One of the most well-known chocolate chip cookie brands is Tate’s Bakeshop. They are famous for the thin, crispy, buttery texture of their cookies. Maxine’s Heavenly just released our very own crispy chocolate chip cookies, and we thought it’d be helpful to compare and contrast each brand in case you can’t decide which to try first!
Below, we compare the ingredients, taste, and dietary attributes of both Tate’s Bakeshop and Maxine’s Heavenly chocolate chip cookies. But first, a bit of backstory…
Tate’s Bakeshop Cookies: An Overview
The story of Tate’s cookies goes back to when Kathleen King, the founder, began selling small batches of her homemade cookies on a fold-out table on her parents’ farm. Kathleen eventually opened her own bakeshop in 1980 when she was just 21 years old. She expanded from just cookies into a full line of baked goods, all of which she baked herself in the early days.
Today, Tate’s Bakeshop is a destination for Southhampton, NY locals and tourists alike, and is regularly voted the best bakeshop in the Hamptons. Tate’s is named after Kathleen’s father.
Maxine’s Heavenly Cookies: An Overview
Maxine’s Heavenly was named after the mother of the brand’s founder, Tim Miller. Tim’s mother Maxine was born in 1922, which means her legacy is now 100 years old. Maxine’s cookies were treasured by her entire family, and brought everyone together throughout the years to celebrate special occasions and share the joys and challenges of life.
To keep the tradition of Maxine’s delicious cookies alive, Maxine’s Heavenly founders Tim Miller and Robert Petrarca decided to to preserve Maxine’s original recipe, but with one caveat: They wanted to create a guilt-free cookie that was nutrient-rich and better for everyone.
They went through Maxine’s original recipe and took out all the processed flours and sugars, gluten, animal products, and empty calories, and replaced them with nutritious alternatives. The result was a cookie with Mom’s original homemade taste, but with improved, wholesome ingredients "made for today.”
Maxine’s Heavenly cookies really are the best of both worlds: combining traditional homemade taste with everything we’ve discovered about nutrition and healthy eating over the years.
Tate’s vs. Maxine’s Heavenly Cookies: Ingredients
Tate’s Bake Shop works closely with its vendors and suppliers to procure the freshest and finest ingredients for their cookies. Their cookies don’t include any preservatives, so everything tastes as fresh and homemade as possible. Their cookies include all the “classic” ingredients like wheat, milk, eggs, and soy, which can be problematic if you’re following a specific diet that restricts those foods. However, they do offer a gluten-free line of cookies which we’ll talk more about below.
Maxine’s Heavenly uses very different ingredients in our cookies, as we are committed to being “sweetened by nature” and producing cookies that are guilt-free and sustainable for people and the planet. As a result, Maxine’s Heavenly uses ingredients like oat flour instead of refined flour, and coconut sugar and dates instead of refined sugar. Maxine’s Heavenly cookies are also certified vegan and gluten free.
Here’s a closer look at Tate’s and Maxine’s Heavenly ingredients in each brand’s chocolate chip cookie, specifically:
Tate’s vs. Maxine’s Heavenly: Dietary Attributes & Considerations
Another major difference between Maxine’s Heavenly and Tate’s cookies is their dietary attributes. Maxine’s Heavenly cookies are vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, kosher, and non-GMO. This is an important difference for those following specific diets or lifestyles.
In comparison, many Tate’s Bake Shop products are manufactured in facilities that process milk, eggs, wheat, soy, and tree nuts. The one exception is their line of gluten-free cookies, which are manufactured in a dedicated gluten-free facility. Tate’s cookies are certified OUD Kosher.
Tate’s vs. Maxine’s Heavenly Chocolate Chip Cookies: A Taste Comparison
Since the ingredients in Tate’s and Maxine’s Heavenly chocolate chip cookies are quite different, it makes sense that there would be different tasting notes in each cookie.
Tate's chocolate chip cookies etremely buttery. If a Tate's was considered a butter-forward taste experience, Maxine's would be carmel forward. While our cookies do have a butteryness to them, the carmelized coconut sugar is the star of the show here. It's important to note that coconut sugar has a brown sugar like taste — it doesn't taste like coconut at all, because it does not come from the coconut.
Tate's Gluten Free cookie line is almost indestinguishable from the originals. That's because the ingredients aren't all that different! To make their cookies gluten free they simply swapped out the wheat flour for rice flour. For those with senstive tastebuds, you can taste the difference in flours.
Both brands have an excellent chocolate chip to cookie ratio. You won't go one bite without some chocolate.
Bottom Line
Both Tate’s and Maxine’s Heavenly clearly bake a mean cookie. Which brand you decide to go with may ultimately come down to diet and lifestyle preferences. While Tate’s is adding some more vegan and gluten-free options, there simply aren’t nearly as many flavor choices as Maxine’s Heavenly cookies, which are all vegan gluten-free.
As for each brand’s chocolate chip cookies specifically, both are beloved for their homemade taste and texture. For those seeking a healthier chocolate chip cookie, Maxine’s Heavenly comes out on top for its high-quality ingredients and its ability to fit in with many popular diets (vegan, dairy-free, gluten-free, etc).
The pumpkin pecan spice cookies still taste good, but the consistency has changed. I don't know if it is because of the new individual wrapped packaging, or not, but they fall apart easily and seem a little soggy- like there are less oats to 'beef' them up. I noticed the same thing with the oatmeal raisin cookies that I recently ordered. They are not as substantial feeling as they used to be. I will still order though- just a little disappointing.
Like another reviewer, found these at Whole Foods and they are so good! Only problem is I could probably eat the whole box - we need a bigger box! (like a 24 pack would be great) They are tasty paired with an afternoon coffee. I also bought another flavor that I can't wait to try next.
Found these at Whole Foods and decided to try them on a whim. Without exaggeration, these are the tastiest snack cakes I've ever had! I usually don't like "healthy replicas" but these are unbelievable, I can't wait to stock up on more. My only suggestion is that they could use more filling.
