In this edition of 'Snack Bracket', Bon Appétit star Chris Morocco is joined by a very special guest, 'Sesame Street’s' Cookie Monster. Together, Cookie Monster and Chris will pit 8 classic cookies against each other in a single elimination bracket to determine—once and for all—the absolute best biscuity treat.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00 I have to say, the chocolate smells great.
00:02 Here, smell.
00:02 [chewing]
00:05 Num, nummy num, num, num, num, num, num, num, num.
00:10 [dramatic music]
00:12 Hi, I'm Chris Morocco.
00:19 - Oh, and me, Cookie Monster.
00:22 - Today we're gonna be tasting and judging
00:24 eight different cookies to find out
00:26 which type of cookie is the best.
00:28 - Me love this game.
00:30 - You think you can be cold, analytical,
00:33 judgmental, make some hard decisions?
00:35 - Judgmental, yeah, whatever you say.
00:38 - In each matchup, two cookies are gonna face off
00:41 against each other, and one is gonna advance
00:44 until we get to the ultimate winner.
00:46 So at the end of all this, we're gonna determine
00:48 which type of cookie is the absolute best.
00:51 Super important, we gotta pace ourselves here, right?
00:56 Because we've got a lot of cookies to get through.
00:58 - You no have to cookie-splain.
01:00 [laughing]
01:01 We totally on same page.
01:03 You like a cookie, me like a cookie,
01:06 there gonna be cookies on the table, we eat the cookie.
01:09 Enough talk about cookies, let's eat cookie!
01:13 - All right, why don't we at least try one
01:15 and see how this goes?
01:16 - No! - Small bites.
01:18 - No! - Just one at first.
01:19 - Okay, fine.
01:20 [bell dinging]
01:23 Where'd this come from?
01:24 - All right, Cookie Monster, we've got chocolate chip
01:26 and we have oatmeal raisin.
01:28 - Oh boy, let's start with chocolate chip-y.
01:31 - Okay, small bite, let's just see where we're at.
01:34 - Small bite, discuss, move on to next cookie.
01:36 - Yeah, yeah.
01:37 - Okay, here we go.
01:39 Cookie!
01:40 [chewing]
01:43 - I think what we're seeing is the sort of
01:51 brown sugar quotient with just enough--
01:53 - Why you cookie still on plate?
01:54 - Just enough white sugar to kind of set up
01:57 like that structure we were talking about,
01:58 little like crisp around the outside,
02:00 little bit squishier in the middle.
02:02 - Me got all that.
02:02 - Is that what you got too?
02:03 - Me got all of that and a lot faster.
02:06 - Now I couldn't help but notice,
02:08 but you kind of got into that cookie a little fast.
02:12 - Thank you, thank you, thank you for that.
02:14 - I didn't necessarily mean it as a compliment.
02:16 - Well you know, that's how me do it, ah!
02:19 Everybody's got their own thing.
02:21 - I think we're bringing like rational,
02:23 analytical cookie monster to this exercise.
02:26 - Exactly.
02:26 - You know, get another shot at this.
02:28 - You're gonna do it your way this time.
02:29 - Yeah, oatmeal raisin, here we go.
02:32 - Small bite.
02:32 Ah, nom, nom, nom, nom, nom, nom, nom, nom, nom, nom.
02:39 Small bite.
02:41 - That additional kind of nutty character
02:44 from the oatmeal really shines through.
02:48 But we don't really have that balancing element
02:51 of the chocolate.
02:52 - No.
02:53 - We get raisins.
02:54 - You don't want to overwhelm with the raisins
02:56 'cause it does disrupt the bite.
02:58 It's a little bit chewy mixed in with the crunch.
03:01 It could be a little off-putting.
03:03 - We have to choose a winner.
03:04 You have to kind of play back both of those
03:08 cold-hearted, very rational tasting sequences
03:12 and decide which cookie really delivered of the two.
03:17 - Me gonna say chocolate chip.
03:19 - I agree with you.
03:21 - We on same page?
03:22 - Yeah, we're on the same page.
03:23 I think chocolate chip.
03:24 - Ooh.
03:27 - Ooh.
03:27 - Me love this, they just hand us cookies.
03:30 - Yeah, good day, huh?
03:31 - This a good day.
03:32 - As you will note, you've got snickerdoodle
03:35 and then you've got a sugar cookie.
03:37 - This is the battle of the sugar and butter-based cookies.
03:40 - So the snickerdoodle, you've got like that nice coating
03:43 of cinnamon and sugar.
03:44 You're usually gonna find cream of tartar in there,
03:47 that acidifying element kind of gives you
03:49 an additional kind of blast of acidity,
03:51 which reacts with your baking soda.
03:54 - What is cream of tartar, by the way?
