Sweet Freak Smackdown: Bread Alone v. Our Daily Bread

I walk through the Union Square Greenmarket at least once a week, and have been known to get a loaf of whole wheat levain and eat it in a day. Sure, that shows a basic lack of self-restraint. Unless you consider that when I'm purchasing my loaf—either at Bread Alone or Our Daily Bread, my two favorites—I deliberately ignore the cookies, muffins and scones waving at me while the vendors are making change.

But now on this chocolate chip cookie craze, I decided it was time for a Greenmarket smackdown: Bread Alone versus Our Daily Bread.

The cookies are sized similarly (and generously) - about 4" diameter, though Bread Alone is a titch bigger. A little more expensive, too, at $1.50 a pop. Our Daily Bread bundles cookies into threes, sold for $2.50. Bread Alone offers only oatmeal chocolate chip; Our Daily Bread does the classic—no oats, no nuts. Both use organic ingredients, including unbleached flour.

So they're similar. But different. How do they compare?

Bread Alone
This is one tough, little cookie. It's firm and textured. With the density of the batter and plentiful oats and chocolate chips, you get the sense that it's good for you—like a health nut would serve it up.

Our Daily Bread
Light and cakey, this one is a more nostalgic variety. Like the neighborhood mother hen baked it.

Verdict
Such different chocolate chip cookies, it's a tough call. But there's something pleasingly satisfying about the oatmeal chocolate chip from Bread Alone. While Our Daily Bread's cookie is everything you imagine it to be—simple, chewy batter punctuated by sweet chocolate chips—Bread Alone ekes out winning points for its dense, chockfull texture.