Fresh find: Is bigger better for new Chips Ahoy! Big Chewy Cookies?

Every kid, large or small, has a preferred lunch box treat.

For some of us of a certain age, there's a good chance it was Chips Ahoy! cookies, which made their debut in 1963 and have been a go-to favorite for snackers of all ages ever since.

Even though they were and are still mass-produced in a factory, Nabisco (now a subsidiary of Mondelez International, which also owns the Ritz and Oreo brands) advertised the treats as tasting like "homemade" when they hit the market more than a half-century ago.

That, to me, sounds just a little crazy since the cookies are super crunchy, and the scratch cookies I grew up on were always on the soft side — unless they'd accidentally been burned.

What the cookie company is billing as its biggest innovation in 60 years is a little different.

Not only is the new Big Chewy Cookie three times bigger than the original cookie, it's also soft. Like, really, really soft. So soft that after I tucked the cookies into my suitcase to bring them on an airplane to my grandkids recently, they all came out of their packages in pieces.

And when I say package, I mean individually wrapped, as the cookies are being sold as single-serving treats instead of in the Snack 'n Seal package the company introduced in 2005.

"For over 60 years, Chips Ahoy! cookies have been the go-to cookie for chocolate chip cookie lovers of all ages," senior brand manager Jen Levin said in a release. "Now, with the launch of Chips Ahoy! Big Chewy Cookies, we're excited to be the on-the-go cookie choice as well, offering indulgence and happiness in each big, delicious bite."

Not to split hairs or anything, but the label actually notes the giant cookie includes not one but two servings — for a total of 320 calories if you eat the whole thing yourself.

The 2 1/2 -ounce, palm-sized cookies come in three flavors: the classic Big Cookie Chocolate Chip, Big Cookie Chocolatey Brownie and Big Cookie Chocolatey Caramel. I liked the original flavor best, but could see how a kid would love dunking the brownie version in a glass of cold milk. They'd also be delicious crumbled over a bowl of vanilla ice cream.

As for the chocolate caramel flavor? It was a little too sweet and artificial tasting for my liking, but I imagine some will love the mix of butterscotchy caramel and chocolate chips.

The cookies are being rolled out in October at convenience stores nationwide, with a suggested retail price of $2.29. Like everything else these days, they also eventually will be sold on Amazon.