We tested 5 celebrity cookie recipes: Taylor Swift, Michelle Obama and more

Every year, as the holidays approach, lifestyle publications tout celebrity cookie recipes as if it were the end. Beautifully shot photos of cookies made by food stylists make them look perfect and glamorous, even though they are from celebrities who usually have no professional baking experience.

But what do these cookies look like in the light of day, when baked by an ordinary person like you or me? I tested five popular recipes to see. I shared the cookies with my friends, family, and neighbors to get their feedback as well. Here are my notes on the recipes I would make again.

From 1992 until the magazine’s closure in 2016, Family Circle magazine sponsored a revenue showdown between the incumbent first lady and the opponent’s spouse. The Cookie poll had the uncanny ability to predict the winner of the presidential election – it was wrong only once, when Bill Clinton’s poll Clinton Family Chocolate Chip Cookies beat Melania Trump star cookies with sour cream in 2016.

In 2012, that of Michelle Obama Mama Kaye’s White and Dark Chocolate Cookies beat Ann Romney’s M&M Cookiesand Barack Obama won the White House. More than a decade later, the recipe still has many fans.

Michelle Obama’s cookies contain buttery Crisco, which I’m not used to working with. I guess my lack of experience meant that these cookies didn’t turn out as pretty as the others. The first batch I baked spread so much that I ended up with a pan full of square cookies that I had to cut. I left a lot more space between the cookies on my second batch, but they still came out flat. I wasn’t sure what I did wrong, so I consulted baker Lauren Cooper Allen of the blog Cake baked by Lauren. She recommended refrigerating the dough for an hour or using butter instead of Crisco. I didn’t make a third batch, but I’ll follow his advice next time.

Nonetheless, I found the cookies delicious. These cookies are crunchy and contain lots of chocolate, including chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, and Andes Creme de Menthe candy. Thanks to this “secret ingredient,” Michelle Obama’s cookies reminded me of a Girl Scout Thin Mint cookie. A friend thought the cookies had “too much stuff,” but everyone who tried them liked them, despite their flat appearance.

Snoop Dogg is not just a rapper and record producer. He is good at cooking and has appeared alongside Martha Stewart on VH1. “Martha and Snoop’s Potluck Dinner.” Perhaps inspired by his time with Stewart, Snoop Dogg is also the author of a cookbook, “From Grifter to Cook: Platinum Recipes from Tha Boss Dogg’s Kitchen.” Among other goodies, the cookbook contains a recipe for Rolls-Royce Peanut Butter Cookiesthat Snoop Dogg says he received from a friend.

Snoop Dogg’s cookies have lots of chocolate and peanut butter, a classic combination that’s hard to beat. The cookies are just the right amount of softness. The recipe was easy to make and the cookies turned out perfectly the first time. I love classic chocolate chip cookies and these are my favorite of the five recipes I’ve tried. They were less popular with a friend who prefers chewy cookies, so your mileage may vary. However, I will add them to my regular rotation.

My friends and family agreed that these cookies were fantastic. The only disappointment came from a friend who asked if the recipe included pot before she took her first bite. This recipe doesn’t do it, but Snoop Dogg recently opened its first dispensary and launched a cannabis line so a variant is in the works.

Years ago, Taylor Swift posted a handwritten recipe for chai sugar cookies and frosting on Tumblr. She made her cookies with a chai tea bag and credited Joy the baker for inspiration. Inspired by Swift, Joy then adapted the recipe using traditional chai tea spices instead of a tea bag and it took off. Now, every year when cardigan weather rolls around, Swifties make Taylor Swift’s Chai Sugar Cookies.

These cookies are a classic sugar cookie with a twist. They’re packed with spices found in chai tea, including cinnamon, ground ginger, cardamom, cloves, and allspice. The cookies are topped with optional vanilla icing and sprinkled with nutmeg.

These cookies have a plot spices. Luckily, I already had most of them in my pantry, but the cost could add up quickly if you’re starting from scratch. Even though these cookies have a lot of ingredients, they are simple to make and come out great. I’ve tried some with the optional frosting on top, and some without. The frosting added a bit of depth to the flavor, but they were also delicious without the frosting. They were soft and chewy, with a subtle flavor that one neighbor described as “Christmas-flavored” and “the best of the bunch.” Another neighbor couldn’t identify the flavor, but she didn’t mind. She described them as “soft, subtle and delicious.”

If this recipe seems too complicated, try Swift’s shortcut. She suggests busy bakers use sugar cookie mix and stir in the contents of a chai tea bag for a similar taste. I haven’t tried this quick and dirty alternative because it doesn’t seem very appealing to me. However, it might work in a pinch.

During a 2017 appearance on THE Food Network With his wife, Chrissy Teigen, John Legend shared that he began experimenting in the kitchen after his parents’ divorce, when he was 11 years old. One of his creations is a cookie which remains his favorite today. These cookies contain oatmeal, peanut butter, peanut butter chips, chocolate pieces and raisins. Listening to Legend, I imagined a young child throwing whatever he could find in the kitchen into a bowl and hoping for the best.

During his appearance on Food Network, Legend warned against over-mixing the dough because the cookies would be too tough. I kept a close eye on my stand mixer and stopped it as soon as the dough looked done.

I wasn’t too excited to try this recipe because I’m usually not a fan of oatmeal raisin cookies. However, after taking a bite, I changed my mind and was happy that Legend decided to share his childhood creation with the world. I liked them a lot better than I thought I would. These cookies are soft and the different flavors mix very well. Even though these cookies have a lot of chocolate chunks, my friend who usually doesn’t like chocolate chip cookies loved this recipe and asked for more.

In 2000, some of the biggest wrestling stars in the world came together to release a cookbook:Can you handle the heat? WWF cooks.” The recipe book describes the Rock’s Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe like “WrestleMania level” and “enjoy with iced milk”.

This recipe calls for ground oats, chocolate chips, chocolate chunks and shredded Hershey’s bars. I don’t usually like oatmeal cookies, but since I liked Legend’s recipe much more than I thought I would, I was cautiously optimistic.

This recipe is more labor intensive than any others I’ve tried and requires a lot more cleanup. I had to use my blender to grind the oatmeal into a fine powder. I also had to grate a Hershey’s bar, which took a long time and hurt my fingers.

When I finally ate my first cookie, I was disappointed. Even my friend who prefers oatmeal cookies wasn’t a big fan. She described the cookies as being drier and more bready than she was used to, although she liked the flavor combination. This is the only recipe I’ve tried that I can’t recommend and won’t make again.