Snack Review: Damn Good Cookies

Hey Snackers! Quick intro, since I’ve meandered my way over here from Candy Addict: I’m Monica; I really like cookies; and I love four-letter words. (It’s true. I know exactly the one I will supply when James Lipton inevitably asks for my favorite curse word one day, and it has exactly four letters.) Now, armed with this all-important information, it wouldn’t be difficult for one to imagine the warm reception that greeted the package of Chocolate Gourmet’s Damn Good Cookies (and Ugly Truffles, reviewed over at Candy Addict) when they recently arrived at my house. Jammed inside an unassuming cardboard box was a selection of ten different gourmet cookies for my sampling, a quantity that necessitated an act that falls decidedly lower on my list of favorites: sharing. So, tasting cohort by my side, I settled in for a sugarfest this weekend, and am happy to report my findings.

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Snack Review: Little Debbie 100 Calorie Snacks

I’ve been crazy about Little Debbie since I was Little Jimmy. I remember fervently wishing that the cute cowgirl on the snack cake package lived nearby so we could play together, not knowing Debbie was easily twice my age at the time. Like all good stories, there’s a narrative arc: Now Little Debbie is following ME! On Twitter! (LittleDebbie is trying to make you salivate like a Great Dane who missed lunch. about 5 minutes ago from web)

What’s more, she sent me a huge box of cute li’l snacks! For pre-packaged, mass-produced cakes and sweet treats, you can’t find much better than this.

The trick to wise snacking is sensible portions in moderation. Little Debbie’s 100 Calorie Snacks help us do just that, or at least suggest it; the rest is up to us. These snacks have about the same fat and sugar content as their regular items, but the serving sizes are anywhere from 50-60% smaller. In short, you’re eating the same sweet and fatty food, just less of it. At least it’s a start.

Although I’m not a body builder like the narrator’s father and brothers in Jonathan Evison’s excellent first novel, All About Lulu, I swear I thought my arms were super bulked when I grabbed a Yellow Cake (with “butter creme” icing) and a Triple Fudge Brownie.

Man, I’m massive!

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Snack Review: Smooze! Fruit Ice

I was a sucker for the romance of these when I saw them at my nemesis, Whole Foods. Made of little else besides coconut milk and fruit juice, they are “freshly packed at our farm located on the Equator in East Sumatra, Indonesia,” says the box. And so politically correct: “Our focus on environmental and ethical best practices ensures self sufficiency and sustainability.”

All that, and a delicious snack too? Is it possible? They say that they have “a constant supply of fresh, ripe fruits packed in optimal conditions within hours of picking.” It can’t get better than that, right? And only fifty calories each!

Anyway, they had me at “coconut milk.” It’s one of my weaknesses. There was no way I could avoid trying these.

I couldn’t decide what flavor, though. Hello, snack-makers! Please note: a variety pack is ALWAYS a good idea. Unfortunately, one was not offered in this case, so I had to make a choice. I am a huge fan of mango, as I often mention. But because, as a result, I am very opinionated about mango, I thought maybe that would be an unfair trial. Maybe passion fruit would be a better idea.

Good try. I bought the passion fruit flavor. But then I had to go back to the store and get mango also. The things I do for you, dear readers. I hope you appreciate it.

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Snack Review: Coconut Toothpick Cookie

I am irresistibly drawn to coconut. A richly flavored coconut dessert is one of the few things that can distract me from chocolate. I saw these Vietnamese cookies in a local Thai market (snackers, praise the melting pot that is America!). The ingredients were only tapioca starch, sugar, and coconut cream. Wow, I thought, basically coconut cream as finger food. This could be great. And only $1.49. How could I pass them up?

I got them home and upon closer inspection, observed what might be a problem for some people….

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Snack Review: Whole Foods Gigantic Cookie Sandwiches

Those of you who, like me, are ancient kids of the early ’90s, may remember a toy called the Dr. Dreadful Laboratory. The commercial featured a wild-haired scientist-type touting goodies that “look gross but taste great!” Why anyone would take slimy, cockroach-shaped gummis from a mad scientist is beyond me – yet, I ended up begging my mom for one of the good doctor’s gummi labs. While concocting the candy was fun enough, I found most of it tasted only marginally better than it looked.

What dredged this memory from the annals of my subconscious was my discovery a few days ago of a sort of reverse-Dr. Dreadful Laboratory. At Whole Foods, undoubted champion in the battle of the overpriced grocery stores, I came across a slew of gigantic store-made cookie sandwiches. They looked great, but tasted gross!

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