. Sure.

And you know what?

Me want to.

Om, nom, nom, nom. [munching furiously]

Black and white. Om, nom, nom.

[munching] Nom, nom, nom, nom, nom, nom.

I'm thinking it's the S'mores, personally.

Like when we talk about like flavors

that like really expand in multiple directions.

Textures. You've got like the pop of the chocolate.

Yeah.

You've got the toasted marshmallow.

Toastedness. Yeah. Yeah. The crisp edge.

Yes. The gooey center.

It like a campfire in a cookie.

The black and white cookie?

It's not that good.

It's just... It's just between us.

This is just between us.

So then- S'mores.

Because it has to be S'mores.

Has to be S'mores. Okay. It's S'mores.

Moving on.

This is it. This is the championship round.

Our finalists are coming in.

Okay. The grand finale.

[bell pings]

Oh! Here it is.

What do you wanna start with?

The final round.

You know we started with chocolate chippy.

Why don't we end with chocolate chippy?

Okay. So let's do S'mores.

S'mores first then chocolate chip.

[Cookie Monster sniffs deeply]

[Cookie Monster munching quietly]

It's nice. Yeah.

[Cookie Monster] It's really nice. Yeah.

A lot of brown sugar in there.

Wait, do you bake cookies?

I do. What's your secret recipe?

Hand chopped chocolate-

[Cookie Monster mimics mind blowing explosion]

Lot of vanilla extract.

Really? Oh yeah.

And then super high proportion of dark brown sugar.

[soft dreamy music] Yeah.

Which is really important because it reacts

due to the molasses content with the baking soda,

which is our leavener in there.

[Cookie Monster slurping]

And then brown butter.

It like music to me ears.

It like... it like Beethoven. [Chris laughs]

Tell me more about this chocolate chip cookie.

[Chris] Where did your S'mores cookie go?

Yeah, that, me finished that 15 minutes ago.

So now what? So we go...

We gonna eat the chocolate chippy. Ready?

[Cookie Monster munching furiously]

[crumbs scattering]

[sighs] Me ready with me decision.

Oh yeah? You're good?

Me good. You got your decision?

[Chris] Say it on the count of three.

Okay. One, two, three...

Chocolate chip. Chocolate chippy.

[bangs counter] Yes, I knew it.

Yes. Yes.

High five. High five.

[bright music] Ultimate in balance.

It's all there.

It was all there the entire time.

[Cookie Monster] Yeah.

It was right before our eyes the entire time.

It's so hard to compete with the balance of flavors

that is manifest in like every chocolate chip cookie.

Yeah. Me been tearing up a little bit.

I know. It's been a journey.

It's been a journey. Yeah.

Me so happy to do it

with you, Chris. No I know.

Yeah. It's so much fun.

So many cookies.

This been a great day.

It was a great day. Thank you.

No, thank you. Me pleasure.

We also learned that you are terrible puppeteer.

[Chris laughs]

That gingerbread terrible.