03:56 - Cream of tartar is, it's tartaric acid, right?
03:59 - Is it cream of tartar or cream of tartar?
04:01 - Tartar.
04:02 And I don't actually know what tartar sauce is.
04:03 - We do not know something.
04:04 - What is tartar sauce?
04:05 No.
04:06 - Whoa.
04:07 - Hey, easy, easy.
04:08 - Don't we have that on camera, Mr. Big Shot?
04:10 - Don't tell Dan.
04:11 Why don't we start with the snickerdoodle?
04:13 - Me love snickerdoodle.
04:15 Just a small bite.
04:17 You really get that cinnamon.
04:18 That's where we were talking about, you know,
04:20 that kind of like that retro basil.
04:21 - Oh, oh, no, no me no.
04:24 - You really pick up that brightness though, right?
04:26 You know, from the cream of tartar?
04:27 - Mm-hmm.
04:28 - Something just like a little bit
04:29 extra nuance going on there.
04:31 - Wait a minute, me tasting it.
04:33 - It's not just monolithically sweet.
04:35 - No.
04:36 - And I like how you have the cinnamon,
04:38 just kind of adds like that extra
04:39 kind of something flavor-wise.
04:41 - You feel the cinnamon.
04:42 All me senses are going crazy.
04:45 - Well, let's get into sugar cookie.
04:47 - Me just gonna watch.
04:48 Me be gonna learn.
04:49 - What do you think?
04:50 No, jump in there.
04:51 - Me get the head motion.
04:52 Om nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom.
04:57 - Just a little sweet.
04:59 - It not enough.
05:00 - No balance.
05:01 - Me have cookie.
05:03 - Oh yeah, you've got cookie in your armpit there.
05:05 I think it's snickerdoodle by a mile.
05:07 - By a hundred miles.
05:09 - Yeah, chewy, crispy.
05:11 - Cinnamon-y, mini, mini, mini.
05:13 - Cinnamon-y, it's bright.
05:15 - That word.
05:15 - Love it.
05:16 - Yeah.
05:17 - Okay, moving on.
05:18 - Moving on.
05:19 Bring in the cookies.
05:20 [bell dings]
05:21 What do we have here?
05:22 Oh, me think me know.
05:24 That the s'mores cookie
05:25 and that the chocolate cookie with sprinkles.
05:28 - Double chocolate.
05:29 Can something have too much chocolate?
05:30 - No, the more chocolate, the better.
05:33 - But what about balance?
05:34 What about, you know?
05:35 - That's why you put the sprinkles on.
05:37 - I don't know.
05:38 S'mores to me is always one of those things
05:40 that's better in theory than it is in reality.
05:42 You're camping, it's always cold
05:45 no matter what time of year.
05:47 You know, the marshmallow burns,
05:49 the stick sets on fire,
05:51 mosquitoes are mauling you.
05:53 - Remind me not to go camping with Chris.
05:56 You know, it's interesting that they take a s'more,
06:00 which isn't really a cookie,
06:01 but they turn it into a cookie.
06:03 - You turn something into a cookie
06:05 because everybody has had a cookie
06:07 and everybody can relate to it, right?
06:09 So I think fair game.
06:10 - You like it?
06:11 - Turn everything into a cookie.
06:12 - Good, 'cause me working on a lasagna cookie.
06:14 - Yeah.
06:15 - You wanna try it?
06:16 Maybe you could publish recipe in Bon Appetit magazine.
06:19 They will love it.
06:20 - We'll put it through the ringer first
06:22 in the test kitchen and get back to you.
06:24 But yeah, I love where this conversation is going.
06:26 - Let's keep it going.
06:28 We're just percolating with ideas here.
06:32 - Should we try the double chocolate?
06:33 - Why not?
06:34 - All right.
06:35 So to me, double chocolate is,
06:36 it's like a chocolate chip cookie, but--
06:38 - You're listening.
06:39 Keep talking.
06:40 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
06:44 Oh, exactly.
06:44 Nom, nom, nom, nom.
06:45 Oh, yeah, yeah, precisely, yeah.
06:47 Om, nom, nom.
06:48 - Are you sure that there can't be too much chocolate
06:53 in something though?
06:54 - You know--
06:55 - Where's the balance coming from?
06:56 - You're right.
06:57 Me gonna agree with you.
06:58 - It's a little one note.
06:59 - Okay, what next?
07:01 Smells like s'mores.
07:03 I'm getting like, I feel like me at campfire right now.
07:06 Wow.
07:07 You really go to a place.
07:09 Look at him work.
07:11 Amazing.
07:12 Excuse me.
07:13 Nom, nom, nom, nom, nom, nom, nom, nom, nom, nom, nom.
