Snack Review: Chocolate Chip Cookie Showdown

The recent issue of Consumer Reports rates chocolate chip cookies. I was - intrigued? offended? dubious? - to find that two brands outranked my favorite Chips Ahoy.

I mean, “favorite” isn’t even the word. In my mind they are the standard, the traditional, THE American cookie. What’s more, they are outranked in these ratings by Keebler.

Here’s the truth, people: As far as I know I’ve NEVER eaten a Keebler cookie. I’ve certainly never chosen to buy them myself. I don’t want cookies baked by creepy little elves in a dirty forest. And yet, Keebler were ranked “very good” and Chips Ahoy only “good.”

Well, this was a challenge. And - what if they were actually better? So of course I had to try them.

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Snack Review: Calorie Mate

They still haven’t come up with that meal in a pill that they promised we’d have in the future. Not that I would want all my meals to be replaced by a pill, but sometimes, when there isn’t time to make a nice event out of a meal, wouldn’t it be a useful thing?

Instead, we have a whole product category of power and energy and granola bars. The problem is, these look too much like candy bars, and have similar flavors to candy bars, so you’re set up to expect a candy bar… and are always disappointed.

I’ve tried a lot of them and have never found one that I’m interested in eating repeatedly. So I was curious to see if the Japanese had come up with something better.

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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: Tim Tams

Dear Australian expats living in America. Has something been missing from your life? Something creamy, chocolaty, and delightfully rectangular? Something, perhaps, by the name of Tim Tam?! Well, rejoice! Because, as of this winter, Tim Tams are taking up temporary residence in the United States!

That’s right. In its great beneficence, the Campbell’s Soup Company, which owns Australian cookie producer Arnott’s, is releasing Tim Tams through Pepperidge Farm (which it also owns, because Campbell’s Soup is a huge corporation). These tempting treats are big on the cocoa, consisting of two chocolate wafers injected with chocolate cream and surrounded by a chocolate coating. And since they’ve been a favorite among Aussies for nearly four decades (Arnott’s claims to sell 35 million packages each year), they’re coming to America with a serious reputation to uphold.

As a Tim Tam virgin, I had no idea what to expect from these cookies. Sure, their ingredients sounded good, but did they have that certain X factor that makes me want to live off them? I’d experienced this feeling with a non-American cookie only once before, with the United Kingdom’s Hobnobs, and I wasn’t sure the ‘Tams were going live up to their tasty example. (As a side note, I have to ask, what is up with the cutesy two syllable cookie names? Are there any American cookie brands that do this, or is it just a British/former British colony sort of thing?)

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