For example, I made healthier muffins, with even less sugar than the recipe called for and still the sugar content equals to more than 3 Chips Ahoy cookies. Why is that the cookies taste more sugary, and is homemade actually better for you despite the higher sugar. I also just have a hard time believing they were able to make these grocery store snacks with so little sugar.
100%
If you’re working with higher quality ingredients, Yes. Sugar content is controlled, way less processed, no artificial sweeteners, etc.
Pancakes are not unhealthy. You CAN eat them everyday of your life. Eggs, flour (or oats), whole dairy milk, salt and honey… vers the average store bought with excessive amounts of sugar and the like and magically lasts days long. Suspicious.
However, there is going to be store brands thar are good stuff. There’s plenty of healthy chocolates out there and that are sourced ethically.
I always say. Cake that lasts longer than a few days is not cake. It’s lab food.
The closer to home, the better.
I don’t think either is inherently healthier than the other, but when you cook you get to decide what will be in the recipe while you don’t have this control for store bought.
For example, I often add little or no sugar to recipes. I also add very little salt compared to many store bought items. I’m lactose intolerant so I cook dairy free. Although it’s not grounded in science I feel averse to all the additives in store bought food and like that when I cook it’s plain, simple ingredients.
The cookies are smaller, the sweetness will be stronger.
I would also add that homebaked goods tend to be better because they are not made on an industrial scale.
Large companies tend to use cheaper (more processed) forms of sugar, fat and flour, whilst adding preservatives to reduce manufacturing costs and increase shelf life (eg. Emulisifiers and preservatives).
If you make cookies at home, you tend to use more natural ingredients, which makes them taste much better imo!
My bet is that they taste sweeter because of the added flavors and a little bit of salt (enhances the taste).
A possible additional reasons is that industrial made cookies are thoroughly tested on the ‘experience’ of eating them. So they have the perfect crunchiness, mouthfeel and balance which may increase your perception of sweetness and sugar content because they taste so good!
I agree with others that the cookies are likely smaller than your muffins unless you used a mini-tin. The sugar to other ingredients ratio is higher in the cookie. Sweetness is intensified. Not to mention there are other flavorings and additives used to intensify flavor.
One thing to consider is that a person can sit down and eat a sleeve of store bought cookies without feeling much in terms of satiation. Who really only sticks to 2 cookies from a package? I suppose people can/do but it’s not without great willpower.
While I certainly might want to eat more than one muffin, usually if I go for 2 of them I’m satisfied at that point. The other ingredients in your homemade muffins are likely more balanced and satiating.
So there’s more to the big picture than just how many grams of sugar the package reports.
Neither one is necessarily better, as in healthier, by default.
Something like chips ahoy or similar, is going to be mass produced, and that often means having to cut corners which would sacrifice flavor. Making a few batches of cookies at home is very very different than making them in a factory meant to make thousands of them
There are 4 types of sugars in Chips Ahoy. I am guessing that you did not also add dextrose, molasses and high fructose corn syrup to your batch. That’s what makes your cookies healthier and less sweet.