07:18 I gotta say, the marshmallow really added something.
07:23 That over the top vanilla, you know,
07:26 kind of candy like aspect of a marshmallow,
07:29 which is just totally tempered
07:31 and then balanced out by the toasting process.
07:34 - Me think s'more cookie the winner.
07:36 - This category to me is a little bit of a wild card.
07:39 There's nothing quite like gingerbread.
07:41 Kind of occupies its own space.
07:43 And same thing with a black and white cookie.
07:45 You know, sort of like icon of sort of New York delis.
07:49 - And you know what me love to do with gingerbread cookies?
07:52 - What?
07:53 - Me like to do this, excuse me.
07:54 [upbeat music]
07:56 Me like to put gingerbread puppet show on.
07:59 Come on, Chris, get down here.
08:02 Hold up your gingerbread.
08:03 - Hi.
08:04 - Hi.
08:05 It Christmas time and me so excited for Santy Claus.
08:10 How about you?
08:11 - I'm super excited.
08:14 I do, sometimes I fear that gingerbread cookies are,
08:18 I don't know, old fashioned.
08:20 Like, are they that good?
08:22 You know, it's like you make them on like November 1st
08:25 and they just kind of hang around.
08:26 - Yeah.
08:27 - Getting kicked from one side of the house to the other.
08:29 - Oh boy, now you're depressing me, gingerbread man.
08:32 - I'm sorry.
08:33 - Oh, okay.
08:34 Me going back to play to get eaten now.
08:36 Thank you for bringing me down.
08:39 - Okay, Chris, that end of puppet show.
08:41 - Sorry.
08:42 - We tried.
08:43 - Let's try gingerbread.
08:44 - Okay.
08:45 That went down pretty easy.
08:50 It's pretty good.
08:52 - Yeah, it's got-
08:53 - Not great.
08:55 Maybe me just depressed from your gingerbread story.
08:58 - Well, look, it doesn't have like that, you know,
09:00 kind of mixed sort of set of textures
09:03 that I feel like I personally really value in a cookie.
09:06 The flavor is nice,
09:08 but how much of this do you truly want to eat?
09:10 - It's a cookie of the heart.
09:11 It brings me memories.
09:13 It's not so much cookie of the taste palette.
09:16 - Well, why don't we try the black and white?
09:18 - Oh yeah, we have another cookie to eat.
09:20 - I do feel sometimes that like a black and white cookie
09:22 is more like cake than it's like a cookie.
09:25 - It's like frosting on a cake.
09:27 - And do you know how you eat cake?
09:30 With a knife and fork.
09:31 - Okay, let's see how this goes.
09:34 Is it like the medium rare?
09:35 Is that the-
09:36 [laughing]
09:38 - That to your liking, sir?
09:39 - I have to say the chocolate smells great.
09:43 Here, smell.
09:44 - Oh, yum, yummy, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum.
09:50 Oh, that yummy.
09:55 Wow, you know, from now on,
09:57 me gonna just eat them all at once.
09:59 That's how you get the balance, the white and the black.
10:02 - No, it's still a chocolate for me.
10:03 - Chocolate.
10:04 - The white, that's too sweet.
10:05 - I have to say, if I were voting
10:08 just for the chocolate half,
10:09 I'd say unequivocally hands down winner.
10:12 I'd say the vanilla side is kind of just along for the ride.
10:15 If you can kind of live with that sort of judgment,
10:17 I'm saying it's black and white.
10:19 - Yeah, me agree, black and white.
10:21 One, oh, boom.
10:22 Look at this, me ordered milk.
10:24 - You ordered this?
10:25 - Me thought it a good palate cleanser.
10:27 - Yeah, okay.
10:28 I mean, all right.
10:34 Can't think of when the last time
10:35 I actually drank straight up milk was.
10:37 - Yeah, it's good, right?
10:38 - Yeah, no, it is, yeah.
10:40 - It's good and it's warm.
10:41 Which makes it even better.
10:45 - It is.
10:46 - So warm.
10:47 - So warm.
10:48 - Way too warm.
10:50 You should have asked for cold milk.
10:52 Maybe next time.
10:53 - Okay, so this is round two and things are getting serious.
10:59 - The final four.
11:00 - So we've got chocolate chip and we've got snickerdoodle.
11:04 And I'm thinking, you know,
11:04 we barely need to even try these.
11:06 Maybe we don't even need to try them at all, right?
11:09 Because we can remember what they taste like.
11:10 - Me forgot what they taste like.
11:12 - Oh, you want to just get--
11:14 - Just need a little refresher.
11:15 - Take a little taste again?
11:16 - Me need a little refresher.
11:17 [chewing]
11:19 - Oh wait, you ate the snickerdoodle too?
