Supermarket own-brand biscuits that beat Australia’s best-known brand.

A small treat can often help us get through the day, and chocolate chip cookies may be the ticket to making the afternoon slump a little more bearable.

If your long-awaited treat turns out to be fizzy, it can really ruin your day – after all, what’s the point of indulging if it’s a disappointment?

This is why we tend to stick with our favorite brands and products: we know exactly what to expect when we open the package, and we know it will hit the mark every time.

After many years of successfully producing biscuits, you might assume that Arnott’s has chocolate chip biscuits, but how do they actually stack up?

Arnott’s is one of those tried and true brands: it’s been around since the 1800s and is responsible for many iconic favorites such as Tim Tams and Iced Vovos.

After many years of successfully producing biscuits, you might assume that Arnott’s has chocolate biscuits, but how are they actually different from other brands?

Surprisingly, not as good as you think.

Prepare to have your cookie cravings explode: You don’t have to stick with name brands to get perfectly crispy biscuit bliss. In fact, you may pay less for a tastier treat.

(That means you can eat more of them, right?)

We’ll tell you which cookies to put in the cookie jar and which ones to leave on the shelf.

How we found the best chocolate chip cookies

We gave three experts a daunting task: blind taste test 22 different chocolate chip cookies (no easy task, we know).

They didn’t know what was what, so they couldn’t be influenced by branding or packaging.

They judged each cookie individually, assessing taste, texture, aroma and appearance, giving scores for each aspect.

Each cookie’s star health rating was converted into a percentage; this was then 10% of each cookie’s total score. (Although we know people don’t eat cookies for health reasons!)

The results of our taste test may surprise you and perhaps change your shopping habits.

Are Arnott’s Chocolate Chip Cookies the Best?

According to our expert judges, no.

In a surprising turn of events, the famous biscuit brand didn’t even make it into the top three, being supplanted – shock horror – by the supermarket’s own biscuits.

It turns out you don’t have to shop by brand to get the best bike.

So how did Arnott’s biscuits score? Not as good as you might expect.

Budget bikers who beat Arnott’s

If taste is everything (and let’s be honest, when it comes to treats, it is for most of us), then one humble supermarket cookie takes the cake: Coles Ultimate Cookies 40% Chocolate Chip.

Coles biscuits scored 84% in our taste test and fell just short of top spot overall due to a low Health Star rating of 0.5. (The first place cookie has a health rating of 1.5 stars.)

While your doctor may not be a fan, your taste buds definitely will be. And at 19 cents per cookie (compared to 24 cents each at Arnott’s), your budget will be happy too.

Plus, they’re made from real dark chocolate chips – unlike Arnott’s and most other brands, which use compound chocolate, which is made from vegetable fats rather than cocoa fats/solids.

Want more bikes for your budget?

To get the best cookies for your coin, head to Aldi for Belmont Signature Cookies.

They beat Arnott’s in our taste test and will cost you just 22 cents per biscuit, or $1 per 100g – the cheapest unit price (per 100g) of any of the top products.

Like Arnott’s and Coles biscuits, they also contain 40% chocolate chips, but knowing you’re getting the same chocolate flavor for less money can make them taste even better.

Luxury options

If you really want to treat yourself, you need to walk out of that aisle with your packaged cookies and head to the bakery, stat!

Two of our judges’ favorite cookies are baked by Coles and Woolies. They came in first and third in our taste test. You’ll notice that they cost a lot more per biscuit than some of the options above, but they’re also significantly larger – their price per 100g is only slightly higher than Arnott’s biscuits (Coles $1.83, Woolworths $1.77 vs. Arnotts $1.61.).

First Place: Coles Dreams Crumb True New York Choc Chip

• CHOICE Score: 78% (Recommended)
• Price: $5.20/pack; $1.30 per cookie

Third place: Woolworths Chocolate Chip Cookies.

• CHOICE score: 75% (recommended)
• Price: $5.50 per pack; $1.10 per cookie

Stock images: Getty unless otherwise noted.