The Pepperidge Farm Cookies We Always Avoid Buying

Pepperidge Farm has an impressive pedigree dating back to 1929, when founder and mother Margaret Rudkin moved with her family to an estate with the same name in Connecticut and began experimenting with bread baking in order to provide a tastier loaf for her youngest son, who had dietary restrictions. Rudkin also found a market for her bread, and the business ended up surviving the Great Depression and World War II, paving the way for innovation, new products, and an eventual sale (in 1961) to The Campbell Soup Company.

The brand has always prided itself on making high-quality products (when Chowhound rated 10 store-bought wheat breads, it rose to the top), but naturally, they can't all be the very best. To this end, we ranked nine of Pepperidge Farm's iconic cookies to see which are worth buying, and which you'd be better off avoiding. While the Bordeaux Caramelized Crisps are a definite must-buy, thanks to their light and snappy texture, sadly, the Verona Strawberry cookies were at the bottom of the pile.

Strawberry thumbprints are one of the cookies that even beginner bakers can tackle, yet somehow, Pepperidge Farm messed them up. Both key components — the jam and the cookie — were lacking. There wasn't enough jam, and what there was, was disappointing in terms of both taste and texture. And the cookies were bland, too, missing a buttery flavor that would have leveled them up a notch. Put together, you had a fairly flavorless cookie with a hint of sticky fruit jelly.

A 6.75-ounce bag of Pepperidge Farm cookies is about $6. Compare this to another popular packaged cookie brand, Oreo: You can get a 13-ounce bag of Oreos for just under $4. So Pepperidge Farm's cookies better be good enough to justify the extra cost. And it does seem as though they probably were, at one time. Margaret Rudkin brought some of the original Pepperidge Farm cookie recipes straight from Europe, after having fallen in love with similar versions during her family's travels.

But decades and new ownership later, it seems that the quality of the product may not be what it once was. Over on a Reddit thread started by someone dismayed by the minimal amount of jam on Pepperidge Farm's Verona cookies, several commenters chimed in, claiming that, in general, both the size and taste of Pepperidge Farm's signature cookies have gone downhill.

For the curious, Strawberry Veronas are not the only version of these cookies out there. Pepperidge Farm also sells Cherry and Apricot Raspberry Veronas. If you simply can't resist buying a package, consider buying a jar of your favorite corresponding jam as well, so you can add an extra dollop. But again, jam thumbprint cookies aren't terribly difficult to make, and you may even save money making your own, if you have time. So this is a better option if you're dedicated to serving these cookies at your next gathering — either that, or go with a tastier Pepperidge Farm offering, like the Bordeaux.