# What comprises a serving of cookies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 11, 2014, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comprises-a-serving-of-cookies/704330 "2014-11-11T11:24:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comprises-a-serving-of-cookies/704330/21 "2014-11-11T17:32:18Z")
I happen to have a box here of Girl Scout Thin Mints handy. According to the printed information on the box the serving size is four cookies. Thin Mints are on the scrawny end of the cookie scale. I’d say if four of them are a serving then two of a typical homemade drop cookie is a serving. That’s not to say that I have ever in my life ever stopped at four Thin Mints. Or two homemade cookies. A girl can dream, though. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comprises-a-serving-of-cookies/704330/22 "2014-11-11T17:34:30Z")
I didn’t even know I wanted a serving of cookies until I read this thread. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comprises-a-serving-of-cookies/704330/23 "2014-11-11T17:39:12Z")
I thought for Girl Scout Cookies, one serving was 2 boxes. After all, they’re mostly plastic and air! ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comprises-a-serving-of-cookies/704330/24 "2014-11-11T17:55:46Z")
If they don’t want me to eat a whole sleeve at once then they should wrap them in something other than that microscopically thin cellophane that only rips more when you try to twist the sleeve closed like a responsible two cookie eating adult. What am i supposed to do? Decant them into another container? Pfft. Let them go stale? Unthinkable! ---
**Author:** ![Lorene89095](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@Lorene89095](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lorene89095)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comprises-a-serving-of-cookies/704330/25 "2014-11-11T18:47:08Z")
:mad: Now I gotta go make/buy cookies…:smack: Thanks a bunch. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comprises-a-serving-of-cookies/704330/26 "2014-11-11T19:53:00Z")
I always silp a couple in my pocket. Always, its a principle. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comprises-a-serving-of-cookies/704330/27 "2014-11-11T19:56:17Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > I always silp a couple in my pocket. Always, its a principle. I tie 'em to my belt, right next to the onion. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comprises-a-serving-of-cookies/704330/28 "2014-11-11T20:17:11Z")
My mom used to let me have three when I got home from school. So I’d grab three, start eating them, but if she left the room, I’d usually grab another one and keep topping off my pile. To this day I feel odd if I have more than three cookies, but it really doesn’t stop me. A ‘serving’ is however many I can hold in one hand…but I’ll probably keep going back until I’m full. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comprises-a-serving-of-cookies/704330/29 "2014-11-11T20:29:17Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > When faced with a platter, a bag, a bowl, or a big honkin’ pile of cookies and assuming no witnesses or social pressure, how many will you take? All of them. That’s why I don’t buy or make cookies very often. If I did, I’d weigh 500 pounds. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comprises-a-serving-of-cookies/704330/30 "2014-11-11T22:25:47Z")
For freshly baked cookies: as many as I can eat while they’re still hot and melty. Once they’re cold, or store-bought, it depends on size. Maybe just one for the big Mrs Fields size. I’ll have two or three medium ones or about twice as many smaller ones. Cold cookies have lost most of the magic, though; I might just eat something else instead. ---
**Author:** ![LibrarySpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@LibrarySpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LibrarySpy)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comprises-a-serving-of-cookies/704330/31 "2014-11-11T23:28:47Z")
In public, two is polite. I usually take three. In private, I take five small ones (like Oreos), four big ones. Six would just be too many, man. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comprises-a-serving-of-cookies/704330/32 "2014-11-11T23:42:14Z")
Two is a serving, at least when I was a kid. I chafed at the thought I couldn’t have more. Now that I can have as many damn cookies as I want, and cookies are one of the things I bake for a living, I don’t crave them anymore.☹ ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2014, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comprises-a-serving-of-cookies/704330/33 "2014-11-12T00:11:49Z")
Mmm, cookies. Off to Cafe Society. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2014, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comprises-a-serving-of-cookies/704330/34 "2014-11-12T00:18:37Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Read the nutrition label. It tells you how many to a serving. That’s the official USDA definition of a serving, and you can take it to the bank. Uhh, no. The USDA does not define a serving size, that is left up to the manufacturers themselves. So let’s say a cookie maker wants to market a “healthy”, low-calorie “cookie pack”, all they would have to do is alter the serving size to match the calorie content that they are looking to hit. Bingo, healthy, low calorie cookies. :rolleyes: That’s how you get all these “100 calorie” cookie snacks. There is like a half of a broken up cookie inside. ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2014, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comprises-a-serving-of-cookies/704330/35 "2014-11-12T00:20:46Z")
42 as with everything else though sometimes it’s 19 ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2014, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comprises-a-serving-of-cookies/704330/36 "2014-11-12T00:27:28Z")
For me, the key question is How many different types of cookies on the platter?? Because I’ll want one of each. Unless I really don’t like that kind of cookie. Like Joe Froggers. Pah! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2014, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comprises-a-serving-of-cookies/704330/37 "2014-11-12T01:15:41Z")
What’s really funny is looking at the listed serving sizes for various cereals. A “healthy” cereal like Total will have a serving size about twice as large as anyone actually eats, because they want to show off how much vitamins it has. Meanwhile, the chocolate frosted sugar bombs will have a serving size half of what people really eat, because they want to downplay all the sugar. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2014, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comprises-a-serving-of-cookies/704330/38 "2014-11-12T01:23:28Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > What’s really funny is looking at the listed serving sizes for various cereals. A “healthy” cereal like Total will have a serving size about twice as large as anyone actually eats, because they want to show off how much vitamins it has. Meanwhile, the chocolate frosted sugar bombs will have a serving size half of what people really eat, because they want to downplay all the sugar. Not just downplay but outright market it as “lower sugar”. So the unsuspecting consumer will see this in the grocery store and think that means that the cereal maker has changed the ingredients somehow to lower the sugar content. But really, it’s the exact same cereal it’s always been with the exact same sugar content. The only thing that is different is on the side of the box, in very small print, it says that the serving size is 1/2 of a cup (sometimes 3/4 of a cup). ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2014, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comprises-a-serving-of-cookies/704330/39 "2014-11-12T01:26:07Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Meanwhile, the chocolate frosted sugar bombs will have a serving size half of what people really eat, because they want to downplay all the sugar. [Hobbes] Like eating a bowl of Milk Duds. [Hobbes] ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2014, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comprises-a-serving-of-cookies/704330/40 "2014-11-12T01:30:27Z")
Three cookies constitutes a serving, I’d say, although if they’re really good I’ve certainly been known to have more. My future mother-in-law once put the cookie tin away when she noticed me feasting on her world-famous ginger drops. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comprises-a-serving-of-cookies/704330.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comprises-a-serving-of-cookies/704330.md?page=3)