Cookies are an essential pantry staple as well as a contributing factor of happiness. For those of you with certain dietary restrictions that prevent you from eating that Nestle Tollhouse cookie dough, please know that you deserve to be happy too. Luckily, there are tons of paleo, gluten free, and vegan cookies out there, and I'm here to help you narrow down which ones are right for you.

First, we gathered the most popular vegan, gluten free, and paleo cookies that can be found in your grocery store's cookie aisle. The top two brands that we found were Simple Mills and Tate's Bake Shop, and we were even lucky enough to have these companies send us some of their products that were used in this ranking. Our Georgia Tech Spoon University chapter then helped rank the cookies in a blind taste and compared each one with a common cookie counterpart. Below are the competing cookies and comparisons ranked from 1 to 10, with 1 being the top choice.

Cookie Rankings 

(P = Paleo, V = Vegan, GF = Gluten Free)

1. Tates Bakeshop Coconut Crisp (GF) 

Comparison: Keebler Chips Deluxe Coconut Cookies

2. Simple Mills Soft Baked Chocolate Chip (P, GF)

Comparison: Chewy Chips Ahoy! 

3. Simple Mills Soft Baked Snickerdoodle (P, GF)

Comparison: Pepperidge Farm Sanibel Soft Baked Snickerdoodle Cookie

4. Simple Mills Soft Baked Peanut Butter (P, GF)

Comparison: Nutter Butter Cookies

5. Simple Mills Soft Baked Dark Chocolate Toasted Coconut (P, GF)

Comparison: Chips Ahoy! Coconut Chunky Chocolate Chunk Cookies

6. Tates Bakeshop Oatmeal Raisin (GF)

Comparison: Keebler Country Style Oatmeal Raisin

7. Simple Mills Toasted Pecan (P, V, GF)

Comparison: Danish Butter Cookies (They come in a round tin during the holidays)

8. Simple Mills Chocolate Chip (P, V, GF)

Comparison: Famous Amos Classic Chocolate Chip

9. Simple Mills Double Chocolate (P, V, GF)

Comparison: Famous Amos Double Chocolate Chip

10. Simple Mills Cinnamon (P, V, GF)

Comparison: Honey Maid Cinnamon Graham Crackers

All of these paleo, gluten free, and vegan cookies can be found at your local supermarket including Publix, Kroger, Walmart, and Whole Foods. Even if you don't have any dietary restrictions, I highly recommend you try any of these, as they're a healthier option than your generic store-bought cookies. They are generally lower in calories, sugar, and overall ingredients. making them the better option when fulfilling your cookie cravings. Happy eating!