Chewy Or Crunchy

[panini]

After many years of selling cookies to the public, we are still out on the question of preference. 1.. Nice color soft and chewy or 2.. Nice color a little harder and crunchy.
Our kitchen is split. the sales seem split.
The problem is forcast. Right now we basically bake both versions of our line.12 varities including 1 oz. and 3 oz.
We never seem to get it right. I always have one or the other left at the end of the day. (not a huge problem.Everything goes out to a caterer at the end of the day for his Chefs choice) I would however like to get retail for everything.
Would like to know your likes and dislikes.
also ideas.
pan
PS At this time, customers, choose,point, direct etc. when choosing which creates added time for the front.

[Headless Chicken]

I personally like both but I like my chewy cookies to be thicker where as harder cookies IMO should be thinner.

For example, I've been baking Christmas cookies like mad for the past week. My Linzors, Almond Snowballs, and Shortbreads have a soft texture (mostly b/c my grandmother can't take hard foods now, no teeth) where as my Sugar cookies and my Ginger Snaps are thin but delivers a crunch.

If none of this helps, just put me down for Chewy!

[panini]

Headless Chicken.
I really appreciate your post. Of course this discussion followed my wife and I home from the bakery. I was racking my brains trying to figure out what I don't like about the crunchy cookies. I like sugar cookies and thing like that, but when it comes to the thicker crunchy ones, I think I feel like there is too much bulk dryness for my mouth to contend with. THINNER!
Huge Help
Thank You
pan

[Botanique]

HC -- couldn't have said it better myself. Thicker -- chewy, thinner -- crispy. There is nothing like a thick, gooey chocolate chip, or a thin cinnamon & shaved almond crisp.

[jeff]

My vote goes solely for chewy cookies, the size doesn't really matter, but a thicker one would probably be chewier so I would like it more. I won't even eat a hard cookie or a crispy one. But I tend to only like dense foods, I don't like those crunchy thin cookies, I like dense gooey cookies. Actually I'd prefer the dough to a cookie, because it's even denser, but the best cookie would be one that isn't "done" on the inside and it's just a little doughy right in the middle, and chewy throughout the rest.

[BigDog]

I lean to the chewy side. If I wanted to break my teeth, I'd eat a Jaw Breaker.

There are those cookies that must be crispy/crunchy just due to their texture. They are good, but I just prefer my chewy, gooey chocolate chip cookies!

My part Swedish mother in law loves to cook, and bakes around the holidays all of the different cookies, i.e. spritz, peppercocker (sp?), sugar cookies, etc.

[OzarkRose]

You need both chewy and crisp as each variety of cookie is distinct. Can you find out who your target market is and select your varieties based on that?

[panini]

Thanks for all the posts.
We carry a variety of cookies. We do have the crunchy kinds,lunettes,sugar, linzer etc.
I'm basically focusing on types like choco. chip, oatmeal, peanutbutter, white choco mac, triple choco-nut, etc. We have a well established base. The concern is that we are baking both types of each.
Thanks again
pan

[shroomgirl]

I'm working with a chef that is demoing, "Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie"
the discription is "crunchy-gooey".
Guess my point is can there be a marriage of chewy/crunchy into one cookie vs making one or the other or both.

This recipe has ground oatmeal and ground choc in it as well as choc chips and toasted pecans....chew from the oatmeal and limited cooking time with a ratio that works for a crisper cookie.....

[Anneke]

A sales mix issue you have probably already considered: You can's sell a soft gooey cookie on the second day, while the crispy one will hold just fine.

My vote is for soft choc chip type cookies. I like my oatmeal cookies thinner and golden brown. Brings out the nuttiness of the oats. As for other more classical types, classical guidelines dictate.