Snack Review: Trader Joe’s Mexican Hot Cocoa Cookies

So, I had just embarked on a new Healthy Eating Plan which was going to be based on ensuring that the number of cookie packages bought per week was less than the total number of trips to the gym in the same week. Then I made the mistake of doing this week’s grocery shopping at Trader Joe’s.

Trader Joe’s seems to have an insane number of new sweets for the holiday season. I bought three boxes of cookies for a week in which, having spent part of it sick in bed, I believe there were zero trips to the gym. Arithmetic is not my strong suit, but I am pretty sure I blew the plan.

My excuse for two of the packages of cookies was that I was bringing them to a party, and never mind that said party often has so much dessert at it that even a nice box of cookies might end up never getting opened and therefore going home with the bringer. The excuse for this, the third package, was that I just couldn’t help it. They are chocolate, and seasonal, and who could resist this text on the package:

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Snack Review: Sweetzels Spiced Wafers

OK, I promise not to make this into another rant about the Good Old Snacking Days. On one condition. You promise to buy some gingersnaps next time you find them.

I am not instructing you to buy Sweetzel’s Spiced Wafers in particular, but that’s not because they aren’t good. They are very, very good. However, they might not be available where you live, since they are a local speciality. As it says on their website:

Over 90 Years ago, we at Sweetzels® revived the colonial Spice and Molasses Cookie by developing a unique recipe for our Spiced Wafers. Fresh baked Spiced Wafers, warm apple cider and a glowing fire have become a favorite Philadelphia Tradition to the welcoming of fall.

They’re now available in other parts of the east and parts of the Midwest, but are apparently still only made in the fall and winter. So you want to go out right now and look for them.

I kind of have my doubts about the 90 year old recipe – the ingredients contain palm oil, which is not a very traditional American baking ingredient. But the important part of the recipe is no doubt the spice blend, and enough molasses to make a difference. These are wonderfully spicy, molasses-y, and not too sweet.

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Snack Review: Ghana Cookie

Japanese cooking is my favorite cuisine in the world. And no one loves chocolate more than I do. Put the two together, and you’d think, how can it go wrong?

It is true that chocolate is not a native Japanese thing, but it’s not native to Belgium or any of those other places that are famous for it, either. And the Japanese have done a fantastic job of assimilating Western desserts – there is nothing I love more than a good green tea ice cream.

But when I buy a Japanese chocolate snack, it’s nearly always a disappointment. Unfortunately, this was no exception.

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Snack Review: The Cheddar-tastic Michael Season’s Taste Test

I’ve got to credit the snacksmiths at Michael Season’s - they’re incredibly generous. I was grateful to the homegrown Illinois company already for sending me some of their Baked Multigrain Chips to review a few weeks ago. Apparently, Michael Season’s was satisfied with my review - I was pleasantly surprised, this morning, to discover a second box of Michael Season’s goodies, larger than the first, waiting at my door.

In eager anticipation, I peeled away the industrial tape and cardboard to find… Cheetos, Michael Season’s style. Not only did the “Natural Gourmet” gift me with its “Ultimate Cheddar Cheese Curls” - oh no. The Midwestern proponent of “Feel Good Snacking” also threw in its Cheddar Cheese Puffs in both Original and White Cheddar. To top this all off, they decided it would be a great idea to also include the healthier “baked” incarnations of the Cheese Curls and Cheddar Puffs. I laid the selection across my kitchen counter, feeling a bit daunted - being a lone reviewer, I had my work cut out for me!

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Snack Review: World of Grains Cookies

I am deeply suspicious of snacks that make health claims. Healthy eating doesn’t mean giving up pleasure in food. That won’t make you live forever – it’ll just feel that way. As long as you get all your fruits and vegetables and so on at meals, there is nothing wrong with a snack that’s just junk once in a while.

What’s more, I’ve lived through enough bogus food trends – oat bran, low fat snacks that ended up having twice as much sugar, people eating nothing but bacon and meat and thinking it is a health diet – to have learned that any health claim is going to be used as a way to make money by companies whose only interest in your health is whether you have the strength left to take your wallet out of your pocket.

So when I was asked if I wanted some samples of these to review, I was all, “Bring them on! You can’t fool all of the people all of the time! I wasn’t born yesterday! Etc.!”

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