Cookies, Ranked

Created by Ruth Wakefield at the Toll House Inn in Whitman, Massachusetts, with the recipe published in her 1938 cookbook, it became the default American cookie and, since 1997, the official cookie of Massachusetts. Warm, gooey, and universally beloved, it sets the standard every other cookie is measured against.

Introduced by Nabisco in 1912, Oreo is the best-selling cookie brand in the United States and worldwide, and is sold in over 100 countries. The chocolate-wafer-and-creme formula has been essentially unbeatable for over a century.

A French meringue-based sandwich cookie of almond flour with a ganache or buttercream filling, prized for its smooth domed shell and delicate 'foot.' Notoriously hard to make well, which is exactly why a good one impresses.

Its signature crisscross fork pattern dates to published recipes from the 1930s and lets the dense dough bake evenly. Rich, nutty, and satisfying with a soft-crumbly bite.

Rolled in cinnamon sugar and leavened with cream of tartar, which gives it a subtle tang and chewy texture. A cozy, distinctive profile that stands apart from a plain sugar cookie.

A traditional Scottish cookie built on a roughly 1:2:3 ratio of sugar, butter, and flour, giving it its melt-in-the-mouth crumble. Simple, elegant, and endlessly reliable.

A Dutch treat from Gouda made of two thin waffle layers sealed with caramel syrup, traditionally warmed over a hot cup of coffee. A brilliant texture-and-sweetness combo that's a hair too sticky to top the chart.

The first documented figure-shaped gingerbread biscuits appeared at the court of Elizabeth I, who had them made in the likeness of her guests and dignitaries. A holiday staple that's more fun than flavor-forward.

Originating as cantucci from Prato, Italy, these are baked twice for a dry, hard texture built for dipping in coffee or vin santo. Great with a drink, a bit punishing on its own.

A simple butter-sugar-flour dough that holds cutout shapes and icing better than any other, making it the go-to for decorated holiday cookies. Reliable and versatile, if unremarkable plain.

Rolled oats give it a chewy, wholesome texture, though the raisin version is infamous for masquerading as chocolate chip. Genuinely good, but forever fighting a reputation.

A cakey drop cookie iced half in vanilla and half in chocolate fondant, deeply associated with New York City delis and immortalized by a Seinfeld bit. More sponge-cake than cookie, which holds it back.

Nabisco's Barnum's Animals launched in 1902 in a box designed like a circus cage, complete with a string handle for hanging on a Christmas tree. Nostalgic and fun, but bland by adult standards.

A semi-sweet British biscuit first manufactured by McVitie's in 1892 to a recipe developed by Alexander Grant, famously suited to dunking in tea. Solid and dependable, but plainer than its chocolate-coated sibling.

Despite its association with Chinese restaurants in the US, it actually traces to Japanese and Californian origins in the early 20th century. You eat it for the paper slip, not the vanilla-tinged crunch.

A thin, coconut-flavored British biscuit sprinkled with coarse sugar, most likely named after the French city of Nice. Inoffensive but forgettable, usually the last one left in the tin.

A hard, semi-sweet British biscuit deliberately made mild so it doesn't overpower a cup of tea. Functional as a dunker, but it brings almost nothing on its own.

A survival biscuit of just flour and water, baked rock-hard to last for years and issued as military and naval rations for centuries. Soldiers nicknamed it 'tooth-dullers' and 'sheet iron' for good reason, it's a cookie in shape only.