Snack Review: Kozy Shack Frozen Chocolate Truffle Rolls

Kozy Shack is one of the most mysterious snack brand names around. How could anyone have thought this was a good idea? A shack is not the kind of place that sounds appealing to go to for great snack food. And the spelling does nothing to assure me that they’ll get anything else right, either.

The history on their web site does nothing to clear it up: the business started as a New York deli called Cozy Shack. I’m not sure how that succeeded either – you’ve got plenty of choices of delis in New York, and I think I would cross the street to another place rather than buy my pastrami sandwich at a Cozy Shack.

But, you know, it’s actually kind of nice that not every brand name around is the product of a room full of consultants and MBAs poring over statistics from focus groups. And, what’s more, they make good pudding.

Still, when I saw Kozy Shack Tiramisu in the freezer case, I had to laugh. It was so incongruous that it was actually intriguing.

I almost bought the tiramisu, but then I saw the chocolate truffle rolls next to them. The truffle rolls had better-sounding ingredients – I don’t think the Italians use corn syrup in their tiramisu – and then I noticed, they are actually made in Holland. Sold. I can’t resist those European baked goods, even if they’re made in a factory and deep frozen for who knows how long and sold at the crummy neighborhood Safeway.

When I opened to box to take some out to defrost, I was sort of disappointed that these weren’t darker chocolate. Which you can’t blame on the Kozy Shack people, because this is perfectly clear if one pays attention to the picture on the box.

But, although I used to be a total and complete dark chocolate snob, I’ve come to appreciate the comforting pleasure of milk chocolate. And these were very nice in a light milk-chocolaty way. The cake was tender and the chocolate mousse filling was creamy and light and not too sweet. They went down very easily. Almost too easily. I hadn’t actually planned on eating all the tiny rolls I had defrosted at once, but before I knew it, the plate was empty.

I have to say that I would not buy these again, because they were obviously dangerous. They were good enough that I wanted another, small enough that another didn’t seem like a big deal, and so light that I could eat quite a lot of them without bumping up against my Enough Chocolate or Enough Dessert limit.

So I definitely recommend these if you, like me, are a sucker for cake rolled up with creamy stuff in it, and are a fan of milk chocolate – but unlike me, have more faith in your self-restraint.

Final grade: A. The Kozy Shack people got the important things right, so I’m not going to be the sort of person who grades on spelling.

• Kozy Shack Website

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