Trying Ghirardelli’s Dark Chocolate Chip premium cookie mix

I love chocolate chip cookies but I almost always make them homemade. I grew up making homemade chocolate chip cookies all the time so they are easy and quick for me to throw together. Often I use recipes like the tried and true Nestle toll house but that recipe isn’t amazing to me and I want something that is. I have never purchased a chocolate chip cookie box mix so I am eager to see how they compare to the many cookies I have baked and eaten.

I picked up Ghirardelli’s dark chocolate chip cookie mix for $3.99 at Smith’s. I have enjoyed Ghirardelli’s baking mixes in the past and I really like dark chocolate so this mix drew me in. I had high hopes for this to be a good cookie that takes little effort.

This mix is straightforward and seems easy enough. You combine 1 egg and 1 stick of butter softened with the box mix. You mix it all up and scoop it onto a baking sheet. I am used to creaming the butter first so it felt wrong to throw everything in at once and just stir to combine. Despite my feelings, it all came together really well. It was a pretty sticky dough but it still scooped nicely and didn’t get stuck to the cookie scoop.

I ended up getting 21 cookies out of this mix. The back of the box said it would yield either 22-24, 2.5 inch cookies (1 rounded tablespoon of dough) or 12-14, 3 inch cookies (2 rounded tablespoons of dough). For the smaller cookie it said to bake for 8-10 minutes and for the larger, 10-12 minutes. I put my cookies in to bake, one sheet at a time, and after 8 minutes they were done. The accuracy from this box was a breath of fresh air. I almost always have to dock points for the serving amount or the baking time being incorrect on a box so a big thank you to Ghirardelli for telling the truth!

These cookies came out a little flat looking, you could see the chocolate chips sticking up out of the cookie because it cooked thin. I was worried they would be crunchy due to the look since many chocolate chip cookies I have made in the past have ended up unfortunately crunchy. I am here for softer cookies personally so I was glad to find my concerns were unwarranted. These cookies were super soft and had an amazing consistency. They were so soft in fact, days later, these cookies were still soft and an enjoyable consistency.

The flavor of these cookies however, was lacking. It was okay at best. I mostly got an artificial taste that was likely from an artificial vanilla extract. I couldn’t place exactly what it tasted like but it was the strongest flavor in this cookie. After a few bites, it was less noticeable but I really didn’t like it. Even the dark chocolate chips were on the back burner to this flavor which is not what you want from a chocolate chip cookie. Worried it was just me and my taste buds, I took these cookies on a camping trip with some friends to enjoy and only a few were eaten. Almost all of the cookies remained by the end of the trip.

Overall I would choose homemade cookies over this box mix. There are so many recipes out there, there is no point in wasting time with a less than perfect cookie. I will continue to try other box mix chocolate chip cookies in hopes of finding that perfect box mix for the times you’re in a pinch and need a quick cookie but this mix was not it.

This mixture totaled 2,710 calories. If divided into 21 cookies it was 129 calories per cookie.

Here are the links to products used today:
Oven Mitts – https://amzn.to/3JYq5Mg
Baking sheet – https://amzn.to/3UGKcDA
Cookie Scoop 1tbsp – https://amzn.to/3UFhuTz
*These are affiliate links meaning if you click on the link and buy the product, I will earn a small commission, but you will not be charged a penny more.