11:24 Oh, I thought we were going one by one.
11:25 - Me just wanted to get it over with.
11:26 - Yeah, okay.
11:27 - And choose me winner.
11:28 - Let me catch up to you.
11:30 [chewing]
11:32 - I feel like it's the chocolate chip.
11:37 - Yeah, me too.
11:38 - It just pulls those,
11:38 like that flavor spectrum in both directions.
11:41 Like that deep--
11:42 - You're there, you're there, you're here,
11:43 you're there, you're there.
11:44 - Yeah, exactly.
11:45 Do you feel like the snickerdoodle is missing something
11:48 that the chocolate chip cookie has?
11:50 - Chocolate chippies.
11:51 - Chocolate chip.
11:52 - How about snickerdoodle with chocolate chippies?
11:54 How about that?
11:56 Me want another chocolate chip right now.
11:58 - Let's move on to the next round.
12:00 [bell dings]
12:02 - Ooh, okay.
12:04 - Me remember these s'mores black and white.
12:07 We don't have to try them.
12:08 - We don't have to.
12:09 It's a choice. - No, we don't have to.
12:10 I mean, we could want to try them.
12:13 - Yeah, I mean--
12:13 - And you could want to.
12:15 - Sure.
12:16 - And you know what?
12:17 Me want to.
12:18 [chewing]
12:20 Black and white.
12:23 [chewing]
12:25 [chewing]
12:27 - I'm thinking it's the s'mores, personally.
12:31 Like when we talk about flavors
12:33 that really expand in multiple directions,
12:36 textures, you've got the pop of the chocolate.
12:40 You've got the toasted marshmallow.
12:42 Yeah, the crisp edge, the gooey center.
12:44 - It's like a campfire in the cookie.
12:46 - The black and white cookie.
12:48 It's not that good.
12:50 It's just--
12:51 - It's just between us.
12:52 - It's just between us.
12:53 - So then--
12:54 - S'mores.
12:54 - I guess it has to be s'mores.
12:56 - It has to be s'mores.
12:57 - Okay, it's s'mores.
12:58 Moving on.
13:00 - This is it.
13:01 This is the championship round.
13:02 Our finalists are coming in.
13:04 - Okay, the grand finale.
13:06 [bell dings]
13:08 Oh, here it is.
13:11 - What do you want to start with?
13:12 - The final round.
13:14 You know, we started with chocolate chippy.
13:16 When do we end with chocolate chippy?
13:17 So let's do s'mores.
13:19 - S'mores first and chocolate chip.
13:24 - Hum.
13:25 - It's nice.
13:29 It's really nice.
13:30 A lot of brown sugar in there.
13:32 - Wait, do you bake cookies?
13:34 - I do.
13:35 - What's your secret recipe?
13:37 - Hand chopped chocolate.
13:38 Lot of vanilla extract.
13:41 - Really?
13:42 - Oh yeah.
13:43 And then super high proportion of dark brown sugar,
13:47 which is really important because it reacts
13:50 due to the molasses content with the baking soda,
13:53 which is our lavender in there.
13:55 And then brown butter.
13:57 - It like music to me ears.
14:00 It like Beethoven.
14:03 Tell me more about this chocolate chip cookie.
14:07 - Where did your s'mores cookie go?
14:08 - Yeah, me finish that 15 minutes ago.
14:11 So now what?
14:13 - So we go--
14:13 - We gotta eat the chocolate chippy.
14:14 Ready?
14:15 Me ready with me decision.
14:23 - Oh yeah?
14:24 You're good?
14:25 - Me good.
14:25 You got your decision.
14:26 - Say it on the count of three.
14:27 - Okay.
14:28 - One, two, three.
14:29 - Chocolate chip.
14:30 - Chocolate chip.
14:31 - Yes, I knew it.
14:32 - Yes.
14:33 - Yes.
14:34 - High five.
14:35 - High five.
14:36 Ultimate imbalance.
14:38 It's all there.
14:39 It was all there the entire time.
14:41 - Yeah, it was right before our eyes the entire time.
14:43 - It's so hard to compete with the balance of flavors
14:47 that is manifest in like every chocolate chip cookie.
14:50 - Yeah, me tearing up a little bit.
14:52 - I know.
14:52 It's been a journey.
14:53 - It's been a journey.
14:54 - Yeah.
14:55 - Me so happy to do it with you, Chris.
14:57 - Yeah.
14:58 - It's so much fun.
14:59 So many cookies.
15:01 It's been a great day.
15:02 - It was a great day.
15:03 - Thank you.
15:04 - No, thank you.
15:05 - Me pleasure.
15:06 Me also learned that you a terrible puppeteer.
15:09 [laughing]
15:12 That gingerbread, terrible.