The Soft Keebler Cookie You Should Leave On The Shelf

While homemade cookie recipes are always a welcome treat, you won't always have the time or energy to whip up some tasty baked goods from scratch. Fortunately, cookie brands like Keebler offer an expansive variety of flavors and ingredients to ensure your sweet tooth is fully satisfied. Because Mashed cares about your snacking experience, we conducted a ranking of Keebler cookies from worst to first, using factors like flavor and texture to separate the duds from the winners. Coming in dead last were the brand's Chips Deluxe Soft Batch cookies, which plagued our reviewer with a "strange chemical flavor" that apparently defied further description.

In general, soft cookie brands (which are intended to replicate homemade recipes without the hassle) proved quite popular in the early '80s, but sales quickly declined once the market became saturated. While our reviewer admits that "the texture is a welcome change from the otherwise crispy Keebler collection," there's no getting away from what's described as "the unnatural taste" of Keebler's Soft Batch recipe. In case you're curious about the top selection on our list, our reviewer deemed Keebler Grasshopper cookies the best, thanks to the remarkable flavor imparted by the "crisp chocolate wafers and mint-flavored fudge coating."

Keebler can't seem to strike the right balance of texture and flavor in its Chips Deluxe Soft Batch cookies. It all comes back to the off taste. As our reviewer explains, "While you're captivated by the tender goodness of the cookie itself, your enchantment is short-lived." They also pondered whether the unappealing flavor was caused by "something sinister in the softening agent," which encouraged us to take a closer look at the ingredient list. While it's not entirely clear which ingredient (or ingredients) is responsible for giving these cookies their soft texture, Chips Deluxe Soft Batch does include sodium acid pyrophosphate, which is a leavening agent used to give packaged cookies a softer, lighter texture. However, this additive usually lacks a distinct taste or scent, so it may not be the culprit after all.

Despite our complaints, Keebler Chips Deluxe Soft Batch cookies remain available for sale — unlike Magic Middles , which made our list of discontinued cookies you'll never eat again alongside the now-defunct Moon Pie Crunch). While they must be pleasing some palates, we recommend leaving these Soft Batch cookies on the store shelf.