I tried 8 different types of store-bought cookies, and the best one melted in my mouth

• Cookies are a popular accompaniment to many Thanksgiving meals.

• Last Thanksgiving, I tried eight different cookie mixes and doughs to see which was the tastiest.

• Original Pillsbury Biscuits and Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuits came out on top.

Thanksgiving is upon us, which means families across the country are prepping their kitchens for a long day of cooking.

However, not all dishes need to be made from scratch. I decided to test eight store-bought cookie brands to see which one would make it to my Thanksgiving table.

In time for the holidays last year, I tried Annie’s Organic Flaky Biscuits, Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuits, Trader Joe’s Organic Biscuits, Immaculate Organic Biscuits, Happy Belly Jumbo Buttermilk Biscuits, and three kinds different from Pillsbury: its original puff layers, Grands! Southern recipe, homemade style from the South and Grown-ups! Southern home-style butter tasting. All brands are still available this year, but Happy Belly has been rebranded as Amazon Fresh.

All were delicious, but some were slightly tastier – and better value – than others.

Here’s how I ranked them, from my least favorite to my favorite.

For me, cookies are one of the most beloved parts of Thanksgiving dinner.

There are many options at grocery stores, so I decided to try every cookie mix and dough I could find – both at my local store and online – before my Thanksgiving feast.

I was looking for cookies that were light, flaky and buttery, with a touch of sweetness. I’m turned off by thick, doughy cookies, which are more like dinner rolls.

In my opinion, a good cookie will taste delicious without the need for butter, which is why I didn’t add butter to the ones I purchased except when the cookies came with it.

I ended up with seven tubes of dough and a boxed mix.

I bought homemade cookies from Annie’s, Red Lobster, Trader Joe’s, Immaculate Organic Biscuits, Pillsbury, and Happy Belly, which have since been rebranded as Amazon Fresh.

Red Lobster cookies were the only ones that came in a box and his recipe made six to ten cookies. The other types, which were all canned, contained eight each.

For each tube, I had to peel off the packaging and use a spoon to pop the seam of the packaging.

I did it seven times and it scared me every time.

In terms of preparation, the brands were almost exactly the same.

Oven temperatures ranged from 350 to 375 degrees, but that was essentially the only difference between the recipes.

I appreciated that the Pillsbury options also included instructions for using an air fryer.

The only baking experience that was significantly different was with the Red Lobster cookies.

The recipe called for combining the dry mix, water and cheese. I then had to portion out the cookies, leaving my hands sticky and messy.

The cookies also looked mostly the same before baking, except for one.

The Pillsbury Butter Tastin’ flavor, pictured, was slightly different: it had visible butter spots in the dough.

After a day of baking, I found myself with a tray of golden cookies and was ready to compare them.

It took me a few hours to replace the baking sheets in my oven, but it was finally time to taste them.

My least favorite were the Pillsbury Southern Homestyle Southern Recipe Biscuits.

The cookies, which cost $4.99 for eight, came out of the oven looking golden and smelling delicious, but unfortunately they seemed dry and doughy to me.

I had a similar experience with Happy Belly Cookies, now Amazon Fresh.

I thought they were more like thick dinner rolls than light biscuits. But at $2.69, it was almost half the price of Pillsbury Southern Homestyle’s Southern Recipe.

The next three brands in my ranking were all virtually indistinguishable from each other.

I thought Annie’s Organic Puff Cookies ($6.49), Trader Joe’s Organic Cookies ($3.99), and Immaculate Organic Cookies ($7.39) were tied.

All three had layers, a similar golden brown crust, and were not too heavy.

Since Trader Joe’s cookies were the least expensive, I would recommend them first, but you can’t go wrong with any of these three options, if those are the brands available to you.

My third favorite cookies were the Pillsbury Butter Tastin’ Cookies.

These cost $4.99 for eight, putting them in the middle of the pack in terms of price.

I was impressed with the subtle flavor.

I was worried that the butter flavor would be extremely artificial, but instead I found that there was more of a hint of butter.

My second favorite cookie was the Pillsbury Original Flaky Layers.

These also cost $4.99 for eight.

The flaky layers were, indeed, as flaky as any savory cookie could hope to be.

During the tasting, I described them as “the platonic ideal of the biscuit.”

But by far, my favorite biscuits were the Red Lobster Cheddar Bay biscuits, which came with a garlic and herb butter.

At $2.99, they also cost less than most others I’ve tried.

They had a perfect crispy outer layer and a melt in your mouth interior.

Plus, the garlic butter complemented the sweetness of the cookie.

In the end, I had to declare this brand the winner.

If you’re short on time and looking for a more classic cookie, you can’t go wrong with Pillsbury Original Flaky Layers. But if you have some extra time and space on your counter this Thanksgiving, I would recommend Red Lobster Biscuits.

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