There are so many refugees from my New Year's fukubukuro to review that I'm not likely to need to buy much of anything to review for at least a month. And there are so many of them that I'm going to be eating them for at least 3 months. These "chocolat galette" cookies were one of the first things that I tore open and partook of because they are chocolate, and, they are cookies. I'm only human, after all.
Despite carrying two of the key elements of a good product, I have to say that I would not have bought these of my own initiative had I seen them in the store. The primary reason is that these sorts of individually wrapped cookies are a real crap shoot in terms of flavor. Many of them taste like crispy bits of nothingness. They don't deliver on flavor so much as on appearance and texture. This is especially true of crispy cookies that come in the "Chips Ahoy" mold. That is, the types that are crisp and have some sort of melted chocolate poured on them or chocolate chips.
I expected a waxy, nearly tasteless chocolate coating and a bland cookie interior, but was pleasantly surprised to find that these have a very nice, pleasantly deep without being too bitter chocolate flavor and they are not too sweet. The cookies also taste fresh and have excellent snap without being too brittle. Each cookie is rather small though, at only 4.5 cm (1.8 in.), but only 49 calories. I'm torn between the guilt I feel at creating so much trash for a tiny morsel of pleasure and how effectively these preserve the cookie goodness and encourage portion control.
Though very tasty, these do contain two types of "bad fats" (margarine and shortening). Looking at the ingredients, I believe the flavor is enhanced by the inclusion of almond powder and at least a bit more cocoa than usual. I'm sure that you can find these in many supermarkets, but I'm afraid that I didn't make an effort to price this bag of just 8 cookies (yes, and small). I'd be surprised though if they cost less than 160 yen ($1.94) or more than 220 yen ($2.67).
On the flavor alone, I'd recommend these. On the other aspects, I'm a little torn. I enjoyed them thoroughly, so I'm giving them a happy rating, but I'd say that considering the packaging, likely price, and small quantity, I wouldn't recommend them to anyone unless they were jonesing pretty hard for a crispy chocolate cookie.
looks slightly pepperidge farm-ish. don't mean to compare all the stuff you're eating with US-based products, but i am in US, afterall. :P
ReplyDeletebtw, those soft-baked pepperidge farm cookies are one of my weaknesses. sweet, delicious weakness...
I think it's natural to compare such things to what they look like in your experience. I do it, too, since I compared the to "Chips Ahoy"!
ReplyDeleteYou can actually buy a small selection of Pepperidge Farms cookies in many of the more "upscale" markets in Tokyo and in Seiyu (which isn't upscale, but carries soft Pepperidge Farms cookies and Gold Fish).
These cookies, however nice, are not like Pepperidge Farms in any way. They're crispy and a lot smaller. ;-)
Thanks for commenting!
oh ich liebe japanische Süßigkeiten :-) *yam*
ReplyDeletei love japanese sweets :-) *yam*
nice wishes
http://jakubick.myblog.de
Not only are these cookies delish, they're also great value. I've bought them from Daiso for 100 yen. I haven't noticed them in any other stores though.
ReplyDeleteWow, I wish I could find them for 100 yen at the Daiso! There's even a Daiso above the Peacock where I bought these, but they don't sell any sort of food there.
ReplyDeleteThis cookies are great I use to buy them online because Is very hard to find them here in america, but I still can't find that little sticks that can be eat it.
ReplyDelete